Review: Artemis Fowl And The Atlantis Complex

ARTEMIS FOWL: THE ATLANTIS COMPLEX

By Eoin Colfer

7,38 GBP(Hardcover)/ 7,20 USD (Hardcover)

Okay, I´m a very stubborn reader – I realize that. But Colfer is one of my favourite authors.

I thought, since we´d already looked at the beginning of this series, why not jump directly to the end?

The Atlantis Complex isn´t the absolute end, though, but simply the most recent installment in this series of (let´s be honest) a soon embarrassing length.

The first thing I´d like to judge this book by is its cover, as seen above. However, in the version I have it´s an incredibly shiny, pastel-blue-ish dustjacket, and like the previous books of the series, it has the charming trait of having the book´s title written in silver-lettered Gnommish (the fictional language used in the books) along the spine beneath the otherwise completely black cover. If you like shiny things (such as the previous covers in this series), you´re going to love the looks of this book.

Another reason I´ve chosen this (and I´m sorry I have without letting you vote for it, but I´ve had to catch up on some material) is that it differs heavily from the others. While Artemis Fowl I-VI are simply movie-style adventures over a few days or so, everything in The Atlantis Complex happens within a couple of hours; it´s nearly as quickly over for the characters as it is for the reader. But most importantly, it differs in ways of the moral. For once, we have something else than a basic good-versus-evil vendetta with the most emotionally challenging part being “Oh! I never thought you´d be the traitor!”. Colfer picks up on one of his in my opinion best characters, and for once it´s not the villain you´d expect it to be – in fact, if you´re not all that fanatical about the series, you might never even have heard of the character, though I don´t imagine that´s going to matter.

Now, I mentioned that the series was too long for my taste, and that´s an opinion I stand by. Sequels rarely live up to the expectations, but Colfer was lucky with the sequel for Artemis Fowl, since it more than did. Apparently this must´ve encouraged him, because this is book seven, and he´s supposedly in the middle of writing another. That´ll be the last, however, which I personally think is only good; because for plot-per-book series, there is a limit to how many books that can be pulled off.

That said, Colfer makes good use of what he´s given himself to work with, and a fairly good story is told without introducing too many new plot elements, but rather building on top of the events in earlier books. Colfer deserves a notion for his attempt at interweaving the plots, but it´s a shame it´d have to be this close to the end before it really started showing.

THE CONCLUSION:

Are you the target audience for Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex?

This has the exact same fanbase as Artemis Fowl itself – fairy fans, action fans and movie fans who´d like a motivation to read more.

What are, respectively, the best and worst parts of Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex?

The best part is the twist in the usual Fowl dialogue, brought on by the 'new' character Orion, as well as the more practical references to earlier books, which are suddenly starting to show up.

The worst part is how the entire book appears to be a beginning, and suddenly you´ve only got four pages left – though that´s arguably not so bad, anyway.

For me specifically, was Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex worth buying?

I have little more left to say than 'Yes'.

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An announcement: As you´ve probably seen by now, I was a bit too hopeful when setting the bar at two reviews per week. From now on, only the reader´s choice review will be taking place. Have a nice day! ;)