Review Swap with Teen Fiction Centre - Artemis Fowl

Each Saturday, I will post a guest review from Teen Fiction Centre and Teen Fiction Centre will post a guest review from my blog. Perhaps it will spread the word on different genres in YA fiction, giving both of our readers a wider spectrum of recommendations. I hope you all enjoy, and I look forward to feedback on this new feature!

Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl

Where to start? At the beginning I guess. In Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer has really come up with a very original idea. The basic concept is that fairies, or "The People", live underground, having been driven from the surface by the Mud Men (humans) thousands of years ago. This civilization is very technologically advanced, having developed pods that can ride the Earth's magma waves, and having made many more breakthroughs in the world of science. The Lower Elements (as the underground havens are called by The People), are policed by the LEP, a highly trained, highly armed group of fairies. However, all of this underground civilization is highly secretive; if the humans found out about the fairies they would surely exploit them as much as possible. This is exactly what happens in Artemis Fowl.

Artemis Fowl himself is a 12 year old genious and criminal mastermind. His father, Artemis Fowl Senior, has recently gone missing in a ship wreckage off the coast of Russia, and Artemis finds himself at the head of a multi-millionaire household. His mother, Angelina, is in shock at his father's dissappearance, and has not left her bedroom since the incident. Artemis is looking for a way to restore his family to billionaire status, as they lost a lot of money in the shipwreck. By "trawling through gigabytes of data" on the internet, he begins to find stories about the existence of a fairy race. Being young enough to believe in magic, and old and clever enough to want to exploit the fairies, Artemis (with the help of his bodyguard Butler) sets out on a mission to relieve The People of some of their fabled gold.

Holly Short is an elfin captain of the LEP recon (leprechaun) unit, and is the other main character of the series. Part of Artemis' master plan to get his hands on fairy gold involves kidnapping a fairy, which does not bode well for Holly...

Artemis Fowl is a very well written and compelling story, and a great start to a great series. This first book in the Artemis Fowl series can at times seem a little childish, with the large print and simple sentence structure, but, despite this, it is very easy to get sucked into the story, and this book quickly becomes a real page-turner. I would recommend this book to all readers aged 10-15, and for older readers who are looking for something fun and easy to read.

Regards,
Jake, Teen Fiction Centre

**Big thanks to Teen Fiction Centre for the review! All credit goes to them. Thank you!**