Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox

This time mystery by Eoin Colfer was not as good as I had hoped it was. I usually love fantasy but the whole time travel part kind of threw the reader askew. The book is based on a young criminal mastermind who is forced to battle his younger self in order to save his mother from a disease, that can only be cured by the brain fluid of a lemur that was killed off by a younger, and more evil version of himself. With Holly Short by his side, he travels back in time to stop himself from making the biggest mistake of his life.

I was not thrilled with the book because the plot was half-baked and I felt as though the characters could be improved. I did not like the build up of the character Artemis. Why create an evil super genius with no morals, and then after five books make him a good person? I read the first book and I loved it because he was naturally selfish. This went along much better with his character than this “goody goody” personality. The selfishness created that occasional spark of guilt or doubt, which is why the ending to the first book was so brilliant.

I did not like the young Artemis either. He was extremely whiny and

emotional at that age and it made me bored and not excited to read the book. Also, I did

not understand the part about the Extinctionists and how they made a deal with him to force the lemur into extinction. Why would they want to terminate all the animals on earth? This whole plot just did not make sense to me. The antagonist in this book is extraordinarily one sided, an evil mastermind. There is no plan nor personality that the reader cannot sympathize, or even understand. It just happens to be that the one thing he kills to the point of extinction is the one thing that can save his mother. What are the chances of that happening? There were no magic or curses that could cause his mother’s illness. I found the whole plot to be impossible. I would not suggest this book to anyone who likes a realistic plot.