Why You Should Read...Artemis Fowl(series) by Eoin Colfer

Artemis Fowl the Second is no ordinary 12 year old.  He’s a criminal mastermind who can outsmart anyone on the planet….as well as those inside the planet.  From a young age, his father raised him with the family motto “Aurum Potestas Est” or “Gold is Power”.  So when he finds out about the secret community of fairies living below the surface, and that they had lots of gold, he decides to be the first one to take some of it.  After kidnapping a fairy, who happens to be a captain of the fairy police force, Captain Holly Short.  This event started the series of attacks the fairies launched against the great Artemis Fowl and his bodyguard, Butler.  Can Artemis’ plan outsmart the fairies’ sheer numbers and powerful, time-stopping magic, or will Artemis end up in a “fowl” mood?

This series was very exciting and also very interesting, and the ideas Artemis comes up with are simply ingenious.  Eoin Colfer sets the stage with an amazing book, leaving you wanting more of Artemis and his sophisticated and cunning plans.  My favorite part of this series was the way Artemis thwarted evil plans with his own ingenious(and sometimes evil) plans with the help of his one-man army, the bodyguard Butler.  His cunningness makes me smile from the beginning to the end of the story, and through all the other books in this series.  I also liked how the point of views switched to many different characters periodically, and it let me see all the perspectives of the story. This book incorporates a genius so ingenious that he's surpassed nerd-hood, soldier elves, farting dwarves, sassy centaurs and evil pixies. Who wouldn't want to read a book like that?

There is one problem I have with this series.  All of the stories have really slow storylines.  As exciting as it sounds, the book has to explain some of the boring stuff to the reader, and I think these explanations take a bit too long.  This problem actually didn’t occur much in some books, but a few of the other books do have this problem.  Other than the slow-paced story-line, this book was great!

Age Group: 11-15 years.

Genres: Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Magical Realism

Rating: 9.3

Artemis Fowl is an ingenious story, and everyone should read it.  Even if you don’t like fantasy and fairies, what’s the harm in reading about a criminal mastermind?