Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony (new cover) [Paperback]

Eoin colfer is the author of Benny & Omar, Benny & Babe, The Supernaturalist, and of course the Artemis Fowl Books. The Artemis Fowl series has five books so far

1 Artemis Fowl

2 The Artic Incident

3 The Eternity code

4 The Opal Deception

5 The Lost Colony

The Lost Colony came out in the UK in August and a friend who works at bookstores who got me a copy.

The Artemis Fowl books aren't popular for their depth or their detail, they are known for their fast pace and fun adventure. If you haven't read the previoius books, you may find this one tough as a starting point, but this isn't a deep book and there's no deep thought required, so you may be able to step right in. To catch you up, Artemis Fowl II is the son of a European crime lord, Artemis Senior. At the beginning of the first book, Artemis's father disappeared, along with the family's fortune, which sent his mother into a catatonic state.

When Artemis, along with his friend and bodyguard Butler, discovers the existence of fairies, he decodes their book in order to capture one. The fairie he eventually captures is Captain Holly Short, and capturing Holly is what gets the entire LEPrecon force after him.

In The Lost Colony, Artemis Fowl is dealing with another child prodigy, a new race of the fairy people and battling his own puberty. As a grown up reading Artemis Fowl, I enjoy it because it takes me a way to a new reality. The plot twists and turns as Artemis thinks on his feet to avoid another disaster - with the aid of Butler, Holly and Mulch along with some new characters.

This is the fifth installment of the Artemis Fowl series, with reportedly just one more to go. Most of the surviving characters are back, including of course Artemis, the teenaged criminal genius and Butler his bodyguard, as well as Holly, the former female LEPrecon official, Foley the Centaur and Mulch the amazing digging dwarf, but this time there are also new and exciting characters. There's Minerva Paradizo, a twelve year old French child genius who can give Artemis' brain cells a challenge, Doodah Day, a thief who's the Michael Schumacher of the Pixie world, Imp No. 1 the non-warping demon, and the megalomaniac Leon Abbot, but that's not all folks.

Way back when humans and fairies were fighting over the island of Ireland, the eighth fairy family, the Demons, refused to go live underground with the others, instead choosing to take their island home of Hybras into another time dimension until they were ready once again to attack the humans. Unfortunately, something went wrong with the transfer, and the whole island, demons and all ended up in Limbo. However, even time spells don't last forever, and as it unravels, demons begin appearing in the present, and even Foley can't work out exactly where the next one will pop up.

As you may have guessed, Artemis has already figured it out, and starts staking out the sites where demons are due to appear, but is thrown for a loop when he realizes that someone else has done the math, and that the demon he's been stalking has been demon-napped under his very nose. To make it worse, his new rival is a girl, albeit a very pretty one.

Book five has all the elements for an exciting read, including time travel, volcanoes, mercenaries, magical creatures (including a Yoda-like Warlock), and weapons - lots of weapons. There's also the code that runs along the bottom of each page, and I can tell you that it has to do with scrolls, demons and the slapping of rude body parts, but the rest is up to you to find out.

Another great addition to the Artemis Fowl series from Eoin Colfer, certified genius.

Amanda Richards

Cover:
At first I didn't like the cover very much but after reading the book I think it suits it perfectly!

Writing:
(5/5) The writing was quirky and humorous (especially the dialogue) and never once treated the readers like idiots. The narrator had a strong presence in the book and the writing had its own unique style that stood out and brought life and character to the world (I'm basically saying the same thing about the writing as I did with previous books. I'm pretty lazy, but hey, Colfer's writing never loses its touch as the series progresses and is always superb).

Setting:
(5/5) As with Colfer's previous books, there's a change of setting. With The Lost Colony we were introduced to the eighth fairy family, the demons. When the fairies decided to move underground, the demons were against it and so their warlocks transported their island, Hybras, through time and into Limbo. The demons are a warlike bunch and when they reach maturity they warp (around age 9-13) and change into full grown demons. Their young are called imps. A big chunk of the book is set in Hybras and I really enjoyed that. I always wanted one of the books to discuss any members of the fairy family in depth and I got just that in The Lost Colony with the demons. Like always, Colfer's settings is rich, detailed and never ceases to amaze me, even book after book he still comes up with something fresh.

Plot:
(5/5) As with the setting the plot is always fresh. Each book has a completely different story while still being intertwined with the other Artemis Fowl books. So far The Lost Colony is my favourite! The book had me in suspense and I kept bursting with laughter throughout it, I always appreciate Colfer's humor, it never feels forced like I find in other books.

Main Character:
(5/5) It was funny to see Artemis going through puberty as he starts noticing the opposite sex, he keeps getting distracted. As he puts it: "It's this blasted puberty, Butler. Every time I see a pretty girl, I waste valuable mind space thinking about her." Artemis really does become kinder as he helps the fairies without wanting anything in return. And when he goes up against the girl genius, Minerva, you see how he's changed as Minerva is very much like his younger self back when he only really cared about money.

Villain:
(5/5) After first reading the summary, I thought Minerva would be a boring character. I mean I just felt that Colfer was using the "twelve year old genius" thing again with Minerva and it would be old and boring. But Minerva was a nice addition to the book and a great antagonist. Another antagonist was Abbot, the ego-manic leader of the demons. He was funny and irritating (I really felt for our heroes with this guy) seeing how he's so completely vain, he thinks he's so important. But like all of Colfer's characters, Abbot wasn't 2-dimensional and was another great villain.

Other Characters:
(5/5) Some new characters were introduced that I'm sure we'll see in later books. The first of course, was Minerva. The second is, N°1, a 14 year old imp who can't seem to warp into a full demon, and is constantly picked on because of this. I loved N°1, he was such an endearing character that you can't help but love! Another character I liked was Doodah Day, a small pixie who can drive anything. His and Mulch's banter was just so hilarious (OK, Mulch's banter with everyone is hilarious)!

Overall:
(30/30) Quirky and humorous writing, a lovable cast, a solid and detailed universe, and a main character that you'll love, definitely a worthwhile series for all ages! My favourite so far!