Fowl and fairy, friends forever.
"'Take care of yourselves and your new friend. And get a message to me as soon as you can, because I do worry.'
Myles rolled his eyes. 'Artemis is so emotional.'
'If history had taught us anything,' said Artemis, 'it is that Earth always needs saving, and it is usually a Fowl who saves it. This might very well be your turn.'
'We can do it, Arty,' said Beckett. 'The Regrettables save the day.'
'We can do it,' concluded Artemis. 'Good-bye and good luck.'”
TL;DR-you don't need to outside knowledge to read this book, but if this is your first foray into the world of Artemis Fowl, it might not be the place to start.
This almost feels more like an extended prologue than an actual story. There's a plot, but for most of the book, it's hidden among paragraphs describing the world and introducing the characters and foreshadowing things to come. It's not a bad story, per say, but so much of the writing is bogged down with filler. I know Eoin Colfer likes to use tangents and random asides, but here it's less charming and more distracting. It detracts from the story and makes reading feel almost tedious at times. It's like Colfer is riding on the coattails of Artemis Fowl (and its upcoming movie adaptation) and relying on the promise of subsequent Fowl Twin books to carry this book which spends most of its time building up a big epic adventure without fully delivering (probably because he needs to save some material for the inevitable series to follow). Don't get me wrong, Colfer is still his witty and clever and tree-hugging self, but it just feels it's missing that special something that made the original series so enjoyable.
You don't need to be familiar with Colfer's previous works to read this one, but I think hardcore Fowl fans will be the only ones who really enjoy this. (If this were my first experience with Eoin Colfer, I probably wouldn't read any of his books again). I would say I'm a casual fan of the Artemis Fowl series at best. I read it well past the recommended age range of 10-14 but thought the books were clever and fun and enjoyed the characters. That's not really how I feel about The Fowl Twins. The story is slow and the nonlinear storytelling works for revealing successful schemes but is overused otherwise. The cast he's set up has potential--Beckett, surprisingly was my favorite character and the twins' relationship might've been the one highlight of the book--but we'll have to see how the characters are developed as they're fleshed out in other books.
Myles rolled his eyes. 'Artemis is so emotional.'
'If history had taught us anything,' said Artemis, 'it is that Earth always needs saving, and it is usually a Fowl who saves it. This might very well be your turn.'
'We can do it, Arty,' said Beckett. 'The Regrettables save the day.'
'We can do it,' concluded Artemis. 'Good-bye and good luck.'”
TL;DR-you don't need to outside knowledge to read this book, but if this is your first foray into the world of Artemis Fowl, it might not be the place to start.
This almost feels more like an extended prologue than an actual story. There's a plot, but for most of the book, it's hidden among paragraphs describing the world and introducing the characters and foreshadowing things to come. It's not a bad story, per say, but so much of the writing is bogged down with filler. I know Eoin Colfer likes to use tangents and random asides, but here it's less charming and more distracting. It detracts from the story and makes reading feel almost tedious at times. It's like Colfer is riding on the coattails of Artemis Fowl (and its upcoming movie adaptation) and relying on the promise of subsequent Fowl Twin books to carry this book which spends most of its time building up a big epic adventure without fully delivering (probably because he needs to save some material for the inevitable series to follow). Don't get me wrong, Colfer is still his witty and clever and tree-hugging self, but it just feels it's missing that special something that made the original series so enjoyable.
You don't need to be familiar with Colfer's previous works to read this one, but I think hardcore Fowl fans will be the only ones who really enjoy this. (If this were my first experience with Eoin Colfer, I probably wouldn't read any of his books again). I would say I'm a casual fan of the Artemis Fowl series at best. I read it well past the recommended age range of 10-14 but thought the books were clever and fun and enjoyed the characters. That's not really how I feel about The Fowl Twins. The story is slow and the nonlinear storytelling works for revealing successful schemes but is overused otherwise. The cast he's set up has potential--Beckett, surprisingly was my favorite character and the twins' relationship might've been the one highlight of the book--but we'll have to see how the characters are developed as they're fleshed out in other books.