Series Wrap-Up: Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Genre: Middle Grade, Urban Fantasy, Faries, Science Fiction
Number of Books: 8
Pages: ~3000
Audiobook Narrator: Nathaniel Parker
Published: 2001-2012
Publisher: Scholastic, Puffin, Miramax, Disney Hyperion…
Can be read as standalones: No

Artemis Fowl was a super fun series for me to start. For one, it took me completely by surprise. I hadn’t been reading a lot of middle grade (something the series made me want to change), and I was taken aback by just how much fun I had with the first book. And considering how slow I am at finishing series (no more than a book every few months), I finished this one pretty fast. All eight books in less than a year.

The first book starts with the protagonist, 12-year-old millionaire and criminal mastermind, Artemis Fowl, kidnapping a fairy. The fairy is Captain Holly Short, and Artemis demands a ton of gold for her release. And so starts a series with a bunch of great characters and some really clever schemes.

My thoughts on the series as a whole are very positive. My favourites are probably the first and sixth, or maybe the first to sixth. And my least favourite is the seventh. The eighth book is very good as well and provides a great conclusion. The reason I have somewhat less enthusiasm for the last book is probably because elements of the seventh book took away some of the excitement I had for the series.

Still, this is a series I’d highly recommend to anyone. It’s clever, entertaining, has an interesting and ever-expanding world, has great characters and character dynamics that evolve brilliantly throughout the series, and has a lot of heart.

Here are my individual ratings and review:

1. Artemis Fowl — 4 Stars
2. The Arctic Incident — 4 Stars
3. The Eternity Code — 4 Stars
4. The Opal Deception — 4 Stars
5. The Lost Colony — 4.5 Stars
6. The Time Paradox — 5 Stars
7. The Atlantis Complex — 3.5 Stars
8. The Last Guardian — 4.25 Stars