AUTHOR: Eoin Colfer
AGES: 9th – 12th grades
REVIEW: While the vocabulary and plot in this novel is easy enough for younger children to read and understand, possibly as young as 6th grade, there is some mild profanity that would prohibit it from being recommended for these children.
Barnes and Noble offer a great synopsis of the book. (I actually prefer their site to Amazon, because of the different reviews and their use of media, such as interview. with the author.) Like the Spiderwick Chronicles, Artemis Fowl delves into the world of Faerie with wildly different perspectives.
What I find interesting about this story is that with many plots where the central protagonist (or antagonist?) is a villain—and in this case, a 12-year-old evil genius—the author entreats us to like the character. We somehow understand his plight; we somehow understand that the decisions he is making are somewhat out of his control and the only viable resolution to his plight. I don't think this is necessarily the case at all with Artemis Fowl. I think we are not supposed to like him at all. I believe he, his genius and gadgets all come off with easy grace and bright arrogance. I think what we overwhelmingly see in him time and time again is an irreverence for those around him. Both Butler, his sidekick-caretaker-bodyguard, and Butler's daughter have an intense loyalty to Artemis, but the feeling is not mutual and only subservient.
What I did find most interesting was that while we intensely dislike Artemis Fowl, we are still somehow rooting for him. We somehow want to see him outfox the rules and legends of Faerie. This indeed harkens back to the traditional hero-villain. I think the other element that engenders sympathy for Artemis is the plight for his parents and his mother in particular. We can really feel how he wants his mother back from the edge of insanity. I believe few authors have make us feel both emotions about the protagonist.
Along this rollercoaster of emotion, we are treated in bits to the legend and lore of Faerie, alternating points of view like a Mary Higgins Clark novel or a Law and Order: Criminal Intent episode. Colfer also does a superb job of mixing the most modern technology with Faerie myth so that instead of the book feeling entirely mystical or vintage, it comes across current. In contrast, Harry Potter always seems set in the mid to late twentieth century. I think this is because Rowling decided to exclude modern technologies from the storylines—even those scenes in Little Whinging and those plots with Hermione that would most certainly be a computer nerd.
I'm looking forward to breaking the code (and I haven't cheated), and I'm looking forward to starting the next book The Artic Incident. For more on Eoin Colfer, see Writing Athena's post from a seminar and see the movie I embedded below from Barnes and Noble, too.
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