Artemis Fowl and Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer

 

 

Reviewed by Ashley

 

I’m a big fan of rereading favorite novels- it’s easy to choose one based on my mood, to settle in for a nice visit to a place I’m already familiar with, to know I won’t scoff in disappointment and feel I’ve wasted some of the spare time that seems more and more scarce. I’m also often inclined to grab middle grade and young adult novels that I’ve enjoyed before, for even quicker trips to those comforting places. Having recently become disenchanted with my ultimate comfort series, and having an up-and-coming reader who I enjoy giving books to, I decided to revisit another series I enjoyed when I was younger. As such, I just finished up the first two novels in the Artemis Fowl series, written by Eoin Colfer in the early 2000s. 

Artemis Fowl introduces us to the cast of characters we follow throughout the series. The titular character is a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind, using all of the sources available to him to keep his family prosperous after the disappearance of his father. Aided by his bodyguard, Butler, he manages to become the first human to get his hands on The Book of the People, giving him insight to the fairy world and all the rules that govern the People. Enter Holly (the first female LEPrecon officer), her boss Commander Root, and their tech mastermind (Foaly the paranoid centaur). What follows is a vicious game of who can outwit who, all of the involved parties being convinced they have the upper hand and trying to outplay the others to get what they want.  

In Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident, we revisit Artemis, Butler, Holly, Root, and Foaly. They’ve all moved on with their lives in the year following the first book, taking what they’ve learned and growing from it. When a vicious goblin uprising in the fairy world reveals itself to obviously having a human on standby for assistance, the LEPrecon trio are certain they know exactly who to blame. Artemis and Butler have their own problems, though, and are trying desperately to save someone they thought lost. The two groups collide and manage to come to an agreement to work together to solve both their problems.  

I hadn’t read either of these books in probably ten years, but I was surprised to find that they held up to the fond feelings I carried for them. They were a bit more violent than I remember, and I did have to reassure myself on a couple of occasions that I knew the outcome wouldn’t be as bleak as it threatened to be for the characters. Also included was a fair bit of typical-of-the-time sexism, with a lot of heavy handed ‘look at how they underestimate the female character’ scenes. Thankfully, Holly’s a force to be reckoned with and is quick to prove that it is indeed underestimating to think she’s capable of anything less than the male leads. 

I did hit a storyline in the second book that I didn’t remember at all, and as I read through and found myself skimming quickly by those scenes which didn’t hold my attention, I realized I’d likely done the same thing on the first read-through all those years ago. Even with that bit, though, I still greatly enjoyed the novels and I have every intention of picking up the third one to finish the series, something I never got around to when I was younger. I’ll also finally be giving the movie that Disney+ put out in 2020 a chance- something I’ve been putting off until I could reread the source material.