Artemis Fowl Series Overview

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

A Mostly Spoiler Free Overview of the Series

 

I find the Artemis Fowl series a bit hard to categorize. I remember enjoying the first four books as a teenager but never got around to reading the rest of the series until now. I honestly can't say that the series is amazing, though it is, at least original. Sci-fi-is fairies aren't a dime a dozen, after all. It was fun getting to know the characters and their world, for the most part. It is also quite clear that 30-something is not the intended age range for the Artemis Fowl series. I was rolling my eyes at some of the jokes and honestly felt talked down to at times. If I were to recommend an age-range for these, it would probably be the Junior High set.

The main batch of characters -- Artemis, Holly, Mulch, Butler, Foaly, and Opal -- were all fleshed out quite well. I enjoyed all of them at certain points, though, if you've read my reviews, you will know that I have a disdain for Butler's apparent body-guarding "skills." Artemis' character progression was believable and gradual enough to work for me. The less said about his alter ego in The Atlantis Complex, the better. Holly, Foaly, and Mulch were pretty steady throughout the series, which I expect considering they're in at least their 80s. Fairy aging might be different than human aging, but a well-adjusted adult is still not going to change that much over the course of a few years. Butler, as I've said before, is a crap bodyguard, but he's essential to the series. Artemis did need someone to do the physical stuff after all. And finally, Opal Koboi. Hooo boy does Opal need some serious, actual therapy. That said, I did enjoy having an uncomplicated, almost completely insane villain.

The secondary characters were alright, though honestly the rest of them were relegated to the background pretty quickly. I definitely did not enjoy most of the interim antagonists, can't even recall their names off the top of my head. I'm not really sure why we had to have them in the first place, but they exist. I did like Commander Julius Root, for the short time we had him. He was very stereotypical of a hard on the outside but a cinnamon roll in the middle police captain that seems to make their way into these things. I guess I would have liked him to stick around, but I feel like he would have been just a background character, like Kelp, there at the end so it's probably a good thing he was taken out early. Myles and Beckett Fowl were cute and largely served to soften Artemis some. Artemis Fowl Sr. and Angeline Fowl were just kind of there as very background guides for Artemis' continued growth through the series and, of course, motivation in those first three books. Lastly, Juliet Butler had some semi-complex character growth. She figured out what she actually wanted to do with her life (masked wrestling) and then promptly discards it to bodyguard the Fowl twins? I'm confused, but hey, if that's apparently what she wants, more power to her.

I did also enjoy the fairy upgrade we got. By that, I mean that the fairies are a borderline sci-fi alien species as opposed to the stereotypical stuck in medieval ways kind of species. I also liked the diversity of them. We've got elves, sprites, trolls, dwarfs, goblins, and centaurs, each with their own characteristics. It's not often we get more than just elves and dwarfs. Speaking of dwarfs, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about getting a new ability for them every book. They seem to be ever-evolving where the rest of the fairies are just kind of mini-humans with a tiny bit of magic. Not even sure what most of fairy society uses magic for. Holly always seems to be using it for healing and shielding, but most of fairy society is underground just going about their business so they don't need magic, really. Much shrugging. I'm still wondering how tall centaurs get, given that the other fairy species (aside from Trolls) seem to top out at around three feet.

Finally, I want to talk a bit about Colfer's environmental message. It's really obvious that Colfer is pro-environmentalism. I second that view, for what it's worth. However, I do think Colfer slams the reader over the head with it at least once a book. I get it, I do, get the kids onboard with the pro-environment message as soon as you can. Not sure how much in-depth detail really needed to be added, though. I know my brain kind of glazed over when Artemis' glider was described in The Last Guardian, for example. I'm also pretty sure I ranted about the Extinctionists in The Time Paradox, too. They were definitely "on stage" for a lot longer than I thought was needed. But yeah, Colfer definitely has a strong pro-environment message that's ridiculously hard to miss. To be clear, I'm not knocking the inclusion of the message, I'm just not feeling HOW it was included. That said, it's also clear that Colfer is hopeful for us. His path for humanity in The Last Guardian shows that.

Yeah, overall, I think Artemis Fowl is pretty good. Worth a read, at least. In my personal opinion, one could definitely skip over a few books. They pertinent plot points are summed up in the following books, so you don't have to kill any brain cells actually slogging through them. I would personally skip The Eternity Code, The Time Paradox, and The Atlantis Complex on reread... assuming I ever get the urge to reread this series.