Artemis Fowl

I read the final Artemis Fowl book today.

How was it?

.....

My deepest regret is to say that it was not, in fact, a slam dunk for this series. The general fan response has been favorable, but I was a bit disappointed. The book is a notable departure from the rest of the series.

The characters are mostly spot on, as usual. And it doesn't fail to make you laugh! Eoin Colfer is still the funniest and best writer(although perhaps not plotter) ever! The narration is amazing as usual.


The main thing I disliked(same problem with the book before, Atlantis Complex) was lack of plot complexity. It's still a relatively good plot compared to the field of children/YA fiction, but compared to the first six books in the series, with layers upon layers of intrigue and pwningness and defeating different antagonists/conflicts consecutively as well as simultaneously(there has been a lot of comparison with Opal Deception, where reading was like watching an intricate chess game between the two geniuses), it's just not as stunningly woven.

They went a little far with Artemis's redemptive spirit..he turns out sorta like a pansy.

There are some GLARINGLY MAJORLY OBVIOUS continuity errors. They aren't really vital to the plot, but they do make you wince a bit.

My favorite part of these books was always the part when Artemis's "ace in the hole", big plan climax, was revealed. This book had one, but it wasn't as climactic as it could have been.

The ENDING. If you've read this book, you'll know what I'm talking about. The-the ending..it's just...ajfd;lsjfl;asdfjsdl;ajkfklasd. it's very.....different. Not really that "ahh, wipe away a tear" feeling I like at the end of books...it was more like "....?!!! huh? what the heck did I just read"

At first when I finished reading it I was ready to flip a table at how darn weird and unnatural the ending seemed. I was convinced that someone had kidnapped Eoin Colfer and wrote the ending under his name, not to mention upset that the amazingly beautiful series that was Artemis Fowl had to endure that kind of ending.

I read it several times over and I guess I sort of warmed up to it...the ending's not terrible...it's either very predictable or totally not predictable, depending on who you are. It is predictable, I guess...but it still catches you by surprise in the "I-can't-believe-they-are-really-gonna-do-that-wait-did-that-seriously-just-happen???" way.

Of course Artemis Fowl was gonna end in a way that wasn't the usual book ending. I agree with those who said that the series should have ended at The Time Paradox, as Atlantis Complex and this book just weren't up to par with the brilliance that was the beginning of the series. Nothing could make me love the series any less or tarnish that brilliance. The series is still a head above any other series in the field, but it wasn't quite the explosive ending we fans had hoped for.

(that was really long...O.O)