Book Review: Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox

Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox is the sixth book in the Artemis Fowl series, by Irish author Eoin Colfer.

Genre: Fiction

Age group: Teens

Characters: There are many characters in this book. The protagonists are Artemis Fowl, his bodyguard Butler, Captain of the Lower Elements Police (LEP) Holly Short, genius centaur Foaly, dwarf Mulch Diggums and warlock demon Number One. Damon Kronski (leader of the Extinctionists group) and evil pixie Opal Koboi are the main antagonists.

Plot: 14 year old Artemis Fowl’s mother is dying. He learns that she has contracted a rare fairy disease, unknown to humans, called Spelltropy. He talks with his good underground friends, Holly Short and Foaly, if they could help him find a cure. Turns out, the only known cure is in the brain fluid of a Silky Sifaka Lemur, from Madagascar. Artemis knows all about silky sifaka lemurs-- he killed the last one. 8 years ago, 10 year old Artemis Fowl captured and sold the lemur to the cruel Extinctionists group to get some money to fuel his search rescue expedition for his father, Artemis Fowl Sr., who had been captured by the Russian Mafia. Now, Artemis must travel back in time with the help of elf Holly Short to steal the lemur’s brain fluid from 10 year old Artemis. Near the end of the book, everything changes. Artemis Fowl the elder finds out that evil pixie Opal Koboi had possessed his mother and she’s the reason behind all this. If Artemis hadn’t gone back in time, his mother would never have gotten the disease. But because she had contracted the disease, he had to go back in time. A true time paradox.

Your opinion: I loved the book. After six books, you’d think the quality of the books would degrade. But no. This is just as witty and exhilarating as ever! This is definitely one of the best Artemis Fowl books in my opinion. I love the pacing of it too. It clocks in at about 370 pages, so you could finish it in a day or two. My only gripe is that the plot becomes kind of convoluted and hard-to-understand sometimes. For younger readers, that may be an issue. Other than that, the book is absolutely amazing!

Recommend?: I would definitely recommend this to readers above the age of 12 or so. It’s an amazing teenage fiction-fantasy book, it can easily compete with Harry Potter. I just love this book, 4.5 stars!

Joey, an Abheekian bookworm