Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

Few heroes in children’s fiction can boast that by the age of thirteen they have contributed, under the pseudonym Doctor F. Roy Dean Schlippe, an article to The Psychologists’ Journal. But, then, Artemis Fowl is no ordinary hero. In this, his second outing, he finds himself joining forces with previous arch-rival, Holly Short, as they travel to the Russian Arctic to find the father whose apparent death he cannot accept: as a quid pro quo he will assist Holly in confronting the machinations of the B’wa Kell goblin triad, who are being supplied with weapons by humans. The pace, plotting and humour are as lively and clever as in Colfer’s earlier Artemis novel, the technological gadgetry as impressively inventive and the onslaught on traditional Irish myth and legend continues vigorously. But, most interesting of all perhaps, are the changes being hinted at in ‘criminal mastermind’ Artemis himself and his attitudes. He is, in more senses than one, a boy on the move.