Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer- Review by Carlyn

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Artemis Fowl is a book series I started reading when I was a teenager. I loved the series but it is only now that I decided to get my act together and finish the series off. There are eight books to the series, as well as a graphic novels and short novel. The Artemis Fowl books follow the adventures of Artemis Fowl who is a criminal genius who learns that the fairy world exists. The fairies were driven underground many years ago as a result of the growing human population. They have since grown more advanced technologically to adapt to their new environment.

 In the first book, Artemis kidnaps a fairy named Holly Short, who is a member of the LEPrecon which is the elite police force for the fairies. Artemis threatens to reveal the fairies to the human world if they don’t pay a ransom. He needs the money to save his father who has gone missing in suspicious circumstances.

Holly does get released at the end and the two eventually become friends. Artemis also makes friends with Mulch Diggins, a dwarf who is a master thief. He also has a bodyguard/butler named Butler as well as Butler’s sister Juliet. Artemis and his friends go on many adventures together and Artemis learns to be more compassionate and respectful. Artemis’ family has been criminals for generation and he wonders whether he can give up his life of crime.

In this book, Artemis’ confliction over his good and bad side comes to a head. He gets a mental disease known as Atlantis Complex due to his exposure to magic and his struggle with his better self. Atlantis Complex includes multiple personality disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, hallucinations and paranoia. It also comes at a time when an old enemy has escaped from prison and is intent on revenge.

It was fun to reacquaint myself to a book series that I enjoyed when I was younger. There were some parts I didn't remember so I had to read about it on Wikipedia. I liked the exploration into mental illness and how it was acknowledged there is no quick fix to helping someone with it. Artemis’ split personality was also very entertaining as he was so innocent and nice compared to Artemis.

The adventure took place outside the mythical city of Atlantis, which in the book is one of the fairy realms. It was a fairy world that hadn’t been explored before in the other books. Artemis and his friends fight to keep Atlantians safe from outside the barrier of Atlantis.  I would have liked to have read more about Atlantis and its inhabitants but there was no time for that in the books.

The action in the book was fast paced and exciting. I particularly liked the part where a stadium full of wrestling fans is hypnotized into trying to kill our heroes. It featured people from all walks of life, suddenly gaining strength and murderous rage. It was entertaining to read about the elderly tossing their walking frames and babies suddenly able to walk try and kill the main characters.

I enjoyed the villain in this book because his motives were based on helping a loved one. I’m a sucker for a little romance. I’m not revealing his name because I don’t want to spoil it. He was still a bad guy though because he ruthlessly killed anyone he thought was expendable. He was ridiculous as he was ruthless which are traits that every Artemis Fowl villain has because it is a children’s book after all.

At the end of the books, Artemis always outwits the bad guy in a clever way. I think there wasn’t so much out witting in this book because the villain’s motivation changed so I didn’t think the ending was as spectacular as the previous books. I still enjoyed this book but it wasn’t my favourite out of the series.