Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl
Eoin Colfer
Scholastic, 2001
ISBN: 0-439-35600-8

Artemis Fowl is a criminal mastermind. Armed with a loyal bodyguard about the size of a small mountain and the twin wonders of money and connection, he's out to steal the most valuable treasure out there: The gold of the fairies. But Artemis might have met his match when he captures agent Holly Short, the first female officer of the LEPrecon Special Forces. Not only does he have to negotiate with the entire fairy world, but he'll be dealing with trolls, the Blue Rinse, and a kleptomaniac dwarf. And he's only twelve years old.

I do like the first Artemis Fowl book. Really, I do. I think there's a lot that's great about it. The cast of characters is excellent. There's a smart-mouthed centaur who's actually a gadget genius. The kleptomaniac dwarf is pretty awesome. And the relation between Holly Short and Commander Root is a great multi-faceted aspect of the book. It's a rare commodity in a YA book. Artemis is anot necessarily a great character. But, he is fascinating. One of the best features of the book is the way Artemis grows and changes. He's a snot-nosed, conniving little bugger, but he ends up having to deal with things that even snot-nosed, conniving little buggers shouldn't have to deal with. That's part of the reason why I have such problems with the sequels. Artemis Fowl grows and changes. And Colfer throws it away in the fourth book. Le sigh. Still, the first book is a great stand-alone, and definitely worth the read.

For the record, it's pronounced "Owen". I had a professor in Ireland with the same first name.