Kamis, 01 November 2012

Review: The Last Guardian (Artemis Fowl #8) by Eoin Colfer

format: e-book

Finally I read this book, after an extremely long time of waiting and torturing (I’m an Artemis fan, what could I say?).

Well, the story started right after Artemis’ last therapy for his Atlantis Complex with dr.J.Argon in a clinic in Haven city. The therapy was okay, for Artemis’ standard, and he was finally declared functional. Butler was ready to take him home when (of course) a problem arose. This is Artemis we are talking about, so of course the problem was not as simple as losing a pair of shocks—it was an armageddon-level problem.

Opal Koboi, Artemis’ arch enemy, reanimated dead fairy warriors who were buried in the grounds of Fowl Manor. The spirits of the fallen fairy warriors possessed Artemis’ twin brothers (Myles and Beckett) and Juliet Butler. They planned to wipe the entire human race. It’s armageddon! Of course Artemis had to act! He had to stop the end of the world no matter what, and he had until sunrise to get rid of the spirits and save the world—again.

Of course Artemis was not alone. He had help from Holly Short, his fairy bestfriend, Butler, Foaly, and even Mulch Diggums the dwarf. Unfortunately, with all the help he could get, there was one thing that he need to do it alone: in order to stop the disaster, he need to sacrifice himself—his life for humanity. What a tragic conclusion.

Comment
Eoin Colfer is such a genius! Thank you...^_^
The story flies in an incredibly fast pace. I couldn’t even close my e-reader before I finished reading it. The twists can be found all over the book. The dialogs, as usual, are smart and funny, and I found myself laughing from time to time ;D

But I was a little disappointed because I expected more interaction between Artemis and his family, which was not explored yet. I mean, Artemis was “dead” in this book, and there was not a glimpse of his family’s reaction? Come on...!

Anyhoo... I will include some of my favorite parts of the story here. Here we go...

                        “Have you heard of the theory of relativity?”
            “Artemis blinked. “Is this a joke? I have traveled through time, Doctor. I think I know a little something about relativity.”
Note: I laughed hard because of this silly, yet extremelly smart and funny dialog ;D

This shows Artemis feeling towards his bestfriend, Holly:
                        Artemis looked at Holly then and felt a tremendous affection for her. He wished that he could loop the past ten seconds and study it at a less stressful time so he could properly appreciate how fierce and beautiful his bestfriend was.

The following dialog is between Artemis and Holly when Artemis intended to sacrifice himself:
                        “It has to happen. Perhaps in time, with resources, I could develop an alternate strategy...”
                        “Develop an alternate strategy? This is not a corporate takeover we’re talking about, Artemis. It’s your life. You itend to go out there and kill yourself. What about Butler?”

And this is the heartbreaking goodbye between Artemis and Holly before Artemis executed his plan:
            “No. It has to be me, Holly. If the second lock is opened, then I will die, but if my plan succeeds, then all fairy souls inside the magical corona will be drawn to the afterlife. Fairy souls. My soul is human, Holly, don’t you see? I don’t intend to die. And there is a chance     that I may survive. A small chance, granted. But a chance nonetheless.” Artemis rubbed his eye with a knuckle. “As a plan, it is far from perfect, but there is no alternative.”
Artemis made Holly comfortable with cushions. “I want you to know, my dear friend, that without you, I would not be the person I am today.” He leaned in close and whispered, “I was a broken boy, and you fixed me. Thank you.”

The death scene of Artemis:
                        There was no time for questions. The green mist was sucked backward into the Beserkers Gate as though drawn by a vacuum. For a moment Artemis was left standing, unharmed, and Butler dropped Holly to rush to his charge’s side. Then Artemis’ fairy eye glowed green, and by the time Butler caught the falling boy in his arms, Artemis Fowl’s body was already dead.

Characters
Artemis Fowl
The first appearance of this character in the first book shows that he was a selfish boy. He was also incredibly ingenious yet extremely arrogant. The iteresting part is that this character evolves with the books, since his last act as a human, in this last book, is to sacrifice himself for humanity. It shows a massive act of selflessness.

Holly Short
She is a captain from LEP and an attractive elf. She is also a wonderful pilot. She is known as an impulsive and reckless but compassionate woman. She was Artemis’ hostage in the first book, but she became Artemis bestfriend later on.

Butler
This character doesn’t talk a lot, but he is very serious in taking his job to take care of his charge, Artemis. In a lot of occasion he acts more like Artemis’ father than his bodyguard.

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