Uploaded July 2014 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
This is a quick book summary and analysis of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.
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This is a story about a boy named Artemis Fowl the second, a smart young man with plenty of money and resources who likes to commit crimes.
After getting The Book of the People - a mystical fairy book - Artemis plans to get gold from the leprechauns.
He kidnaps one of the fairies, Holly Short, a captain that works for the Lower Elements Police, or LEP, an organization that polices mythical beings like trolls, goblins, and fairies.
Holly tries to escape, but because Artemis has read the fairy lore, he is familiar with all of her tricks.
With the assistance of his family helpers, Butler and Juliet, Artemis begins negotiating with the LEP: gold for Holly.
The LEP sends in their tactical team, but they are defeated by Butler. They decide to time-freeze the area, threatening to destroy all living things in Artemis' house with a bio-bomb. The LEP then hire a convict named Mulch, a dwarf with a natural ability to dig, to scout the house. He later fakes his death and escapes.
As the pressure of the situation escalates, the LEP approves a new commander whose plan is to send in a troll to destroy everything. The troll is sent in and he creates havoc, even killing Butler. However, after Holly attempts to fight the troll, she accidentally revives Butler and he defeats the troll in a suit of armor.
The LEP decide to pay the ransom, knowing that they can detonate the bomb once Holly is safe. Artemis is given the gold and surprisingly releases Holly. And although no one has ever escaped the time-freeze and bio-bomb combination before, Artemis finds a way to escape using sleeping pills.
In the end, Artemis escapes.
As always a lot can be said about this story, but what draws my interest and attention is the idea of Artemis as an anti-hero.
For the entire story, Artemis is driven to get the gold no matter how many people get hurt. This is typically not the attitude of the protagonist of the story, but he's not the antagonist either.
Throughout the story, readers can admire his drive and ambition to take on a race of supernatural beings with only his human ingenuity. That's admirable, although, again, his intent is questionable.
And so this brings authorial perspective as something that is important to this story. If this story were told only from the perspective of the leprechauns, Artemis is clearly the villain. However, because the story jumps from the leprechauns' perspective and Artemis' perspective, readers can understand where Artemis is coming, which de-villainizes his actions.
Through Minute Book Reports, hopefully you can get the plot and a few relevant discussion points in just a couple of minutes.
Music: "I Want To Destroy Something Beautiful" by Josh Woodward - joshwoodward.com
This is a quick book summary and analysis of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.
Facebook Page - facebook.com/pages/Minute-Book-Reports/1148331925195691
This is a story about a boy named Artemis Fowl the second, a smart young man with plenty of money and resources who likes to commit crimes.
After getting The Book of the People - a mystical fairy book - Artemis plans to get gold from the leprechauns.
He kidnaps one of the fairies, Holly Short, a captain that works for the Lower Elements Police, or LEP, an organization that polices mythical beings like trolls, goblins, and fairies.
Holly tries to escape, but because Artemis has read the fairy lore, he is familiar with all of her tricks.
With the assistance of his family helpers, Butler and Juliet, Artemis begins negotiating with the LEP: gold for Holly.
The LEP sends in their tactical team, but they are defeated by Butler. They decide to time-freeze the area, threatening to destroy all living things in Artemis' house with a bio-bomb. The LEP then hire a convict named Mulch, a dwarf with a natural ability to dig, to scout the house. He later fakes his death and escapes.
As the pressure of the situation escalates, the LEP approves a new commander whose plan is to send in a troll to destroy everything. The troll is sent in and he creates havoc, even killing Butler. However, after Holly attempts to fight the troll, she accidentally revives Butler and he defeats the troll in a suit of armor.
The LEP decide to pay the ransom, knowing that they can detonate the bomb once Holly is safe. Artemis is given the gold and surprisingly releases Holly. And although no one has ever escaped the time-freeze and bio-bomb combination before, Artemis finds a way to escape using sleeping pills.
In the end, Artemis escapes.
As always a lot can be said about this story, but what draws my interest and attention is the idea of Artemis as an anti-hero.
For the entire story, Artemis is driven to get the gold no matter how many people get hurt. This is typically not the attitude of the protagonist of the story, but he's not the antagonist either.
Throughout the story, readers can admire his drive and ambition to take on a race of supernatural beings with only his human ingenuity. That's admirable, although, again, his intent is questionable.
And so this brings authorial perspective as something that is important to this story. If this story were told only from the perspective of the leprechauns, Artemis is clearly the villain. However, because the story jumps from the leprechauns' perspective and Artemis' perspective, readers can understand where Artemis is coming, which de-villainizes his actions.
Through Minute Book Reports, hopefully you can get the plot and a few relevant discussion points in just a couple of minutes.
Music: "I Want To Destroy Something Beautiful" by Josh Woodward - joshwoodward.com
