Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

As mentioned a while back, I decided to try Artemis Fowl series. Now that I have read the first 3 books in this series:

1. Artemis Fowl
2. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
3. Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code

I feel I must read the rest of them just to find out what happens in the end.

Well, it is Juvenile Fiction, oops, I mean, Young Adult Fantasy, so, I guess if I were in middle-school again, I might enjoy it more. Perhaps. Am not sure. I mean, I did read Enid Blyton and Hardy Boys back in middle school... No, don't get me wrong, the labeling of the genre is not the reason for this not-so-raving beginning here... Bartimaeus Trilogy was also Young Adult Fantasy and I loved that trilogy.

I admit, I have read way too many Weiss-Hickman Dragonlance series, with a red ink pen in hand doing what the editor and proof-reader should have done before it went to print... however, I have immensely enjoyed JRR Tolkien and Robert E Howard, liked George RR Martin and Tad Williams... am a die-hard Terry Pratchett fan, and feel that Pratchett's Discworld series is not easy to simply classify as a fantasy series - they are brilliant parodies (or, "resonances") of our own world.

People who view fantasy as second rate or childish are usually people who don't read or understand it. I like to tell them that good fantasy is social commentary combined with good storytelling - Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, the Oz stories and so many others. Sure, the stories take place in an imaginary world. But those worlds mirror our own and tell us things about ourselves that need to be said and understood. I also like to tell them how often other forms of literature use fantasy as the bedrock of their own stories. Fantasy transcends its own form in wider scope than any other type of writing.
-- Terry Brooks

Back to Artmis Fowl: I liked the premise and the intro to characters in the first novel. I did not really enjoy Arctic Incident, the second book, but liked Eternity Code, the third one. I am just going to leave it at that. Not much of a "review", eh? Maybe after I've read the next 3 books in the series I might be able to be more specific...

It is really light reading - just what I am looking for right now. Life's a bit hectic and tough, not to mention stressful, as it is. So, till I can find my bearings and get a handle on things and figure out a way to strike a balance, I am glad I get to read a few pages each night before passing out for a couple of hours.