Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
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Artemis Fowl
Buddy Reads: Current & Upcoming
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Colfer, Eoin--Artemis Fowl informal buddy read starts March 15, 2020
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hey guys, im hopefully gonna start this tomorrow. since it's so short i feel like i'll proooobably be able to listen to it in one sitting but we'll see lol
i only got through chapter ...5 i think, about 2 hours and 20 min into the audio, today because i decided to apparently watch the entire first season of queer eye but i'm definitely liking it so far. i think it's interesting that we almost get more background info on and page space devoted to holly and the other faeries at this point rather than artemis. he definitely seems like he is going to be both very likable and also a horrible little shit but i can't wait to see more of him lol
Sorry Devann, didn't realize you started already!I'll start it tomorrow. I didn't realize there were fairies. Maybe i should read the summary page again because the only thing I know about it is that it's about a young kid...
haha yeah it's about a young thief trying to restore his family fortune and apparently he's going to do that by stealing fairy gold? because obviously that seems like the easiest way. although i mean i guess if i was 12 that's probably what i'd go for too
I'll probably start tonight at work.
This whole premise that this is a 12yo thief just isn't computing with me. Artemis does not at all seem 12, and is he REALLY a thief if he hasn't technically done anything yet? His family may have been but can he really claim the title? I think not. I don't remember them saying anything about any of his past schemes or anything. I've been listening to the audio when I can, though working from home, haven't been reading all that much. And I think they should've gotten a younger narrator. This guy just sounds too mature. Or maybe that's why I have a hard time believing he's so young.Anyways, I got thru Chpt 6 so far - this is definitely a quick read. I think I like the fairies more than the humans so far! Foal with his tin foil hat :D And you are so right Devann - definitely more info on the fairies than on Artemis. He already seems like a little shit, especially with how he is dealing with the fairies, but also really smart. Staying 2 steps ahead at every turn. Butler seems almost robotic so I want to see him more "human".
yeah there is a definite disconnect going on for me as well. i'm about 2/3rds of the way through and i am liking it so far but i think it's gonna be a 3 star read. there just hasn't really been any development as artemis as a character beyond 'super good thief but also he's 12' and we're still spending most of our time with the faeries it seems. and i wouldn't mind if it was mostly holly because i like her but a lot of it is her captain and other people so i'm just kind of like hmmm.
agree that a younger narrator would have been good, i know there's a lot of adult narrators that sound younger but they seem to have gone more for the narrator type feel rather than trying to make the voice actor match the character. i guess it makes sense with the multiple POVs but yeah it is a bit weird.
i went ahead and just finished up with the text version because i wanted to get through it. it was okay and in general i think i like both artemis and holly but unfortunately they seem to almost be the people we see the least of despite the fact that they really should be the main characters. it seems like their rivalry is going to be a large part of the series going forward though so maybe that will change. i think the author was probably trying to limit artemis' pov so his actions and plan would seem more mysterious but i don't really like that bc he is the one i am most interested to get into his head and stuff. honestly i could take or leave this series at this point so it's up to you guys. people seem to like it so i'm assuming it gets more rounded out in later books but this first one was just like yeah it was okay but i'm not taken with it or anything.
And finished! I gave it 3 stars as well. I so agree! There should've been more of Artemis and Holly. Like I feel like we never really got to know them enough besides the superficial qualities. Same with Butler. At the end I still felt like I didn't really "know" them. I felt like I knew Mulch better than them! he made me laugh. And good for him getting that gold in the end hahaha
When things started to get out of his control, his age showed more. Like he wasn't as put together as he was earlier. And in the end Artemis did fool them so good for him for getting to keep that gold because of the fairies rules. This obviously isn't the end of their "relationship" so it should be fun seeing what happens next. Was also nice that he did something to improve his mother's condition. Showed that he wasn't as cold and heartless as he seemed. Hoping Artemis is a little older in each book, like the HP books, and he doesn't feel as closed off.
I would probably read the next one to see if/how it improves (it's loved by so many people so surely it gets better!).
yeah i do hope some time passes between books so we can see him grow up a little bit. i'm interested to see how his relationship with his mother develops as well now that she's going to be around more
Sorry it took me forever to comment. I was kind of Meh on this story. Like I just didn’t connect with it at all and the whole end where it turns out that he did it all to save his mom so eh wouldn’t end up in foster care just made everything else he did even more complicated than it needed to be. I’m with you guys on hoping he ages as the series goes. I wonder if the series gets better because eI wasn’t very impressed by the first book but so many people do like it so hopefully this was just setting things up.
yeah we can try the next one and then if we're still not feeling it we'll find something else. i can start the second one whenever
I can start tomorrow if you guys are ready to try another. I can't be bothered to buy these and the libraries are closed here due to COVID-19 currently so I'm borrowing it through the Internet Archive. I've already borrowed it so like Devann I can start whenever
yeah my library is closed too, although luckily the comic i had on hold there showed up on a hoopla a few days ago lol the audio for the first book here was honestly not great and im not sure if i'll stick with audio or just switch to print for the next one
I borrowed the first one through Amazon Unlimited but the rest are not available to borrow So I had to look around to find it. With all the craziness that's going on right now, I hope you guys are staying safe.
yeah im okay, just kind of bored and annoyed lol
My job is getting everything set up to make us work from home which is going to suck. Too many things at home will distract me. At least I'll be able to stay in my pajamas all-day
yeah my work decided to close til the 1st of april although said they'd pay us since it's just a week and a half [depending on how things go guess it could be longer] but im just like uuuugh overall. it's no fun having time off work if you can't actually do anything lolplus i was supposed to see night vale in chicago this week and obviously it got postponed. the hotel gave me a credit but i booked the room at $100 less than their 'normal' rate so im worried that i am going to try to reschedule it for the new date and they're gonna try to charge me full price like ugh i don't want to have that fight with them.
Working in PJs is the best! We started working from home last week though I'm going in at least 1x/week so I can go thru mail and deposit any checks that come in. We get paid 2x per month so I gotta make sure we have the funds to pay our employees, and (some) bills. Since everything grinded to a halt this week am sort of juggling bills around to see what is immediate and what can be held off for a little bit. It's been a little stressful. But I sort of love working from home even though I miss all the things in the office that make it easier (double monitors, ergonomic keyboard & mouse, printer/scanners, etc). I hate talking to people so it's nice to have the quiet. Well I won't count the tv :) That's pretty much why I don't have as much reading time now. I used to listen to audios on my commute and at work, and read on my breaks, but hubby's also working at home.
Devann wrote: "yeah my work decided to close til the 1st of april although said they'd pay us since it's just a week and a half [depending on how things go guess it could be longer] but im just like uuuugh overal..."After all this craziness dies down, I think prices should still be low. I think it will take a little while for people to get traveling again.
yeah everything is just crazy right now.i don't care when we start the next book though. if one of you starts just pop in here to say so and then i'll pick it up as well. im in the middle of several books right now but im jumping around a lot
I need to finish one other one so start Friday?
Yeah Friday is good.
so i literally just listened to the whole thing this morning and it went in one ear and out the other. i'll just copy and past my review, no spoilers bc again apparently i am incapable of paying attention to this series. definitely stopping after this onereview:
I literally just listened to this and I doubt I could tell you a single thing about it that wasn't in the summary. I don't know why but the entire thing just went right in one ear and out the other. I should have liked this better than the first one since my main complaint was that Holly and Artemis were hardly even in it and they are in this one a lot ...but I'm just so meh about the whole thing. There's so many character and so much going on and I cannot bring myself to care about any of it. Really wanted to like this series but I think I'm gonna drop it now.
Only made it thru Ch 3 yesterday and was thinking that the parts on the fairies is much longer and more full than Artemis'portions. Wonder why the series was named after him...Yea I'm not sure I want to continue after this one either. Its just not holding my attention.
agree that it seems really weird to call it the artemis fowl series when it's much more of an ensemble cast. i guess he was in this one a lot more than the last one but still, there just seem to be so many characters and i was like wait who is doing what now the entire time
Yeah, I agree with you Devann. I listened to the whole thing today as well but honestly, I just couldn't get into it. Like I just couldn't keep my attention on it so I'm done with this series now. I agree with Cathy that the supporting cast gets so much more build-up than the main character. I'm just really disappointed with this series because it's so hyped up. I guess I'm just not in the right age demographic for it. However, there are some kid's books I've read before and loved but this just falls flat with me.
i don't think i would have been that into it as a kid either honestly, and i still read a LOT of middle grade now and i feel like most of it is better than this. #oops
so do we want to try a standalone or take a break or try another series?
I haven't been reading as much as before so I might take a little longer getting thru it but I'm up for anything! Have you come across anything that interested you?
tbh i haven't been reading a ton either. i've mostly been watching great british baking show and talking to people on discord for the past couple days.can't remember what all we talked about before but i think one of you said genuine fraud looked good and also last year i think we talked about mr. splitfoot some? so those are both standalones.
i've been thinking about trying animorphs bc i never read them and someone on discord that i've been talking to really loves them but that's a long series and also middle grade which can be amazing but can also be weird like this series ended up being.
or was kind of thinking about rereading the magnus chase series. that's middle grade but definitely more grown up middle grade / verging on young adult and it's only 3 books.
I haven't been reading much either. Probably going to pick back up my reading speed in May but I'm in to read another series. I never read the Magnus Chase series but it's on my to-read list and I own all three of the books on my kindle just never read them.
I remember reading a few of the Animorphs books in middle school/high school? but I never finished the series and honestly don't remember them. It could be interesting to flashback to that time.
We could also try the Alex Rider series?
Or we could put off doing a series until May and do some stand alone. I was interested in Genuine Fraud and Mr. Splitfoot.
alex rider sounds interesting as wellmaybe we should do a few standlones though and like you said go back to series in may
do you guys want to start with genuine fraud? magnus archives just started up again so i might need something that is not horror first up lol
I think genuine fraud is good to start with. @Cathy how does it sound to you?
Sounds good to me! Start this weekend or next week?
mmm i'll request it for monday but we'll just see when they put the thread up and how we feel lol
ok thread is up but i'll probably wait till monday anyway, or sunday at least
Synopsis
Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius—and, above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories—they're dangerous! Full of unexpected twists and turns, Artemis Fowl is a riveting, magical adventure.