Things I Liked
Okay, first things first: the ending. I wasn’t entirely surprised that a main character died. This was the last book in the series, and it just… had to happen that way. Artemis needed to get away from the fairies in order for the series to really end. So, either he or Holly needed to die.
I was rooting for Holly. Really. But then everyone started blaming Artemis for everything for... really no reason, and I knew it was gonna be him. And I knew it was going to be some heroic thing he did, because that’s what he does now.
Over-all, I like the book. It was much, much better than that disastrous last book. There really weren’t too many holes left un-filled. Everything closed all nice and neat and grossly fucking depressing. It also felt closer to the style of the first book, which is something that I’ve missed.
There were more Myles and Beckett, and I like the correlation between Myles and Artemis. It’s a bitter sweet thing, too, because we know how it ends (metaphorically and literally) for Artemis, and the thought of four year old little Myles ending up the same way (criminal) is… ack.
Butler finally letting it all out was another nice touch. This, again, was something I saw coming. Butler’s job is to protect Artemis and Arty just… insists/ed on running head-long into dangerous, often deadly situations. Sometimes, (like this events in this book, and the events of TTP), they’re really isn’t/wasn’t much of a choice, though. But Butler’s comments still stung, however much they finally needed to be said.
Artemis’ random diatribes and complaints. This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but I liked that Artemis did this so much. He’s come a long way from book one, but he’s still human. And, as he admits several times, his intelligence really isn’t much help in many situations. When he gets stuck, I just see it as a very human reaction. Also, the nods about him being uncoordinated.
Mulch hiding out to rob Artemis’ art collection. Completely and totally random, but so funny.
Things I Didn’t Like
No book is perfect, though, and there were still a few things I didn’t like. The whole Opal/Beserker thing is probably the biggest. On the one hand, I get it. Opal’s story needed to end. But… jeez. She’d been the villain for how many books now? She got old pretty quickly.
The Beserker’s seemed way too similar to the demons which, again, had already been done. And they came from nowhere. The idea that Armageddon had always been just a lock away was kind of a ridiculous concept to introduce in the last book of a series.
I also didn’t feel like the story really ended. There’s still plenty of room for Colfer to come back to Arty and the gang with more adventures. Especially given that Artemis, ya know, literally died for six months this time. He could probably write an entire book alone just based on him explaining that to his parents.
Things I’m Undecided About
There were, as always, a few things that didn’t sit well. They weren’t necessarily things I disliked, but there weren’t things I liked, either. Mainly the idea that Fowl Mannor had been a hotspot for magical activity for centuries. On the one hand, I liked it. The whole “did you find magic, or did the magic lead you to it?” made a lot of sense, because there really wasn’t any reason for Artemis to have found (or believed in) magic to begin with.
But, on the other, if Artemis’ family had been dealing with fairies for centuries, why were the fairies so surprised when he found them? Shouldn’t that whole thing have been routine for them? And why were they so quick to jump to the mind-wipe in book three? So many generations of Fowls keep finding them, eventually you’d think “hey, maybe mind-wiping isn’t going to stop this from happening in the future?” I dunno. That just seemed like it undermined the entire first three or four books.
Caballine. I think Colfer tried to make her this tough, intelligent woman who has an extreme girly-girl side, or something. Which is great, really. We need more characters that are more than just tom-boys, or princesses. But, in the task of making her both she came out a little “dum de dum.” It’s like sometimes she was in lala land (like the whole thing with the gift box), and sometimes she was this fierce fighter who could match wits with Foaly.
I dunno. Something about her character just didn’t sit well with me.
Over-all, I’d give it 9.5 out of 10 stars, and highly recommend it.
Okay, first things first: the ending. I wasn’t entirely surprised that a main character died. This was the last book in the series, and it just… had to happen that way. Artemis needed to get away from the fairies in order for the series to really end. So, either he or Holly needed to die.
I was rooting for Holly. Really. But then everyone started blaming Artemis for everything for... really no reason, and I knew it was gonna be him. And I knew it was going to be some heroic thing he did, because that’s what he does now.
Over-all, I like the book. It was much, much better than that disastrous last book. There really weren’t too many holes left un-filled. Everything closed all nice and neat and grossly fucking depressing. It also felt closer to the style of the first book, which is something that I’ve missed.
There were more Myles and Beckett, and I like the correlation between Myles and Artemis. It’s a bitter sweet thing, too, because we know how it ends (metaphorically and literally) for Artemis, and the thought of four year old little Myles ending up the same way (criminal) is… ack.
Butler finally letting it all out was another nice touch. This, again, was something I saw coming. Butler’s job is to protect Artemis and Arty just… insists/ed on running head-long into dangerous, often deadly situations. Sometimes, (like this events in this book, and the events of TTP), they’re really isn’t/wasn’t much of a choice, though. But Butler’s comments still stung, however much they finally needed to be said.
Artemis’ random diatribes and complaints. This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but I liked that Artemis did this so much. He’s come a long way from book one, but he’s still human. And, as he admits several times, his intelligence really isn’t much help in many situations. When he gets stuck, I just see it as a very human reaction. Also, the nods about him being uncoordinated.
Mulch hiding out to rob Artemis’ art collection. Completely and totally random, but so funny.
Things I Didn’t Like
No book is perfect, though, and there were still a few things I didn’t like. The whole Opal/Beserker thing is probably the biggest. On the one hand, I get it. Opal’s story needed to end. But… jeez. She’d been the villain for how many books now? She got old pretty quickly.
The Beserker’s seemed way too similar to the demons which, again, had already been done. And they came from nowhere. The idea that Armageddon had always been just a lock away was kind of a ridiculous concept to introduce in the last book of a series.
I also didn’t feel like the story really ended. There’s still plenty of room for Colfer to come back to Arty and the gang with more adventures. Especially given that Artemis, ya know, literally died for six months this time. He could probably write an entire book alone just based on him explaining that to his parents.
Things I’m Undecided About
There were, as always, a few things that didn’t sit well. They weren’t necessarily things I disliked, but there weren’t things I liked, either. Mainly the idea that Fowl Mannor had been a hotspot for magical activity for centuries. On the one hand, I liked it. The whole “did you find magic, or did the magic lead you to it?” made a lot of sense, because there really wasn’t any reason for Artemis to have found (or believed in) magic to begin with.
But, on the other, if Artemis’ family had been dealing with fairies for centuries, why were the fairies so surprised when he found them? Shouldn’t that whole thing have been routine for them? And why were they so quick to jump to the mind-wipe in book three? So many generations of Fowls keep finding them, eventually you’d think “hey, maybe mind-wiping isn’t going to stop this from happening in the future?” I dunno. That just seemed like it undermined the entire first three or four books.
Caballine. I think Colfer tried to make her this tough, intelligent woman who has an extreme girly-girl side, or something. Which is great, really. We need more characters that are more than just tom-boys, or princesses. But, in the task of making her both she came out a little “dum de dum.” It’s like sometimes she was in lala land (like the whole thing with the gift box), and sometimes she was this fierce fighter who could match wits with Foaly.
I dunno. Something about her character just didn’t sit well with me.
Over-all, I’d give it 9.5 out of 10 stars, and highly recommend it.
