Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer

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I’m such an Artemis Fowl fanboy.  I get eager and excited whenever I hear there’s going to be a new book in the series, so much so that I’ll even read Half-Moon Investigations, a sad substitute by the same author.  This one snuck up on me, though; I didn’t even realize it was out until I saw it in a bookstore.

I like the way that the author has developed Artemis over the years.  He started out as a precocious and unlikeable criminal mastermind; now, he’s much more focused on doing good, and he’s no longer motivated by money and fame.  It’s a clever ploy, and one that could have proved disasterous, since most people knew Artemis as one kind of character from the beginning.  Luckily, Colfer pulled it off.

In The Lost Colony, Artemis is studying the appearances of demons around the world, and trying to figure out why they pop up and disappear so quickly.  During his studies, he discovers that someone else is going to the same places, studying the same phenomenon.  This is a 12-year old girl, with a bodyguard or two, and she proves herself to be as much of a young genius as Artemis himself.  Is she his competition, or confidante?

Colfer has scaled back a bit on the lunacy and puns of the original few books (a good thing, too; Piers Anthony proved that too much of that sort of thing could overpower the series), but he hasn’t let up on the pacing and suspense that he’s known for.  His skills in both areas are comparable to Dan Brown and Preston/Child.

If you’re not familiar with Artemis, go back and start at the first book.  They’re just fun to read.

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