Eoin Colfer
Format: Hardcover, 288pp.
ISBN: 0786808012
Publisher: Talk Miramax Books
Pub. Date: April 2001
Eoin Colfer
Format: Hardcover, 288pp.
ISBN: 0786808551
Publisher: HBFC
Pub. Date: May 2002
Who is Eoin Colfer? People say he's the next J. K. Rowling and that his novels Artemis Fowl (2001) and its follow-up Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident (2002) are going to give a certain bespectacled, lightning-scarred boy a run for his money--which is a lot of money, mind you--on the kid-lit scene. The eponymous 12-year-old protagonist of the Artemis Fowl books is a wealthy, amoral criminal mastermind who extorts a half-ton of fairy gold. Fairies have been driven underground by the Muggles--er, Mud People (humans, of course), and a loophole in fairy law makes it impossible for them to take back what's theirs. Adventure and hijinks ensue. Fowl is usually accompanied by his ferocious henchman Butler, a Sig Sauer-toting martial arts expert, and has the convenience of high-end computers and other techno-gadgets at his disposal. His mother is bedridden and vacant, has been since his father disappeared. Add some leprechauns--actually fairy law enforcement, whose name is the basis of a pun so silly it doesn't bear repeating--some fairly graphic toilet humour, a paranoid centaur-technician, and we have the makings of either an enormously successful movie, and/or a crass three hour commercial for fairy helmets and action figures.
The writing, particularly the dialogue, snaps with cleverness, if not wit; the story is modern, but well-worn. Computer hacking and neat gadgetry can't disguise what is essentially a story about a juvenile delinquent who doesn't know what he really wants, causes a lot of trouble, but doesn't get his comeuppance. Curiously, the psychological dossiers on Fowl that serve as prologues to both books do much to alienate the reader from the already unlikeable hero-villain. He's lonely, brilliant, and misunderstood, a sad boy in a huge mansion; but none of this humanises him. Unlike the traditional young hero, he shows no courage or honour unless he wants something in return. This is why Artemis Fowl will never be another H. Potter--although to say that either one is 'great' children's literature is lowering the bar--Artemis Fowl is populated by unsympathetic, one-schtick characters. Instead, Artemis Fowl comes across like gentle Potter's barbaric, bloodthirsty Irish cousin. Youngsters who don't read much will like these books, and probably so will some keener kids and adults. Colfer, whose previous award-winning works made but small ripples outside his native Ireland, scored a contract with none other than Talk Miramax for this excursion in kid-lit exploitation. Reviews have been mostly apoplectic and the books are flying off the shelves. Lawrence Guterman (of 2001's Cats and Dogs, a blend of live action, CGI, and kiddie comedy) is said to be directing the first Fowl flick.
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