Artemis Fowl — a name everyone has heard. From the first blockbuster title till now, there have been five books in the series, excluding the graphic novel and the Fowl Files. Now the sixth book is out. Is it really good? You bet. Is it the best in the series? Unfortunately, no. I remember reading the first in the series.
The concept was fascinating, the characters were lovable, and once you reached the last page you’d wonder how you finished it so quickly. Since then I’ve been hooked, patiently waiting for each book to come out. The book will have you laughing from the the first page itself — and then you’ll find it hard to put down.
There are lots of new characters, such as Young Artemis (not really a new character, but a younger version of the original one!) who is way more ruthless than the latter, and a younger Butler, who still has a sweet side to him. There are also Artemis’ two younger twins, Beckett and Myles. They’re really cute, but only appear for a (Holly) short time in the beginning to add to the fun there’s a whole bunch of new faces such as a group of extinctionists and a certain power-crazed pixie. It’s jam-packed with action. There will be twists around every corner.
And finally you will always hope for the best, and then find out that young Artemis has outsmarted his older self, again. In a way, this gets tiresome after a while, but the clever strategies and schemes will leave you dumbfounded and yearning for more. The biggest disappointment was the absence of the more memorable older characters. Where is Butler’s sister, Juliet? Where are all the funny LEP agents? What happened to all those underground creatures such as trolls and goblins? Where is Minerva, the genius mastermind from the previous book? It seems as if all the really enjoyable characters from the series have been replaced by new, yet slightly less memorable characters. Old Artemis seems less of the genius mastermind. Especially compared to his younger self. That’s the idea, I suppose. But it’s exaggerated and it’s almost as if he has, grown slightly stupider.
{{/usCountry}}And finally you will always hope for the best, and then find out that young Artemis has outsmarted his older self, again. In a way, this gets tiresome after a while, but the clever strategies and schemes will leave you dumbfounded and yearning for more. The biggest disappointment was the absence of the more memorable older characters. Where is Butler’s sister, Juliet? Where are all the funny LEP agents? What happened to all those underground creatures such as trolls and goblins? Where is Minerva, the genius mastermind from the previous book? It seems as if all the really enjoyable characters from the series have been replaced by new, yet slightly less memorable characters. Old Artemis seems less of the genius mastermind. Especially compared to his younger self. That’s the idea, I suppose. But it’s exaggerated and it’s almost as if he has, grown slightly stupider.
{{/usCountry}}For those of you familiar with the series; it’s the same formula. It’s just what you would expect except with some different characters and an updated plot. There is some romance as well, which I personally don’t understand (Artemis is supposed to be ruthless!). The end is what saves the book. It explains how it all (when I say all, I mean all the way from the beginning) began… . To sum it up: It’s one of the best books to come out this year, but perhaps, not as good as it could have been.
Aadi Sharma is a Class 6 student at Sri Ram School. He is 11 years old.