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54 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Richly satisfying in a Cliffhanger Ending sort of way., August 3, 2010
I must begin this review by telling you that this book is completely different than any other book in the series. Like, really. Artemis even discusses how the adventure was different in the Epilogue. Not that it doesn't fit in; the seat-of-the-pants adventure and delicious humour is still there. But something about it is just......different. Maybe it's the villain who is driven more by romance than anything else. Maybe it's the fact that the heroes are, the majority of the time, two steps behind said villain rather than two steps ahead. I think the second one is it. It seems like the heroes have a helpless demeanor about them most of the time. But somehow, this adds to the story rather than detracting from it. The perilous state of Artemis's mind adds an emotional level to this story that none of the other's seem to have. I thoroughly enjoyed the jaunts into Artemis's brain; the alter-ego Orion is also a delight to read about. There is something slightly darker about this book, too, which I think is a good thing. Like I said, it is a tad-more emotionally driven than the rest. I find this fascinating. Also, I was thrilled by the fact that most of the plot was a blatant set-up for a future Artemis/Holly relationship (SPOILERS: The elf having a human wife, Orion claiming that Artemis also has unspoken feelings for Holly, Holly claiming Trouble isn't her boyfriend. Is anyone else PUMPED!?). I love the way Artemis is slowly becoming a better and better person, specifically the fact that he is prepared to give all her has to the environment. I would also like to point out that The Time Paradox is NOT random as so many seem to think. It sets up a lot of plot elements in this one, mostly involving Artemis's further growth. And I have always found Artemis's growth to be my favorite part of the series, which is why I loved this installment so much.
I'm also going to inform you that I was a tad confused for the first half of the book. I felt like I was supposed to be familiar with Turnball Root, and I kept thinking "WHERE HAVE I HEARD THIS NAME BEFORE?!?!" I then remembered a story from The Artemis Fowl Files, about Holly's induction into Recon. This explains a ton of Root's bakstory, and really made the story click for me. PLEASE READ THE ARTEMIS FOWL FILES BEFORE READING THIS! It makes everything make so much more sense! The ending is strangely heart-wrenching and satisfying, despite the fact that it obviously leaves a huge cliffhanger for the 8th book. I love how you can just FEEL everything coming to a close, and I'm sure the next book will be the last (Also because Colfer has stated there will only be one more book). Although I'm certainly sad that my adventures with Artemis will be over, every story needs an end. And you can feel the build up in this novel. Anyway, I really liked this book. It certainly wasn't my absolute favorite in the series, but it has so much emotion and charm that I loved it anyway. Definitely a great addition to this series!
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20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Orion Fowl is a riot, but he sure wasn't Artemis, August 15, 2010
Loyal readers of the series will notice almost immediately that Artemis Fowl is not operating at 100% for Book 7. Artemis suffers from compulsions, fear of the number 4, increasing paranoia and loss of touch with reality. Worst of all, when Artemis' ingenuity is most needed (as an old foe of the fairyfolk returns to power), Artemis' smooth-talking romantic hero alter-ego Orion surfaces and takes over as the dominant personality. Is everything lost for the fairy people?
By now, Eoin Colfer has his formula down pat, we have the expected non-stop action & adventure, laugh out loud humor (although some jokes were a bit stale) and inventive fairy-made gadgets that would delight any techno-geek out there.
Old favorites (the dwarf Mulch Diggins is still the scene-stealer) and the usual suspects return for this adventure, but even though Orion Fowl is a total riot and totally delightful in his own right, 'The Atlantis Complex' really suffered from the lack of Artemis Fowl himself. It's just not the same without the ole' Artemis around. It's funny if you think about it, Artemis is so awkward, stilted and unemotional, but this book proves that HE is the heart and soul of everyone around him. With Artemis trapped in his mind, the heroes are suddenly helpless and bumbling, always playing catch-up but not quite to the villain. I did enjoy the mind-trip of being able to spy inside Artemis' brain so that's a plus.
Another weakness for this book is that the plot is not as complex as usual; I've always enjoyed the unpredictable double-cross/triple-cross elements & the mind-twisting tricks that Eoin Colfer adds to the books, but maybe he's run out of steam this time around.
Eoin Colfer has said that there's only one book left to look forward to in the series, and as a longtime fan, I do hope that the final book will be worthy of the brilliance of the first book. Book 7 doesn't quite live up to my high standards, but it was still an enjoyable read.
p.s. To all those tickled by an Artemis/Holly romance, am I the only one going -ewww? Artemis is a 15-year-old child, while Holly is an adult elf (yes, she looks like a child, but still -ewww)
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20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Lacking the charm of its predecessors, August 15, 2010
There is little I can add that hasn't been discussed by the other reviewers, but I think it is important to note that this addition to an otherwise imaginative, inventive, complex, and wittily charming series of books suffers a notable lack of quality when compared to its predecessors. While the plot and characterization fails to meet the standard set by the previous books, most notable to myself was a distinct difference in the quality of the writing itself. When compared to the first two books of the series, one can't help but feel if Colfer wrote this in his spare time then published it while his editor was on vacation, or found a ghostwriter to produce the books while he focuses on other projects. (I nearly stopped reading entirely when Colfer constructed a simile paraphrased thus: "as fast as a really fast thing." I'd give you the quote and page number if I were willing to read the book again to find it! This is a far cry from the opening of the first novel in which Artemis is graphically and pointedly described "as white as a vampire and almost as testy in the light of day.")
As if this weren't bad enough, the plot, character interaction, and villain is formulaic and predictable. Perhaps Colfer wanted to focus more on the bigger conflict within this novel, which takes place within Artemis' own mind as he struggles for dominance over his long-repressed hopelessly romantic inner identity. While this sounds like an intriguing psychological exploration of the boy-genius-slash-criminal-mastermind, ultimately, we are robbed of the titular character that makes the novels so enjoyable - Artemis Fowl - as he is replaced by an amusing though tiresome alter ego.
Oddly enough, though several old villains are dredged up from the footnotes of the Fowl series (and we are treated to the reappearance of the fan-favorite demon warlock No. 1), Minerva - the striking female counterpart to Artemis introduced in book 5 - fails once again to garner so much as even a brief mention.
The jokes are forced and the character interaction is stale and more recycled than Haven's air. To my annoyance, multiple pages of text throughout the story are dedicated to summarizing events that occured in previous books. The ending, though wrapping up the current crisis (which begins and is resolved within just a few hours, lacking the scope and depth of many of the previous adventures), ends with a cliffhanger and many loose strings still dangling.
I chose to rate this book 2 out of 5 stars only because it did provide a few hours mindless entertainment and gives me hope that another novel will be released soon - and I can only hope that it is one that ends the story of Artemis Fowl as well as it had begun. Otherwise, this book is as stale as a really stale thing. I know Colfer can do better!
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