xparrot: (gintama cuteness)
X-parrot ([personal profile] xparrot) wrote2011-01-14 02:38 pm
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Artemis Fowl

Just read Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex - does anyone know this series? I got into them around the third book and rather inordinately love them. They're kids' lit - about the level of the middle Harry Potters - and are lightweight fluff, unabashed urban fantasy action-adventure romps ("Die Hard with fairies," according to the author); but had they existed when I was eleven they might've been my favorite books in the universe, and I can't help but enjoy the hell out of them now. Putting aside that I adore kids' books anyway, Artemis Fowl reads like Eoin Colfer's got a checklist of All of X-parrot's Buttons and is going down it one by one. We've got:

--A villain turned reluctant hero protagonist
--Who's also a twelfth-level-intellect-style ultra-supergenius (at 12 years old, no less)
--With a badass bodyguard/assistant/lackey who redefines loyalty (<333 Butler forever)

But wait, there's more! For no extra charge there's also:

--Male/female platonic friendship (okay, mostly platonic; and it's a credit to the relationships that I'm okay whichever way it turns out in the end)
--A bit of cute sibling dynamics
--A gang of misfits saving the world together on a regular basis

And that's just the set-up; once the plots get going there's plenty of h/c and presumed dead and friends saving one another. Plus there's nifty magic-science amalgamating and really stupid puns (Holly is an elven police officer, a member of the Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance - in other words, she's a LEPRecon.) As well as a few gags - see dwarven flatuence and pretty much anything else about dwarf physiology - that could only be appreciated by a ten-year-old boy (and/or a Gintama fan :P).

The Atlantis Complex was as much fun as the rest of the series, and continues the button-smash tradition by screwing with the hero's sanity, which plot I obviously hate so much that I can't stop writing it :P Supposedly the next book will be the last in the series (SIIIGH)...don't want it to end, but can't wait for it!

[identity profile] joonscribble.livejournal.com 2011-01-14 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
I used to work for the house that published Artemis Fowl so I devoured the first few books and really enjoyed them. Butler was probably my most favorite character ever because he was basically Alfred with the body of the Hulk and badass ninja skills.

I haven't kept up with them though but since the series is ending, I feel like I should just wait until the last book is out so that I an read them all in one go.
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[identity profile] xparrot.livejournal.com 2011-01-15 12:15 am (UTC)(link)
Butler is in fact made of awesome - I always do love the badasses, so.

If the last one lives up to the rest of the series, they're definitely worth a read - they're very consistently entertaining, I loved this latest one as much as any before it ^^