Sean Dougherty

Sean Dougherty

Artemis Fowl

Eoin Colfer

Fantasy

Just Right

180

1.     Right now I’m reading Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. The current scenario is very confusing, and happens quickly. The story takes place at the Fowl mansion, Artemis Fowl, who is the main character, lives there. He has had a certain greed for more money (his ancestors have the reputation of robbing), and the only way to see how is to get mystical beings’ gold. Artemis has investigated with his butler around the world looking for proof of their existence. For his luck, he gets his hands on the fairy book of amendments. With Artemis’ technology, he is able to translate their language and thinks of a plot to hold a fairy hostage. Holly Short, a LEP agent (a Fairy police group) is the unfortunate one to fall right into his plan. Holly’s commander, Root, tries and sends his best to get Holly back. Root keeps trying his assaults on the Fowl mansion in search of Holly. All of his attempts so far have been fruitless, so he is forced to bring in the big guns. The big guns just happen to be a dwarf named Mulch; he was being help in a LEP penitentiary. The plan is to have Mulch dig under and in the mansion. Where I stopped reading, he is entering the mansion looking for directions. Even though dwarfs are big in this book, I bet Artemis will be able to defend his house even from Mulch. The LEP has Mulch enter the mansion during a time freeze, which means that time in the Fowl mansion stops while the rest of the world ticks on. When the time freeze ends, a huge bomb goes off that would kill everybody inside the mansion, including Holly. Unfortunately, this precaution is necessary for the magical creature’s survival.

2.     I have to say I have enjoyed the action of the book, but the story just isn’t doing it for me. I can’t swallow the fact that the main character is literally the “bad guy.” It was Artemis’s fault that magical creatures were attacking him; he was the one who held Holly for ransom. Maybe I just haven’t read a book like this before. The author keeps adding new characters without explaining them and firing in random plot points that just make it more confusing. To me, the entire plot seems to far-fetched, even for a fantasy book. A person discovering an ancient fairy language an kid-naps one which could result in a war between species. It’s too confusing. I haven’t read any other Eoin Colfer books, so I’m on the line on whether I should stick with the series or drop it.

3.     After getting this far, it is clear to me that the theme is greed. Greed is wanting too much or something you don’t need. Artemis fits this exactly. He has inherited wealth and still wants fairy gold. He has gone so far and has been successful, that he has gotten himself into a lot of trouble. This is where the plot comes in. Artemis’s greed has forced the mystical creatures to attack him, yet he doesn’t give up. Artemis has always been one step ahead of the LEP and I think that debt is finally catching up to him. If Mulch doesn’t succeed than Artemis would’ve started an inter species war. Before the conflict, Artemis’s dad left and his mom was psycho, but he was still rich didn’t need any more gold. Sometimes I think that his greed was caused by his bad childhood with his parents. 

4.      Despite of his wrongdoings, Artemis is my favorite character. He is a genius and is always one step ahead. Even though I consider Artemis to be bad, his good wits and determination has put him on top. He has outsmarted the fairies three times so far and is destined to do it some more. Hey, any 12 year old who can rediscover a magical civilization and can outsmart them by himself is a fan of mine. Above all, it’s his compassion for what he does. Even if what he does includes holding fairies for ransom, his can do attitude that keeps him going without moral support from his parents. Even if he wasn’t involved with the LEP, his compassion would keep him going.

5.     None other than LEP’s commanding officer is my least favorite character. He is Root. Root is very high strung about everything, which is probably the reason why I don’t like him. He can’t take a joke. When his best technician, a centaur named Foaly, tries to crack a joke, the book describes Root’s response as: his face turning red with anger. Being a commander Root has the right to be high strung, but he shouldn’t be that stubborn. The thought that Root is so stressed because Holly was kid-napped made it hard for me to write this paragraph, but there’s one thing I haven’t said about Root. He is simply a bad commander. He is rude to his employees by not cutting them any slack and by making himself more important than anybody else. He puts all of his soldiers’ lives in danger not even thinking about the problem at hand: he has to rescue Captain Short, not to take the mansion by force. Root isn’t my least favorite character by a lot, it was just the minor issues that he had.

6.     Despite of the conflict at the Fowl mansion, I predict that Artemis will come to his senses and let Holly go. This Prediction could be completely wrong; Artemis could easily anger the LEP enough to start a war. So far in the book, Artemis doesn’t seem like a bad person, he is nice to his butler and Juliet (the butler’s sister), it’s just his greed that took over him, which got him in this situation. I believe that Artemis will oust his greed along with his family’s bad reputation. To my other prediction. Artemis and the LEP haven’t been giving up at all. In every one of LEP’s attempts to take over the mansion, Artemis and his butler outsmart them every time. Either Mulch succeeds and Artemis surrenders, or the LEP takes to extreme measures and starts an immense war if the bomb doesn’t work.