Ruler of the Realm

Maybe it was just slow to get going with its apparently disconnected episodes and different characters and locations plus the sense that this was going to be Artemis Fowl in another guise but once into this world the book becomes a tremendous page-turner. It’s the sequel to Faerie Wars and there is a strange awkwardness in the use of the everyday world where the teenage Henry Atherton is struggling to cope with the effects of his newly separated parents. The book opens with him returning unexpectedly to his father’s house to find – an intruder? No, it’s his dad’s new and young girlfriend coming out of the bath. His mother has moved in with her girlfriend. These scenes are intercut with a number of other short scenes from the faery world all ending in dramatic climaxes to give the effect of fast-paced editing, disorientating at first but then part of the drama. Yes, it is a fairy world that Henry falls into, but one that Eoin Colfer has shown how to make energetically tough and a playground for dark deeds and serious battling by heroic characters in a series of tremendously fantastic scenes. There are marvellous twists and turns, a pulsating climax and a cast of characters to enjoy – and fear. Bring on the next one.