Artemis Fowl // Eoin Colfer {Audiobook}

Why I'm reading
It’s one of those series/characters I keep hearing about, and it’s Scifi, and it’s available on audiobook.

Where I got the book
Greenwich!

Expectations
To be honest? Not high. I got pretty burnt by the trainwreck that is the Dresden Files, so I’m hesitant to start another popular scifi/fantasy detective series. Also, Artemis is a girls name.

So how was it?

The adventures of Artemis Fowl, pre-teen super-villain ; his bodyguard Butler ; fairy LEPrecon officer Holly Short ; the technical genius centaur Foaly ; and Mulch Diggums, a kleptomaniac dwarf.

Soooo much better than I expected. It’s not high literature (or even high fantasy) and it’s definitely YA, but it’s a good solid adventure with a well-built world and lots of interesting characters. Fairies are real, and they're technologically advanced. Awesome.

I’ve seen it billed as something similar to Sherlock Holmes, and Artemis is theoretically the villain... and while that’s not untrue, it’s not really accurate. Artemis himself certainly fits the idea of a young Sherlock well (or, since the audiobook reader gives him an Irish accent, BBC’s Moriarty) and some deduction happens, but the plot is more action/adventure than detective mystery. As for his villainy, you might not even notice that he’s the “villain” of the first story if he (and other characters) didn't keep mentioning it.

I blew through the whole series in a few days:

1. Artemis Fowl
   Twelve-year-old Artemis, super-villain in the making, kidnaps fairy officer Holly Short for a ransom of fairy gold.
2. The Arctic Incident
   Artemis and the fairy LEP reluctantly team up to fight a goblin conspiracy, led by an evil pixie.
3. The Eternity Code
   Artemis looses a piece of refitted fairy technology to an evil human businessman, and once again teams up with Holly and the LEP.
4. The Opal Deception
   Fairy LEP drafts Artemis to help prevent humans from finding and destroying a major fairy city.
5. The Lost Colony
   The demon island Hybras, banished millennia ago, returns to the normal time-stream.
6. The Time Paradox
   Artemis and Holly go back in time to save his mother from a magic-related illness; the timeline gets all sorts of messed up.
7. The Atlantis ComplexArtemis is suffering from magic-related paranoia and OCD, and is kidnapped.
8. The Last Guardian
   Artemis and Holly struggle to prevent an evil pixie from destroying the human race.

Recommendation
Fans of Scifi and Fantasy. I'd call this "techno-fantasy" or "techno-detective-fairies."

Feels
A little bit like like a detective story, a little like a classic YA novel (before they all got obsessed with love triangles and contests).

Favorites
I really can't choose. Technologically advanced fairies, for one. The ridiculous characters.

Least favorites
Okay, let me get this off my chest: OMG ARTEMIS IS A GIRL’S NAME. Greek goddess. Hello. I actually just met someone who didn’t know that. But hey, at least someone acknowledges that in the second book.

For Exposure // Jason Sizemore

Why I'm reading
It seemed interesting; I like Scifi, and I’m sort of interested in publishing. Plus the cover was pretty awesome. Ironically, a few chapters in, Sizemore mentions the cover art was fairly influential in getting people to pick up his new magazine.

Where I got the book
An eBook that I vaguely remember requesting from LibraryThing’s early reviewer giveaway.

Expectations
Well, LT early reviewers summary is what I was working with:

“In this collection of semi-true and sometimes humorous essays, Jason exposes the parties, people, and triumphs that shaped him into the Apex Overlord. He also lays bare the hardships and failures that have threatened to take it all away. Meet Thong Girl, heed the warning about the ham, receive rest stop bathroom wisdom, and visit an emergency room straight out of a horror movie in this extraordinary account of life as a publisher and editor.”

So how was it?

Okay, first of all, it took me nearly a month to finally get myself to read past the first few paragraphs. It was just… weirdly religious, out of the blue, and had nothing to do with publishing. Then I promised myself I’d sit down and read through at least a chapter, and couldn’t put it down.

It’s more or less what LibraryThing described: humorous autobiographical essays, starting with the author’s early life -- a strange mixture of rural Baptist Christianity and Scifi/horror movies -- before moving quickly into the world of fandom and publishing. What really sets this book apart is the writing. The whole “humorous semi-autobiographical essay” genre is full of fun and engaging writing, but Sizemore is unexpectedly sharp and smart. It doesn’t feel like he’s trying too hard to be Witty and impart a Meaningful Message (or, like a lot of the humorous essays I read, a Meaningful Feeling Without Any Actual Point). Something about the writing reminds me of… well, a good Scifi author.

Also notable are the rebuttal essays, written by friends and colleagues, interspersed between chapters. While they're not the funniest part of the book, they provide a second point of view for many of the events he describes, so it feels less like a novelization.

If you’re only looking for insight into the publishing world, this probably isn’t really the book you want. It’s very specific to the world of small, independent Scifi/horror genre magazine publishing.

All 70+ issues of Apex Magazine are available in eBook format. 

Recommendation
Anyone interested in the world of Scifi, short stories, or conventions. Heck, anyone even close to interested; three chapters in, and I was ready to check out every short story collection Greenwich has (...and I cataloged most of them, so…)

Feels
Sharp, smart, blunt, with more action than navel-gazing. He explains the inspiration and creation of Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest in just 303 words, and it’s well done. That’s the kind of thing most authors would needlessly drag out for a chapter or two.

Favorites
The writing, by far -- which means I’m tempted to just copy out all the best sections. But that would take up way too much space. Also, his early con experiences. Both exemplified in this quote:

“Don’t you want to eat something, first? The ham is delicious.”
No. I would not have any ham. The juxtaposition of human thighs and honey-baked ham made me blanch. I wrenched the door opened and rushed out of there.

Least favorites
The prologue. It's not poorly written, but it was a bit too much right off the bat.

Writing style
He’s got a big vocabulary, and knows how to use it. And no, I don’t mean the kind of author who thumbs through their thesaurus looking for fancy words.