Stay still, Mudboy, you have no idea what you're dealing with...

Greetings, dreamers!

Sorry for the delay, kinda forgot that today was Friday.

I want to talk about a book series that is very dear to my heart.

I want to talk about

Child. Genius. Criminal Mastermind.

Artemis Fowl, written by Irish author Eoin Colfer (Pronounced 'Owen', or so I read), is a story about a boy.

Well, about one that is young enough to believe in magic, and old enough to want to examine it and find out how it works. A boy with a mother that has been consumed by the grief of losing her husband, thus leaving him to be raised by the butler.

It's a story about a man who is in charge of taking care of this boy. A man trained in martial arts, close quarter combat, armed combat, cooking, driving... almost everything you can think of, whose last name is Butler

It's a story about an elf, Holly Short, sole female member of the Lower Elements Police Recon squad, LEP Recon for short. She is a very capable elf, but because she is the only female member she strives for perfection at every turn.

And this is a story of how Artemis Fowl and Butler pull a caper on an entire civilization of magical AND technological beings hidden underground for a ridiculous amount of money.

At least, that's the first book.


The series is, more than anything, character growth. Each book has such intense events happen that all characters change, their ideas of the world changing per book.

For starters, Artemis, a criminal mastermind and what could almost be described as a soulless jerk slowly learns that there is more to life than gold, and that family might be more important than he thought at first.

Butler learns that not only is Artemis his charge, he is also the closest thing Artemis has to a friend and a father figure, while Artemis is the only friend he has.

Holly learns that not all humans (mud folk, as they affectionately call us) are despicable, or hellbent on destroying the ecosystem.


It's got lovely character depth and development, and just for that it deserves a read.

But that's not all there is to these books. The stories in each all put a great many things at stake, and from the opening to the resolution they're a wild ride. The first one is a hostage situation that goes out of control. Second is a battle for control over one of the main cities of the elves in the underground AS WELL as the search for a character that went missing. The list goes on, with each book having different risks, without going too over the top, keeping them fresh and engaging.

Truly, they are books aimed at children, young teenagers, but I think there's value to be had in each of the books for people of all ages.

I'll admit that the ecological messages can get a bit too strong, but... honestly, we need more of that kind of messages all over the place.

I've just got to say that if you've got some time to kill, a little money to spend and love the idea of magic and technology blended into a crazy story, give the Artemis Fowl series a try.

Did I mention that Eoin Colfer wrote the (for now) final book of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series based off on the last notes of Douglas Adams?

Did I mention that the books are getting turned into graphic novels?

Seriously, you should give these books a shot.

You will not be disappointed!

I can't really think of any similar works to recommend. Think Richie Rich without scruples and you might get an approximation of Artemis in the first book.

But it all just keeps getting better.

That's all for tonight, friends.

Have a lovely weekend, and keep on dreaming!