After reading two of the Madeleine L’Engle books, I was in the mood for another story in the children’s fantasy novel realm. I have a store of books in my apartment that I haven’t yet read, and one of these was “Artemis Fowl” by Eoin Colfer.

Artemis Fowl is a 12 year old criminal mastermind in the high-tech world of today. His latest money making scheme involves kidnapping a fairy in order to ransom a pot of gold. It may sound a little ridiculous, and at times it is, but Colfer has a unique and fresh take on fairy and leprechaun lore that I really enjoy. Fairies are highly technologically advanced. Much more so than humans. Instead of our usual vision of leprechauns, we are given the fairy police squad called LEPrecons. It is one of these LEP officers that Artemis Fowl kidnaps, leading to lots of magical hijinks with trolls, time-stops and a tunneling dwarf.

If I were to guess, Colfer is an environmentalist, eating organically and recycling whenever possible. This theme is portrayed throughout the novel, and I appreciate that about him. Even the “bad guys” are eco-friendly.

If you are not looking for “serious” reading material, I would suggest this novel. I do believe that fun novels have their place in this world and not everything has to be deep and meaningful on a life-altering scale. This novel leans more toward the fun type, and it is thoroughly enjoyable. I would especially recommend it as a Christmas gift to that young reader in your family. I plan on continuing the series myself, and once I get through a couple of mysteries I have backed up, I’m going to get started on the second one.

Happy reading.

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Filed under: reading, reviews