Thursday, February 28, 2013

Kernel's Library: Artemis Fowl, The Boy Genius And Criminal Mastermind

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer Book 00069: Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Titles:
- Artemis Fowl


First Publication:
- April 2001 by Viking Press


Trivia:
- At the bottom of each page of the book, a string of symbols appear. These symbols are supposedly Gnommish, but are really part of a substitution cipher which, when decoded, reveals a message.
- A film adaptation was romured to be in the writing stage in mid-2008, with Jim Sheridan directing, and with filming in 2009 possible, but it was alter cancelled.


Awards:
- Garden State Teen Book Award (2004)
- BBC's Big Read (Best loved novel, 2003, No 59)
- South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominee (2003-2004)
- British Book Award (Children's Book of the Year, 2002)
- 2002 WH Smith Book Awards (best children's book of the year)
- Young Reader's Choice Award (Intermediate, 2004)
- Shortlisted for Whitbread Book of the Year Award
- Shortlisted for Lancashire County Library Children’s Book Award
- Shortlisted for Bisto Book of the Year
- New York Times Best-Selling Series
- Massachusetts Children’s Book Award Master List (2003)
- Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Award (2001)
- New York Times Best-seller
- Publishers Weekly Best-seller
- Texas Lone Star Reading List (2002-2003)
- Book Sense Best-seller
- USA Today Best-seller
- ALA Popular Paperback for Young Adults (2002)
- AudioFile Earphones Award




This fantastic serial opener is the best. That is if you like adventures, fairies, jokes, and much more. This is one of the top-ranked books on my list and it is such an enjoyable thought that many share the same enthusiasm over this series and this book in particular. I really liked the new feel of cyberpunk adventure that could be derived from this book. And, Oh!, the laughs are non-stop, coupled with the thrills and excitement that will make you shiver. Colfer is really a superb writer.


Extract

The Fowls were, indeed, legendary criminals. For generations they had skirmished on the wrong side of the law, hoarding enough funds to become legitimate. Of course, once they were legitimate they found it not to their liking and returned almost immediately to crime.

It was Artemis the First, our subject’s father, who had thrown the family fortune into jeopardy. With the break-up of communist Russia, Artemis Senior had decided to invest a huge chunk of the Fowl fortune in establishing new shipping lines to the vast continent. New consumers, he reasoned, would need new consumer goods. The Russian Mafia did not take too kindly to a Westerner muscling in on their market and so decided to send a little message. This message took the form of a stolen Stinger missile launched at the Fowl Star on her way past Murmansk. Artemis Senior was on board the ship, along with Butler’s uncle and 250,000 cans of cola. It was quite an explosion.

The Fowls were not left destitute, far from it. But billionaire status was no longer theirs. Artemis the Second vowed to remedy this. He would restore the family fortune. And he would do it in his own unique fashion.

There are already eight fantastic books in the series, so I suggest you read the first book now for you to catch up.

Grade: A+

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