Advance Booking

CHILLS AND THRILLS

I finished The Arctic Incident in one sitting, and I loved it, quite as much as the first. Many a time, sequels fail to live up to the first installment, but this one lived up to expectations.

Artemis Fowl gets a video file showing his lost father kidnapped by the Russian Mafia, and plans his rescue. At the same time, Holly Short uncovers a smuggling racket between goblins and humans, and the fairies suspect Artemis’ hand at play. They haul Artemis and Butler downstairs for interrogation, but discover he is blameless. Artemis strikes a deal with them: he will help them find their traitor if they help him rescue his father. But things hardly go well when Artemis is around, and soon everybody is fighting for their lives and for the fairies’ future.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, the gadgetry in this book simply rocks. I was disappointed with The Lost Colony because it didn’t have much high-tech stuff, but no complaints here. The action proceeds at breakneck speed, lots of running, jumping and all, and Artemis gets his hands dirty as well. Oh, how can you not like a book where a spaceship has to squeeze through a few metres of rapidly expanding (and equally rapidly contracting) rock, with magma flares rushing behind them (which reminded me of the elevator shaft scene in the climax of Hollow Man)? I must admit there wasn’t much of complex plotting as there was in the first, not much strategizing, but it was fun anyways. The characters are well developed, though I thought Artemis didn’t get much of a chance to exercise the criminally genius brain of his. Holly Short is well on the way to being my favorite female character ever, and Diggum’s Oscar fetish will crack you up. An entertaining, adrenaline-filled read, a book for everyone to enjoy.