Eoin Colfer
Books: Fantasy | Children
Artemis Fowl (2002)
Artemis Fowl (2002)
Artemis Fowl is a children's/young adult book, and a pretty good one at that. Although I didn't find it quite as interesting as either Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials or Garth Nix's Sabriel, it was still good, and I liked the fact that the protagonist is an anti-hero. Ostensibly, he has no good qualities, although the author does managed to sneak some in there.
I particularly liked the way that the author, in the introduction and conclusion, goes out of his way to say what a bad person Artemis Fowl is, and how his actions should be taken in a way that is less altruistic than they may seem on the surface.
I was, however, quite disgusted by the dwarves. I guess Eion Colfer really doesn't like dwarves, as he makes them little better than Trolls. I was raised on Tolkein, and this is No Good. Ick.
The characters are good, the story is interesting, and the writing is good. It's a kid's book, but it's good, and well worth reading I think.