Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl, the young criminal mastermind whose first adventure graced the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year shortlist, returns here as a world-weary 13-year-old. Unconvinced by stories of his father's demise in a mysterious explosion in the arctic wilds of northern Russia at the hands of the Mafiya, Artemis resolves to spend his family's vast resources on finding out what really happened. Meanwhile, Captain Holly Short - leprechaun and erstwhile nemesis of Master Fowl - finds herself bored with the 'grunt duty' she's recently been assigned to, and is thrilled when she comes up against dim-witted goblins, foraging trolls and an arsenal of outlawed weaponry. She still hasn't forgiven our young antihero for stealing the fairy gold and making her look ridiculous in the process, and she's convinced that he's somehow connected to this whole murky arms dealing business. Her annoyance at discovering he has nothing to do with it deepens when the two of them are forced to co-operate to get to the bottom of the mystery. Sometimes likeable, other times an irritating adolescent with a desire to sound like Sherlock Holmes, Artemis is a precocious genius who likes to compare himself with Einstein and Archimedes, yet who can't help behave like the vulnerable teenage boy he is. And it's that combination of hero and villain that make him different and all the more interesting as a central character. This is an accomplished sequel, combining the classic elements of childhood fiction - fairies, centaurs and goblins - with state-of-the-art gadgetry to come up with such unusual notions as fairy forts concealing gleaming complexes of high technology. Despite occasional forays into smugness and over-explanation, Eoin Colfer has succeeded in coming up with a worthy follow-up to Artemis's highly acclaimed debut, one that will be greedily devoured by those who so loved its predecessor. (Kirkus UK)