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The first five books of the Artemis Fowl series for young readers about aforesaid twelve-year-old criminal mastermind and his attempts to restore the faltering Fowl fortunes by swindling fairies. When we begin, Artemis’s father is missing and his mother nearly insane. Artemis and his bodyguard, Butler, discover the existence of the technologically advanced fairy civilization hidden away in the core of the earth, and Artemis determines to capture an elf for ransom. He ends up with Holly Short, a fairy and LEPrecon (occupation, not species – Lower Elements Police Recon), the first girl woman female fairy police officer. The series takes off sprinting from there with a lot of plots, gun fights, explosions, dirty tricks, uneasy alliances, and really freaking shiny gadgets.
Oh, man, where were these books when I was ten? Eoin (it’s pronounced “Owen,” roughly) Colfer taught elementary school for many years, and he said in an interview that he partly started writing because he felt like existing kid lit neither provided what kids really want, nor gave them enough credit as readers. These books do both, if sales are any indication, not to mention my own complete absorption. Artemis Fowl doesn’t really have a villain, as much as Artemis would protest, but just the smartest and loneliest boy in the world facing off against a bunch of paranoid, superior fairy cops who also turn out to be funny, compassionate, wonderful characters. The succeeding books shift Artemis in and out of the criminal role, as well as alliance with the fairies as they work together to vanquish goblin rebellions and demon time spells, and Colfer does an exquisitely timed dance as he flashes the very shinyshinycool things about being a criminal genius, and also shows Artemis to be a deeply flawed child.
The shiny factor is high, and these books were just right for this past week -- vicious flu and crushing amounts of work. But Colfer doesn't stint on complexity, either. This is how to write a Gary-Stue – make him the smartest boy in the world, arrogant, nearly unbeatable. And then make this also his weakness, his isolation. Make him truly dangerous, truly sympathetic, truly pitiable. Damage him in real and painful ways, abandon him to build his own moral code, and then gently show, without preaching or moralizing, the ways he is broken. And then rebuild his family across species and great divides, and let it be as complicated as the reader wants it to be. And let him grow up in meaningful and sometimes hilarious ways, still extraordinary but also so familiar.
Also, did I mention, the technology is really shiny? Contact lens cameras! Shuttles that ride lava currents! Anti-grav belts! Magic fairy invisibility shields!
Man. I might have to stop complaining about my bad luck with boring kid lit if this streak keeps up.
Oh, man, where were these books when I was ten? Eoin (it’s pronounced “Owen,” roughly) Colfer taught elementary school for many years, and he said in an interview that he partly started writing because he felt like existing kid lit neither provided what kids really want, nor gave them enough credit as readers. These books do both, if sales are any indication, not to mention my own complete absorption. Artemis Fowl doesn’t really have a villain, as much as Artemis would protest, but just the smartest and loneliest boy in the world facing off against a bunch of paranoid, superior fairy cops who also turn out to be funny, compassionate, wonderful characters. The succeeding books shift Artemis in and out of the criminal role, as well as alliance with the fairies as they work together to vanquish goblin rebellions and demon time spells, and Colfer does an exquisitely timed dance as he flashes the very shinyshinycool things about being a criminal genius, and also shows Artemis to be a deeply flawed child.
The shiny factor is high, and these books were just right for this past week -- vicious flu and crushing amounts of work. But Colfer doesn't stint on complexity, either. This is how to write a Gary-Stue – make him the smartest boy in the world, arrogant, nearly unbeatable. And then make this also his weakness, his isolation. Make him truly dangerous, truly sympathetic, truly pitiable. Damage him in real and painful ways, abandon him to build his own moral code, and then gently show, without preaching or moralizing, the ways he is broken. And then rebuild his family across species and great divides, and let it be as complicated as the reader wants it to be. And let him grow up in meaningful and sometimes hilarious ways, still extraordinary but also so familiar.
Also, did I mention, the technology is really shiny? Contact lens cameras! Shuttles that ride lava currents! Anti-grav belts! Magic fairy invisibility shields!
Man. I might have to stop complaining about my bad luck with boring kid lit if this streak keeps up.