The Artic Incident (Artemis Fowl #2) by Eoin Colfer

PLOT: The Arctic Incident sees the slightly older, perhaps slightly more mellow arch-criminal Artemis recovered from his last adventure, richer now that he has his half of a hoard of fairy gold, and happier since the Clarice Starlingesque superfairy Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon returned his mother's ailing mind to full health.
But there is still much unfinished business: Artemis Fowl Sr. disappeared when a daring escapade designed to free his family from their criminal--not to mention deeply lucrative--past and move the family's assets into legitimate enterprises went horribly wrong. Held captive by the Mafiya (the Russian organized crime syndicate) for over two years, he has been declared officially dead, but Artemis Jr. knows in his heart (yes, he does have one) that his beloved father is still alive, and he is determined to find him. Meanwhile Captain Short is temporarily on assignment to Customs and Excise as punishment for letting Fowl separate her and her People from their gold and is finding her stakeout duties a little dull. It soon becomes obvious that the pair have need of each other's considerable skills, and before long they are on track for an adventure that will ultimately have far-reaching consequences for both of them..

My Review:
This is the second book in the Artemis Fowl series and in my opinion it was just as good as the first novel, if not better. The story picks up in this book a year after the conclusion of the first novel.

The characters of this series are soon becoming one of my favourites. Foaly and Root have such a love/hate relationship that I love in the series. They are both awesome side characters in the series. Butler is a very protective...well maybe not father-subsitute, more of a protective, fun uncle figure for Artemis. I really like the relationship between them and you really feel the love he has for Artemis. Holly Short is my favourite character of the series. She is a feisty elf who does not take anyones nonsense. She is very independant and self assured. Her relationship with Artemis develops a little in this novel. She doesnt view him as the villain he once was. Artemis is also another fave. He's much more mature now, not as evil and I feel there may be a bit of romance brewing between himself and Holly...Fingers Crossed!
The plot of this book was very gripping. I really enjoyed the dual-mission side to the novel. They had to stop evil Opal Koboi from destroying the world of The People but they also had to try and rescue Artemis' father from the Artic. Moving from mission to mission was very exciting. The book was not slow in any places and the pacing was excellent. I was gripped from start to finish with this book and cannot wait to see the plot develop in the third book and the rest of the series.
Eoin Colfer has really invented such a fantastical world for children and teenagers to get sucked into. The novels have adventure, friendship and magic all evenly blanced to make the Artmeis Fowl series a winner. My only regret is not reading these when I was younger as I feel I would have appreciated them and releated to them better as there is a childish sense to the novels, as they are aimed at children. Yet I still like them.

Rating: Four Star book
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