Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

Oh man. I picked up this book because I kept seeing it in every bookstore on the front table in the youth fiction. Of every store. And since there have been something like four sequels to the book, I was intrigued. I couldn't make out what, if anything, the book was about besides that it had something to do with fantasy in some way or another and had connections to the "who-done-it" genre books. So I was interested and we picked it up.

Granted, we didn't read the book so much as listen to it. Books on mp3 are a great way to go for long car rides. But let's pretend I actually read the book and not talk so much about delivery of the book.

The story follows Artemis Fowl, a 12-year-old criminal mastermind as he attempts to steal a fortune from leprechauns. An interesting plot devised from an author who I can only assume is Irish himself, with all the explanations of how Ireland is the center of the universe. But let's talk about the book. It was good, I'll give it that. Being a crime story, you always have to be asking yourself how each party is going to get out of their situation and what tricks they've got up their sleeves. This book does a great job of leading you along to try to guess what this so-called boy genius has prepared.

But there's one big problem. There wasn't any hero in this book. Everyone was amoral and there wasn't anyone you actually cared about. From the start of the book, I didn't hold any admiration for the titular character and his band of criminals. The fairy folk, or the "people" as they're called, are just as amoral as the criminals trying to steal from them and it makes for a story that is interesting, but lacking in concern for the characters.

It was fun and very modern (compared to most fantasy books), but the technologies used in this book will be very outdated in less than ten years. Despite liking crime stories like this, I have to admit that if I had something better to do, I might just have put this book down and never picked it up again.