Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer

Book Jacket

The world's youngest criminal mastermind is back.

Artemis is at boarding school in Ireland when he receives an urgent e-mail from Russia.  In it is a plea from a man who has been kidnapped by the Russian Mafiya: his father.  As Artemis rushes to his rescue, he is stopped by a familiar nemesis, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon fairy police.  But this time, instead of battling the fairies, he is going to have to join forces with them if he wants to save one of the few people in the world he loves.

Review

I don't know how I feel about the Artemis Fowl books.  I must have liked the first one if I voluntarily chose the second for a quick read.  But...I'm not invested in the series.  I suppose one of my problems is that Artemis straddles the line between villain and hero very poorly.  It's obvious he's not all bad (or even at all), so I get tired of waiting for everyone, including himself, to realize he's awesomesauce.

The world of fairies, centaurs, goblins, and trolls is fun, but gets a little too juvenile for my tastes.  Foaly is funny for about two lines of dialouge, and then I'm ready for his story to be over.  Mulch and his disgusting skills were shockingly funny the first time around, but I wasn't excited to see him again.  And the villains?  Were pretty two-dimensional.  I never really feared them.

As for the good, I liked Artemis and Holly finally growing a bit closer.  I do love Butler.  And I liked the scenes in Russia--I wish more of the book had focused there. 

Two out of five magic acorns.

Release Date: May 2002
Reading Level: Grade 3+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: YPL COL