Review: Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer

Opal Koboi, power-crazed pixie, is plotting to exterminate mankind and become fairy queen.

If she succeeds, the spirits of long-dead fairy warriors will rise from the earth, inhabit the nearest available bodies and wreak mass destruction. But what happens if those nearest bodies include crows, or deer, or badgers - or two curious little boys by the names of Myles and Beckett Fowl?

Yes, it's true. Criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl's four-year-old brothers could be involved in destroying the human race. Can Artemis and Captain Holly Short of the Lower Elements Police stop Opal and prevent the end of the world?

My review for The Atlantis Complex, the seventh book in the fantastic Artemis Fowl series, was less than glowing. I felt that it just did not match the quality of the rest of the series, and part of me wondered whether Eoin Colfer was running out of ideas. Having now read the final book in the series, The Last Guardian, my feelings about The Atlantis Complex are possibly slightly more negative than they were when I read it - it just seems to be a little extraneous when put into the context of the series as a whole. The Last Guardian, however, if Colfer back on form and is a great final instalment for Artemis Fowl and Captain Holly Short.

Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian finds Artemis and Holly up against their old enemy, Opal Koboi, or is hell bent on bringing about the complete destruction of the human race, and the elevation to ruler of all fairy-dom that such an act is sure to bring for her. In order to do this she devises her greatest plan to date - somehow she must be released from prison, cripple the whole LEP organisation, awaken a squadron of Berserkers from their 10,000 year slumber and reopen a magical gate that will bring about Armageddon for all mankind. For anyone but Opal Koboi this would seem to be an impossible task - it's lucky for the human race that Artemis and his friends are hot on her trail, but will they be in time?

One of the main reasons I fell in love with the first Artemis Fowl book and subsequently the whole series, was the characters. Not just Artemis and Holly, but Butler, Foaly and Mulch as well. They have always been a delight to read, even when the plot was not maybe as strong as it could have been in some of the books, Every one of them has had a part to play in the ongoing saga, and in The Last Guardian it is as if Eoin Colfer does not want to end his series without each of them having one last key role to play in saving the world. 

The interplay between the key characters is as sparkling as ever, and the hilarious banter between them, something that has become a trademark of Colfer's writing, is all present and correct. I can just imagine the fun that Eoin Colfer must have had in writing the dialogue in these stories.

I'm struggling to say much more about the book without giving away information that will spoil it for readers. I know long-time fans had a huge number of questions running into this final book, and I'm not sure every one of them will be answered. I also know that fans have been speculating a lot about a number of things - the relationship between Artemis and Holly being the most popular topic on fan forums - and I know that some of these fans will be a little disappointed come the end of this book. However, I personally feel that Colfer has ended to book brilliantly - as readers we don't always require all the answers, and sometimes it is as rewarding for us to imagine what might happen next.

This is a year for 'last in series' books -  we recently saw the end of the Saga of Larten Crepsley by Darren Shan, a book that ended in a way that had me itching to re-read the whole of the original Saga of Darren Shan series. The final paragraph of Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian created a similar desire in me, and will have legions of fans reaching for well-read copies of the first book in the series. It will have some fans struggling to keep their jaws from dropping, but for me it was the perfect way to say goodbye to Artemis and Holly Short.

My thanks go to the good people at Puffin for sending me a copy to review. This may be the end for Artemis and friends but Eoin Colfer is set to return in 2013 with a brand new series, titled W.A.R.P., the first chapter of which is included at the end of this book. I can;t wait to see what he delivers next.

News: Book Cover - Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer

The final Artermis Fowl? It's the end of an era!


This cover was officially unveiled yesterday on Eoin's website. I'm glad Puffin have stuck with a design that is more in keeping with the other hardback books, rather than go for something that matched the rebranded white paperback editions. No blurb for the book as yet, as soon as I see something I will add it on to this post.

News: Eoin Colfer's New Series

I think I'm a little behind with this one but the past fortnight has been very busy with the end of term and my birthday celebrations, hence the lower than average number of posts on here recently. However, this news appeared in the Guardian online a couple of weeks ago and so I thought I would pop it on here in case any of you are as far behind with the news as I am.

In this article Eoin Colfer confirms something most of his fans already know - the next Artemis Fowl book, the eighth in the series, will be the final outing for his young anti-hero. I have been a fan of the Artemis Fowl books ever since I read the first one back in 2001, but if you have read my review of the most recent, The Atlantis Complex, you will already know that I found it a little disappointing, and I feel it is definitely time to bring the series to an end. Hopefully the as yet untitled Book 8 will do this in style.

If you read the Guardian article you will spot that Eoin Colfer has revealed something potentially even more exciting for his fans - news about his next project. The original press release reads as follows:

"Puffin Books today announced plans to publish a major new series by Eoin Colfer, the bestselling author of Artemis Fowl. WARP, an acronym for Witness Anonymous Relocation Program, used by the FBI to hide important witnesses in the past, is a high concept series described by the author as 'Oliver Twist meets The Matrix'.

The first book features a Victorian boy, Riley, who goes on the run in 21st century London pursued by a ruthless assassin from his own time. Riley must rely on his wits and the help of a young FBI agent if he is to survive."

What a great idea - using the past to hide key witnesses. It's just a shame that Summer 2012 is so far away!

News: Book Covers - Artemis Fowl rebranding

Today, Eoin Colfer, the author of the brilliant Artemis Fowl books, met up in Picadilly Circus with a group of young fans in order to unveil the new cover designs for his books on a giant electronic screen. Mr Colfer has since blogged each of these covers and so I wanted to share them with readers of The Book Zone. I have to admit that I do hate it when publishers rebrand books mid-series as from an aesthetic point of view I like my collection to be of a consistent design, and with one more book in the series promised I do wonder whether they could have waited until after its publication. However, it is ten years since the first book appeared on shelves across the country, and a celebration of this is most definitely merited. Oh yes, and if I am honest I do actually really like these new covers and I think they will look great as a set; they certainly depict Artemis as someone who you really would not like to get on the wrong side of. What do you think?

Review: Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer

ARTEMIS FOWL’S CRIMINAL WAYS HAVE FINALLY GOT THE BETTER OF HIM...

Criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl has summoned an elite group of fairies to Iceland. But when he presents his invention to save the world from global warming, he seems different. Something terrible has happened to him... Artemis Fowl has become nice.

The fairies diagnose Atlantis Complex (that’s multiple-personality disorder to you and me) – dabbling in magic has damaged his mind. And now the subterranean city of Atlantis is under attack from vicious robots and nice Artemis cannot fight them. Can fairy ally Captain Holly Short get the real Artemis back - ­­­before the mysterious robots destroy the city and every fairy in it?

It was with some sadness that I recently read that Eoin Colfer has announced that he intends to bid farewell to Artemis Fowl, with the latest outing for the his popular anti-hero, Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex, being the penultimate book in the series. However, having since read this latest episode I am now of the mind that Mr Colfer is right to be doing this. The Atlantis Complex, in comparison with others of the genre, is still a good read and will be thoroughly enjoyed by the myriad young fans of the series, but in comparison with the rest of the series it is a relatively poor relation. I am left with the feeling that the series has perhaps run its course and now that Artemis is fifteen there are not many more places that the author can take his leading boy/man.

That opening paragraph may seem a little negative, but that is only because I have come to expect the very best from Eion Colfer, eagerly awaiting every new Aretmis Fowl adventure, and until now never feeling disappointed. I am still trying to figure out the reason why I am not so enamoured with The Atlantis Complex. I think it may be that this book feels a lot more grown up, and therefore some of the magic has been lost. We also do not see as much of the Artemis we have come to know and love as he is suffering from what we would term a mental illness, and what the fairies call Atlantis Complex. As such, Artemis has become paranoid (even to the point of distrusting the ever-loyal Butler), he is suffering from OCD (manifesting itself in a phobia-like avoidance of anything related to the number 4) and then his personality changes completely and he becomes the sickly nice Orion. Mental illness in a book like this is a rare thing, and even rarer to be treated with the sensitivity that the author affors this issue. Lesser authors would have had their character acting the fool and being ridiculed, but Eoin Colfer has us instead feeling like we are watching the decline and suffering of a close family member.

Things get pretty dark in this book if you read it at an adult level and maybe that is my problem - I was not reading it as a child. However, although I feel some of the magic has gone, this is certainly not the case for the Colfer trademark humour - there are just as many laugh out loud moments in this book as there were in its predecessors. The author knows exactly when to inject humour into a scene, whether it be to lighten a dark moment or to create rapport between characters, and the book is chock full of oneliners that will have your children giggling away.

The plot of The Atlantis Complex is also not quite as strong as in previous episodes. For me it just doesn't seem to flow as naturally as in these earlier books and there are elements that seem a little forced or over-contrived. Again, this is not something a young fan would notice or care about, but I personally expect more from this author.

Many of the characters that we have come to know so well are present in The Atlantis Complex, and they are just as colourful and funny as usual. There is a scene set in Mexico towards the beginning of the book where Butler has rushed to what he thinks is the aid of his sister Juliet which is amongst the funniest I have ever read from Eoin Colfer, and the banter between these two is a joy to read. We are also treated to more of Foaly than we have become used to in the past, with him now finding himself out in the field, and in his disdain at the Orion/Artemis personality issue he delivers many more classic oneliners.

As I have already mentioned, Eoin Colfer intends to write only one more Artemis Fowl novel, about which he has said "There's not going to be any huge battle, and going up the stairs to heaven, it's not going to be that kind of finish. There will be the big adventure, but the end will be in a little epilogue. End of story." Fortunately it doesn't therefore look like Mr Colfer intends to kill off his main characters; I do not know when this book will be published but I hope that it will end the series in a way that is satisfying to the thousands of Artemis Fowl fans out there. The full article from which that quote was taken can be found at The Guardian website.

Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex is a book that will be enjoyed by thousands of young readers and despite my criticisms it is a must-read for any young fan of the series but adult fans my find themselves feeling slightly disappointed. The book is published by Puffin and is available in stores right now. Thanks go to the generous people at Puffin for sending me a copy to review.