Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl #1) - Eoin Colfer [Review]

Title: Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl #1)

Author: Eoin Colfer

Genre: Fiction, Middle Grade, Fantasy

Publisher: Miramax

Publishing date: First published 2001

Pages: 316

Rating

★★★☆☆

Hello, today I’m reviewing a book I started a long time ago, I DNFd it over a year ago and as I had 100 pages left, I decided to pick it up again and finish it because not finishing books makes me feel guilty.

Artemis Fowl

So, Artemis Fowl follows the story of… you guessed it, Artemis Fowl. A twelve-year-old millionaire and genius—and, above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories—they're dangerous!

I wanted to read this book since I found out about this series during comic con 2008, yup, a decade ago, sadly, I could never get it in Spanish and now that I can read in English I finally read it… and it didn’t really live up to my expectations, mainly because I build up this high expectations for 10 years.

Artemis is a really interesting character, he is literally the bad guy in this book, he is smart and a grey main character, like he isn’t bad, but he isn’t good either. Still, I didn’t like him at all, he was annoying and too bossy for my liking, I couldn’t connect with him. On the other hand, Butler and Holly were my favorite characters. I never understood at all why Butler was so loyal to Artemis, it’s explained but still I thought it was kinda ridiculous. Actually, that aspect of Butler’s and Artemis relationship reminded me a lot to the manga Black Butler, a 12 year old, smart and rich and basically in control of his household, with a powerful and deadly butler to protect him. Holly is a strong female, skillful and smart fairy, whose convictions are clear and reasonable. 

This picture sums up the whole book.

I think the world is interesting and unique with the fairy element depicted as an organization similar to police or FBI (LEPrecon), I really enjoyed that, it was very imaginative.

The beginning of the book was my favorite part, it was interesting and intriguing, but once they were in the mansion, I completely lost my interest and had to put it down for a while, it wasn’t clear to me what Artemis wanted or why, his plan was vague to me.

I feel this book is definitely one of those middle grade books that are perfect for the target audience, it may be too childish for an adult to enjoy, unless you read them in your childhood.

Artemis Fowl is a great read, good for children who like fantasy, maybe an adult won’t enjoy it fully, but it is still enjoyable and entertaining, I want to try the next book anyways.