Readergirlz Night Bites for Teen Read Week

Book Review: New Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl : the time paradox
by Eoin Colfer, Hyperion Books for Children, 2008
(Brooks Library has both the book and the audiobook on CD)

If any fantasy-loving readers of For the Love of Books have read Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony, they remember very well Eoin Colfer's ill-advised attempts to introduce a love interest for young super-genius Artemis Fowl in the shape of one golden-haired, female super-genius named Minerva. While not as bad as most Obvious Love Interests, Minerva was enough to upset many Artemis fans, who complained that she was too perfect and too much like Artemis to possibly be his One True Love. Fortunately, Colfer proved his respect for his fans and their opinions by excluding all mention of Minerva from Time Paradox. I was relieved when I got to page 101 and there'd been no allusion to the girl whatsoever. Well done, Colfer. Well done.

But there is more than just the purging of a canon Mary Sue to rejoice over in this final chapter of the Fowl saga. Artemis/Holly fans have their long-awaited moment in the sun as well. But perhaps I should get to the actual summary of the story first:

Artemis is enjoying quality time with his parents and two-year-old twin brothers after having returned from a trip to a demon dimension that caused him to go missing for three Earth years. Having used his newly acquired fairy magic to mesmerize his parents into believing he'd never gone missing, Artemis thinks nothing can interrupt his life with his newly expanded family. However, his mother contracts a mysterious disease that causes massive organ failure, and when no doctor can properly diagnose her, Artemis calls in Holly Short and Foaly to do their best. Foaly diagnoses Mrs. Fowl's illness as Spelltropy, a thought-to-be-extinct strain of fairy disease that can be cured only by using the brain fluid of lemurs. This would be encouraging news…if Artemis hadn't killed the very last lemur at age ten, which his mother had adopted and he later destroyed as a way of lashing out at her neglect in the face of his father's disappearance.

Without the lemur's brain fluid, Mrs. Fowl's death is guaranteed in a matter of days. But going back in time to prevent himself from killing the lemur has plenty of risks as well. For one, Artemis must follow his ruthless ten-year-old self to the zoo where the lemur resides and manage to kidnap it without being recognized—or killed. Needless to say, complications arise almost immediately. Artemis winds up battling with Young Artemis, but a pro-extinction villain who wants the lemur for his own purposes and has promised to pay Young Artemis for it. And does anyone remember the psychotic, power-hungry pixie Opal Koboi? As it turns out, she plays an extremely significant part in all this as well.

This is a thrilling, delightful book with exceptionally touching moments here and there. But there also are moments when the plot seems to go "Well, that about wraps up this—WAIT! THERE'S MORE!" It occurred to me that maybe Colfer had more than one ending in mind for his very last Artemis adventure, so he mashed them all together in the last book. Take a lesson from JK Rowling, sir—plan your very last ending out years in advance. And if the fans don't like it, tough! Kids today are too spoiled anyway!

If you have little patience for situations that go from bad to worse to better and worse again, this might not be a satisfying read.

If, on the other hand, you are a fan (however closeted) of interspecies romance or want to see just how far seventeen-year-old Artemis has come by getting to know the ten-year-old criminal he once was, you will probably enjoy this last hurrah.

--Nell Curley is an avid book reader (and writer) and she volunteers at the Library.

HORROR FEST

MARATHON HORROR FILM FESTIVAL FOR TEENS

To Jumpstart Teen Read Week, Saturday, October 11, starts at 11 a.m. ends at 4 pm

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Teens between 13 and 18 are invited to Brooks Memorial Library Saturday, October 11, beginning at 11 a.m. and continuing until 4 p.m. for three classic horror films to start Teen Read Week, October 12-18.

Join your friends in the library’s meeting room to see Frankenstein, Dracula, and Jekyll/Hyde in the classic 1930’s black and white films that made your parents and grandparents squirm in their theatre seats.

There will be refreshments served. Come for all three or just for one.

And while at the library, Celebrate Books with Bite, October 12-18, and stop by Young Adult section during Teen Read Week to indulge your biting curiosity and check out books and graphic novels on animals, technology, cooking and even vampires! Stop by today and pick up a page turner that you can read or listen to, just for the fun of it!