Artemis Fowl: Artemis Fowl, Book 1

Delightful. Good story, supposedly for children but much better appreciated by adults, made more enjoyable by an absolutely brilliant narrator. I've listened for two years and dozens of books and I want more narrated by Nathaniel Parker. His accents and dialects, pauses and ironic inflections increased my appreciation of the Artemis Fowl series. Both the author and the narrator need to do more! I have to do the rest of the series on Audible and not in print because of the pleasure I get from the spoken version.

I felt like a drug addict, plugged into my ipod. Ignoring my family.

Wonderful story. Wonderfully read. My favourite audiobook so far..and I've heard many!

Confession: I am in my 40's and I actually downloaded this for my daughter.....

I like a good fantasy book, but ever since I read Harry Potter, I've started expecting a lot out of young adult fiction, and this one just didn't hit the mark. The plot was straightforward and not too complex, but the real lack was in character development. Very simple, one-note characters that never felt alive to me. Artemis, for example, is supposed to be 12 years old, but you wouldn't know it except that the author throws in lines here and there like "I shouldn't be drinking this because I'm a minor". I can believe that a child genius is planning this big plot, but I have a hard time believing that this genius is a child.

If you want a good example of a power-hungry, ambitious, greedy, self-absorbed child genius in a fantasy world, try "The Bartimaeus Trilogy" - while Nathaniel is not so much a genius, he is definitely a more believable child than Artemis. And the supporting characters are more developed, there is more humor, the plot is more complex, in short, a better book. I'll still give the next Artemis Fowl book a try, I just hope it reaches it's potential.

It took me less than a week to spend both of my monthly credits on Artemis Fowl I and II. I'm hooked. The story is fast-paced and clever making it the pure escapist reading that I delight in. I'm not generally a sci-fi or a fantasy reader so Coffer's light-handed approach is really appealing to me.

The narrator's voice is pleasant to listen to and the recording is clear and crisp.

This is a totally fun "read" for those times when all you really need is a trip away from the real world--if only for a few hours.

Just as Harry Potter made it seem very natural to have wizards among us this story makes me believe in the world of fairies--to use the book's generic term for all those beings that inhabit our fantasies. From the rock eating dwarfs to the scientific genius of the centaur that works with LEPrecon all the characters are fantastic.

I bought the first book and couldn't put it down, so I had to get the second book as my second selection for the month. I can't wait for next month and the third book of the series. I hope Mr. Colfer writes many more in this wonderful series.

I downloaded this story for my daughter who had read the books and loved them. She kept telling I'd like them as well but I just never got around to reading them... well I started listening to this book and couldn't stop - thankfully I had a long drive to make and could pretty well do it in a day - I'm down loading the second as we speak. The narrator was wonderful, and the story fast paced, original and very engaging.

This book presented a fresh look at fantasy fiction interweaving the real world with the fantasy world. buying in to a 12 year old genius is easy to do, however, buying into the same 12 year old with the street smarts of a veteran mob member is a little bit of a stretch. It was easier imagining the elves existed. Overall a good read and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a shorter fantasy book.

This series has become one of my all time favorites. I would say only Potter ranks higher than this.

As a youth I was not much into reading. If I had these books when younger I would have spent far more time infront of book than the tv.

Read - Listen to them all. You will not regret it.

If you liked Harry Potter you will love this book. If you didn't like Harry Potter, you will still love this book. Funny, creative, the entire story will keep you wanting more. Be sure to listen to this story while you have a lot of time. You wont be able to turn it off! I don't want to tell you about the story. I don't want to ruin a great thing. Enjoy!

Artemis Fowl lived up to all my expectations of a book in this genre. Fun and easy listening. Sometimes I didn't want to turn the car off because I couldn't wait to find out what happened next!