Artemis Fowl

by Eoin Colfer

Reviewed by Ruby

Artemis Fowl, evil genius extraordinaire at 12 is trying to rebuild his family's fortune that his missing (and presumed dead) father lost on the first legitimate business deal that the Fowl Clan has ever done. This child criminal, with the help of his gargantuan protector/butler, Butler, is hunting down a fairy in hopes of learning their secrets. He is convinced that if he kidnaps one of them, the rest will be forced to pay a heavy ransom to get him/her/it back. What they discover is that these fairies are willing to do just about anything to keep their gold, even if it involves letting a troll loose in the Fowl Estate.

I loved this book the instant Artemis opened his mouth. He's an evil genius at 12 with obtainable goals, well thought out plans and a butler named Butler. What's not to love?

If only some of the grown evil geniuses would take some pointers from him they might actually be able to defeat the cheesy pathetic heroes.

Another thing I loved about this book was that there wasn't any clear-cut good guy/bad guy stereotypes. Well Artemis *is* evil, but he's not 'I will destroy the world mwahahaha!' evil. He's more like 'I need this, I want this, I will get it regardless of social and local laws' evil. And Holly Short isn't your typical protagonist. She does things not because someone says they're right, but because she thinks they're the right thing to do, and she doesn't feel bad about socking Artemis in the face, or seeking revenge on him. More importantly she didn't spout out the line 'it's the right thing to do'. Or at least I think she didn't. I hate it when that's the only reason protagonists have for doing things.

This is an awesome book. Even if I was a little dubious at first, I enjoyed it completely. How was I supposed to know that I would enjoy reading about an evil and devious 12 year old? I usually don't. Maybe because he's not bratty; evil children are always brats and it only makes me want to chuck them out a moving train...I would never do that. So read this book!!

And yes, I am a geek and I translated the prophecy along the bottoms of every page.

Grade: B