Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if elves, goblins, sprites, and more existed? What if they had large amounts of gold? What if a criminal mastermind tried to steal that gold? And what if that person was only twelve? This is what Eoin Colfer’s book Artemis Fowl revolves around. Don’t judge the book because it has fairies and elves in it, though, because this is one of the best books I’ve ever read.

The plot of this book is that a 12 year old boy wants to steal some gold from fairies to get back his family’s wealth. So himself, and his Butler, “set out” to get the gold. Their first stop is in Egypt (actually the book starts in Egypt), but most of the book is in Ireland. The story also switches points of view between Artemis (the main character) and Holly Short (an elf; one of the main antagonists).

One thing that I like about the book is that it focuses on the “bad guy” and that they’re the main character. Because usually it’s the “good guy” that’s the main character. Some “text evidence” is: “‘A day! A day!’ the healer laughed. ‘I will outlive you by a century. Even fairies tethered to the human realm can survive the ages.’

‘Not with half a pint of holy water inside them,’ said Artemis, tapping the now empty whiskey bottle.

The fairy blanched, then screamed, a high keening horrible sound.

‘Holy water! You have murdered me, human.’

‘True,’ admitted Artemis.” I think that the book is much better this way, and it helps make the book not bland; it kind of adds some “flavor” to the book.

Another thing that I like about this book is that the main character is only 12. I think that this is cool, because even though there are a lot of books with young main characters, not very many are criminal masterminds or smarter than most of the people on the face of the Earth: “The main problem is Artemis’s own intelligence. He bamboozles every test thrown at him. He has puzzled the greatest medical minds, and sent many of them gibbering to their own hospitals.”

So over all, I think that this is a very good book, and if you like fantasy books, it is definitely worth your time to read this book.