Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) may very well be one of the coolest people on the planet. Not only are his books beyond brilliant and immensely entertaining, but he’s also Irish (ie. cool accent), incredibly down to earth, and bust-a-gut funny. Plus he used to be an elementary school teacher, for crying out loud. I mean, this is a one cool guy.
Recently Lauren and I discovered the promotional website for the Artemis Fowl series at (shocking) artemisfowl.com. It shows snippets of Colfer at work performing his one-man touring show: Fairies, Fiends and Flatulence. Yes, that’s flatulence. But before, you discredit Artemis Fowl as mere potty humor, give these books a try. They’re downright amazing.
I just finished the sixth book in the series, Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, and it doesn’t disappoint. Artemis’s mother has fallen gravely ill, bewitched with fairy magic. The only cure, however, comes from a lemur that went extinct several years ago. Who’s to blame for that animals extinction? Well, none other than a much younger Artemis Fowl, who sold the animal to the highest bidder during his darker, criminal-mastermind days.
Now, to save his mother, Artemis must go back in time to outsmart his younger self and retrieve the lemur before it falls into the wrong hands. Time traveling isn’t easy, though. It’s highly illegal in the fairy world — not to mention extremely dangerous since it can shift events in the past and throw off the time stream, possibly causing catastrophic events in the future.
Fortunately, Artemis won’t have to do it alone. Captain Holly Short will accompany him, Artemis’s closest fairy friend and budding love interest. But to convince Holy to go along, Artemis lies to her, an untruth that could threaten their friendship and teeters Artemis back toward his darker-days behavior. But what can he do? His mother’s life is at stake.
Since this is an Artemis Fowl adventure, nothing is as easy as it first appears. Something much more sinister is at play here. And when Artemis finally uncovers the truth, the action really kicks into high gear.
I always say this, but this may very well be my favorite Fowl book to date — next to the first one, that is, which introduced me to this magic and universe. Colfer is at the top of his game here, and I hope the man never slows down. I’ll take an Artemis Fowl book any old day.
