Story

Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer, is a thrilling adventure about a twelve-year-old millionaire named Artemis Fowl.  He is a genius who sets out on an adventure to kidnap a fairy and hold them for ransom.  From this scheme Artemis hopes to gain an enormous amount of fairy gold to sell for millions of dollars to humans throughout the world.  During his expedition he encounters Holly Short, a fairy in the LEPrecon Unit, who becomes his hostage.  Little does Artemis know it his plan will soon turn to disaster.

 Setting

The setting of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer takes place in the Fowl Manor and the under ground fairy world in the present day.  Throughout the story the setting switches between the two places many times.  The Fowl Manor is an ancient castle in which Artemis lives and it is located in Europe. Although the castle appears to be ancient it is equipped with high tech instruments for extremely tight security.  The fairy world is located deep under the earth’s surface to keep it safe and hidden from the humans.  The fairy world is an underground civilization consisting of mystical creatures and futuristic technology; there is no natural light so in some places there is no light at all.  “Holly battled through the crowds to the police station.  There was already a riot outside Spud’s Spud Emporium.  LEP Corporal Newt was trying to sort it out.  Good luck to him.  Nightmare.  At least Holly got a chance to work above ground.”(33)  People hate the LEP for putting their friends and family in prison.

Character

Butler is a character in Artemis Fowl, he is very important to the story and would cause the outcome of the story to change if he wasn’t there.  If Butler wasn’t in the story the main character Artemis wouldn’t be able to carry out some of the tasks that were vital to his plan.  “Then Trouble noticed two things–one, a pair of black boots was sticking out of a shrub beside the door, and two, there was a massive human standing in the doorway.  The figure was cradling a very nasty looking gun in the crook of his arm.”(134)  The book describes Butler as a tall, broad shouldered man who has monstrous features that help him take on any physical obstacle with ease.  When I think of Butler I see him as a man, six foot five, very short black hair, wearing a black suit and black leather gloves, with hands the size of a large plate.  Butler seems as if he could break a person in half, the size he is.

Point of view

In Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer the point of view is third person omniscient, I think the author uses this point of view to create an extremely interesting story.  Eoin Colfer takes the point of view of third person omniscient to trade off who the reader is watching over to add dramatic effect when needed.  The story trades off views between Artemis, Butler, and Holly when to add drama.  “And so it exited.  Rather abrasively.  Blowing open Mulch’s back flap, and slaming into the rather large Gentleman who had been sneaking up behind him.”  “Artemis was glued to the monitors.  This was the time when things traditionally went wrong for kidnappers––the third quarter of operations.”(184)  The author uses this tactic multiple times throughout the story so one of the characters is working on a machine and the author doesn’t want you to know until the time comes when they need to use it he shows the reader what the other character is doing at that time.

Imagery

Eoin Colfer uses a lot of imagery in Artemis Fowl to describe characters, scenes, and different settings, the description helps the reader feel as if they were right there witht the character even at the most intense scenes.  Eoin Colfer uses description to create an image about Mulch so the reader seems like they are right there watching the character perform the scene in the book.  “The dwarf aimed his scything jaws skyward, puching through the floorboards.  He hauled himself through the jagged hole, shaking the last of the recycled mud from his pants.”(174)  Some of the description used to describe Mulch in his acts makes the image of him so vivid that it may even cause the reader to feel disgusted.