The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer is a YA sci-fi/fantasy series starring a young criminal mastermind, his trusty Butler, and a spunky police officer from the fairy realm named Holly Short.
In this second book of the series, Artemis learns that his father–whose ship was blown up off the coast of Russia two years ago–may in fact be alive. The trouble is, he’s being held by the Russian Mafiya, and they don’t give up their hostages alive. Artemis ends up joining forces with the fairies–the very people whose gold he stole in the first book. Holly Short and Commander Julius Root will assist him in rescuing his father, if he will assist them in putting down the goblin underworld gang which is making a power play to take over the Lower Elements. But since goblins aren’t smart enough to carry out plans on their own, our heroes must discover who’s really behind the nefarious scheme….
Artemis has a few good lines and good ideas in The Arctic Incident, but he’s not quite as cheeky and charmingly brilliant as he was in the first book of the series. His role as the main protagonist is almost eclipsed by Holly Short, which is not necessarily a bad thing–it is fun to see the two of them as allies in this book instead of enemies. I also enjoyed the clever chapter titles–allusions to Shakespeare quotes, popular songs, etc.
Rosanne E. Lortz 