Review: The Atlantis Complex

The Atlantis Complex (Artemis Fowl #7)
Eoin Colfer
Middle grade, adventure, fantasy

When Artemis commits his entire fortune to a project he believes will save the planet and its inhabitants, both human and fairy, it seems that goodness has taken hold of the world's greatest teenage criminal mastermind. But the truth is much worse: Artemis is suffering from Atlantis Complex, a psychosis common among guilt-ridden fairies and most likely triggered in Artemis by his dabbling with fairy magic. Symptoms include obsessive-compulsive behavior, paranoia, multiple personality disorder and, in extreme cases, embarrassing professions of love to a certain feisty LEPrecon fairy.

Unfortunately, Atlantis Complex has struck at the worst possible time. A deadly foe is intent on destroying the actual city of Atlantis. Can Artemis escape the confines of his mind-and the grips of a giant squid-in time to save the underwater metropolis and its fairy inhabitants?

You can read my reviews of The Last Guardian (Artemis Fowl #8) and The Artemis Fowl Files here.

Ya, about that. I had accidentaly skipped book 7 of the series. *cringe* 

So in this installment, Artemis has a crazy disorder causing him to be.... well, crazy. At first I thought this would ruin the book for me, because Artemis being Artemis is what makes this series, you know? In the beginning, it was like that a bit. But as the story and Artemis's condition progresses, we get Orion, Artemis's alter ego. Need I say hilarious? All the things Artemis supresses in himself come out into full play, including his affections for Holly. As a huge Holly+Artemis shipper, you can bet I was WOOT WOOT-ing the whole time. 
(Either way, I needn't have worried. Every once in a while our favorite snooty criminal mastermind emerges from the depths have his own mind just in time to save everybody and be mortified by his alter ego's confessions)

Mulch was absolutely wonderful. I was giggling like a 5 year old being tickled after his every line. And it was nice to have Foaly on the field for a change. 

The beginning with the Butlers was a little slow, but push past that and you'll have a blast with the rest of the book. Rating:

What are you reading this week! I would love for you to let me know in the comments!
Love,
Esty

Review: The Artemis Fowl Files

The Artemis Fowl Files
Eoin Colfer
Companion to the Artemis Fowl series

The Artemis Fowl Files is comprised of two original stories: "LEPrecon": the story of Fairy Police Captain Holly Short's move from Traffic to Recon following her initiation into the Fairy Police; and "The Seventh Dwarf", featuring Mulch, Butler, and Artemis himself.

EXTRAS INCLUDE: 
• "Behind-the-scenes" interviews with major characters including: Artemis, Holly, Foaly, Mulch, and Eoin 
Colfer himself
• Coded section from the Fairy Book for kids to translate
• A section for Fairy Spotters including the different categories of Fairy and their physical characteristics 
and personality traits, including: Elves, Trolls, Sprites, Pixies Goblins, Dwarves and Centaurs
• Technical diagrams of Foaly's inventions

Hey there! Here for a rare middle-of-the-week post. Enjoy!

You can read my review of Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian here. As you can see in the link, I absolutely ADORE this series. Genius young criminal mastermind? Kick-butt faeries? What's not to love? So, naturally, I was overjoyed to stumble upon this great find in the library.

The book was quick and fun (200 pages) with activities to entertain a kid for hours (fortunately, I have stuff to do. I did not abandon my maturity. But I would have like to:)). 

The stories were written flawlessly and the interviews had me laughing. I adored getting bonus content from my favorite characters- you get some more of Holly's background which I thought was pretty cool, and a story of Artemis and Mulch that has been referenced in the series but I hadn't known had been written! You can read this companion after having read just one of the series. 

Rating:

Love,
Esty

Review: Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian (spoiler free) + rant about spin-off series

Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian (Artemis Fowl #8)
Eoin Colfer
MG sci-fi/fantasy 

Seemingly nothing in this world daunts the young criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl. In the fairy world, however, there is a small thing that has gotten under his skin on more than one occasion: Opal Koboi. In "The Last Guardian," the evil pixie is wreaking havoc yet again. This time his arch rival has reanimated dead fairy warriors who were buried in the grounds of Fowl Manor. Their spirits have possessed Artemis's little brothers, making his siblings even more annoying than usual. The warriors don't seem to realize that the battle they were fighting when they died is long over. Artemis has until sunrise to get the spirits to vacate his brothers and go back into the earth where they belong. Can he count on a certain LEPrecon fairy to join him in what could well be his last stand? 
New York Times best-selling author and comic genius Eoin Colfer will leave Artemis Fowl fans gasping up to the very end of this thrilling finale to the blockbuster series.

I have reached the end of one of my all time favorite series: Artemis Fowl. What does this mean? The usual mixed feelings. The Last Guardian was amazing of course, and I expected no less, but, IT'S OVER?! WHYYYY. No more awesome out-of-the-blue seriously brilliant schemes from Artemis? No more kick-ass moves from Holly? No more hilarious lines and top-notch technology from Foaly? I could go on and on. But alas, all good things come to an end. 

Except that this series has a perfect setting for a spin-off, and is the first one I actually WANT a spin-off for. Usually I feel with spin-offs that the author is trying to stretch out the success of the first series, therefore making up problems that weren't originally intended. Take The Mortal Instruments for example: At the end of City of Glass, all the enemies are dead, problems solved, everything's good. Then Cassie Clare decides to continue and BOOM, Sebastian's back from the dead, his 'mother' Lilith shows up, suddenly there's 'dark' and 'light' and apparently Jace is not actually ok. Same with Heroes of Olympus, even if it's better done than TMI because of the prophecy appearing before in The Last Olympian. 

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE THE AFOREMENTIONED SPIN-OFFS.  I read them religiously because I miss the world and my favorite characters, and I'll devour anything with them in it, which was no doubt the author's and publisher's intent. But that's exactly why they still bother me- because they're meant to sell. (at least, that's what it looks like to me. I'm not stating a fact) Unlike the original series, which the author wrote because he/she wanted to, and they loved their story. Unplanned continuations just don't  feel as genuine. 

HOWEVER

ARTEMIS FOWL JUST NEEDS A SPIN-OFF SERIES. ONE THAT FOLLOWS THE ADVENTURES OF MYLES AND BECKETT ACCOMPANIED BY JULIET BUTLER. IT WOULD BE BRILLIANT. 

*end rant* *huffs* 

Anyway, the journey isn't actually over for me. Apparently I accidentally skipped The Atlantis Complex (a previous book). Yes. I am ashamed. 

What can I say? If you have read this book, you know the end is like OH MY GOD WHAT. NO. HE DIDN'T JUST GO THERE. NO WAY DID EOIN COLFER JUST GO THERE. GOOD LORD HE JUST WENT THERE. 
and then- AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAH OMG YOU BRILLIANT BRILLIANT BOY. (for the record,  I am proud to say I saw that last bit coming:))

If you haven't, go pick up Artemis Fowl now. Artemis, Holly, Butler, Foaly, Mulch and the others will become the new obsessions of your literary lives. Rating: 4 stars just because it wasn't as omg-I'm-gonna-die  funny throughout the whole book like the other ones were.


What are your thoughts about spin-offs? Let me know! Hoping those of you at BEA and armchair BEA are having tons of fun!!
Love,
Esty