Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl #1)

I thought this was a wonderful story that mixes the elements of fantasy creatures with the plot of a crime story to give a fun ride all the way.

Entertaining. Brilliant. Magical. Kick Ass fairies. Must read!

Reader reviewed by Zachary

This book is great, absolutely one of my favorite children's books of all time.

We meet a young genius with his sidekick bodyguard who discover the existence of beings of myth.
LepRechauns, Rather, LEP Recon, and an amazing underlying world of advanced civilization, slightly further than the world above.

Artemis of course, being a child, has no idea what he's gotten himself into and entertainingly works to figure for himself the answers.

Reader reviewed by moonymaster

This book was a DISAPPOINTMENT. At the point where I decided to read this book I had heard of it a lot. My brother had loved the series and I was looking forward to another good book to go along with the greats. But that is not what I got. I was surprised of how bad it was. It had action, I will give it that, but that is about all it had. The character development was horrible. I understand that Artemis isn't suppose to have feelings but what about Holly? I had no sense of their emotion and could not connect to any of the characters in the least bit. And worse than that was the HORRENDOUS WRITING. Whoever wrote that review who said that Eoin Colfer was a lazy writer hit it spot on. Looking back on it, it still shocks me how bad and mediocre, and annoying his writing was. The world of the faeries is quite cool and original but its the writing that kills it. That is why it is merely crumpled paper compared to Harry Potter or His Dark Materials or any other fantasy book. There is no effort in his writing and it shows. He could of made a masterpiece but instead he made an EPIC FAILURE. 

Anyone who says that this book is as good as or better than the greats (you know what I'm talking about) needs to take another look at Eoin Colfer's writing and story telling ability and answer that question again.

Reader reviewed by Barbara

This book (and series) is GENIUS! For any faerie and magic lovers of any age, I recommend this book! It has a great storyline, and it keeps the reader from ever wanting to put the book down. I began reading this book in the 5th grade, and today I still love reading the series! 12-year-old Artemis Fowl, the faeries, elves, goblins, etc...the reader knows it's a non-fictional story, but author keeps the characters so realistic, you believe it's real! When Artemis manages to kidnap the elf-cop of the LEP unit, the action is just non-stop! Plain and simple (unlike this book)...READ IT! :)

Reader reviewed by KitKat

Artemis Fowl is a brillaint twelve-year-old genius. His father dead or missing and his mother delusional, Artemis is determined to restore the Fowl family fortune.

How, you ask?

By stealing fairy gold.

Holly Short is a LEPrecon, a Lower Elements Police Reconnnaisance officer. She's on the surface for a routine run and to refill her magic - and not expecting to be kidnapped by a Mud Man (human.)

But Artemis does kidnap her, throwing himself, Holly, his bodyguard Butler, and the entire fairy world into a crazy adventure that had me laughing out loud and unable to put it down! Although the plot will certainly appeal to younger readers, the intelligent, witty writing style will keep older readers amused too.

Reader reviewed by Maggie

Let's see, where to begin...well, I'll start with Artemis Jr., the mastermind himself. He has already managed to track down a fairy across the globe, invent a hide to help him capture said fairy, and hold it for ransom. The REALLY strange thing? He's only 12 years old.

No, seriously. A 12-year-old criminal mastermind. Who knew?! Actully, his motives behind this crime are far less sinister (although I don't think there are actually any laws protecting fairy people). He wants the fairy gold to fund his search for his father, who went missing a couple of years ago. I like that the author shows Artemis's softer side, shows he's not all bad. That really, inside that huge brain, there's really just a 12-year-old kid who misses his dad.

The fairies in this book are most likely waaaay different from the other fairy stories you've read. In Artemis Fowl, fairies (also known as elves, the fae, leprechauns -- but we'll get to that later) are basically just like super high-tech people -- except for the fact that they're 3 feet tall with pointy ears. They live underground in cities full of such fantasy creatures as centaurs, pixies, trolls, and swear toads (a prank lab experiment gone very, very wrong). What we think of as leprechauns are actually fairies in the old LEPrecon uniforms. LEPrecon is the reconnaisance division of the Lower Elements Police, or LEP. This story involves mainly Holly Short, a young female LEPrecon officer.

Holly is short for an elf. She's around one centimeter short of average, but that's a lot when you're only 3 feet high to begin with. She's the elf who gets captured by Artemis while replenishing her magic after an unfortunate incident involving a rogue troll and a restaurant in Italy. Needless to say, her commanding officer, Commander Root, is not very happy about this turn of events, and he and a team of fairies use every ounce of their wit against Artemis Fowl II to free Holly and keep their gold.

Find out who wins, fairy or human, in this stellar novel by Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl.

Reader reviewed by EshInoBi

This book was simply amazing! 12-year-old genius, Artemis Fowl and his manservant, Butler, completely amaze me with their story! Artemis Fowl attempts to kidnap Holly Short, a fairy from the LEP (Lower Elements Police) for ransom for his favourite thing-gold. In the end, he wins (being as smart as he is), and Holly is furious. The book (which all fairies have to obey) say that when a human wins gold, they win.

I love Artemis Fowl! He is so smart, but in this book he is too greedy, and sort of mean, and will do whatever it takes to win. And he knows what he;s doing. He knows how to plan. His adventures are so exciting, and I loved to read this book!

Reader reviewed by edith

i liked this book beacause it had humans and magic and it described the fairies as if they were real people. i was almost about to cry when the fairy got trapped. i really liked the centuar; he was really funny.

that little kid is the devil man!
he is really evil. i can't believe that he killed that poor fairy!!! i know he just needs some love, but DANG!! Pure EVIL!! and the body guard's sister, she's really stupid.

Reader reviewed by Kit-Kat

Yes, the book was criminal. But in a good way. I hadn't been into science fiction before Artemis, but it totally got me into that whole genre.

Colfer has a good sense of humor that shines through in the book. The irony in it is funny.

The characters are well-developed and three-demensional. So well-developed that I actually started infatuating love towards Artemis (crazy, I know - absolutely psycho.) But that's over.

My point is, there is excellent character development. They all have separate and individual personalities that are quite comical put together. The language is also strong and well-written.

Definitely worth reading, guys!