Why ‘Artemis Fowl’ is an Enduring Favorite in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novels

I stole my first Artemis Fowl book. 

Yes, that’s right. 

I slipped it right off my brother’s bookshelf (at great personal risk, I might add) and swapped the dust jacket with a copy of Little House on the Prairie to hide my crime. 

My brother didn’t find out for a whole week.  

In that time, my younger self discovered a world of high-tech fairies, wise-cracking dwarves, and monstrous trolls, seasoned with a special tongue-in-cheek humor that only sweetened as I got older. 

It is no accident that Artemis Fowl created legions of fans. Eoin Colfer used a combination of writing techniques to engineer a story that captured a generation of readers. 

Let’s discuss those techniques. 

Voice 

A writer’s voice can be frustratingly elusive, almost like waiting for one’s spirit animal to show itself. In the meantime, prose can start to look stiff, uninspired, and—horror of horrors—bland. 

Luckily, there is nothing bland about Eoin Colfer’s prose. It stands out in a genre that can sometimes feel like many of the books are written by the same person. 

Eoin Colfer’s wry, tongue-in-cheek humor is practically legendary. 

He often includes amusing asides or quirky situations just because he can.  

Here are a few examples: 

• A pixie who makes a getaway in a souped-up toy car. 

• Demons who think that a fluffy Victorian romance novel is a human history text.  

• Gangsters with going rates for murder tattooed on their chests. (It becomes quite a kerfuffle when the gangsters in question realize they cannot raise their prices.)  

None of this is to say that Eoin Colfer’s novels are purely comedic, but he has embraced the sense of humor that makes his voice unique. 

The well-executed part is that it never strays into self-indulgent territory. The siren song of rabbit holes and private jokes that only the author understands is an ever-present danger, but that never happens in Artemis Fowl. 

Eoin Colfer blends the quirks into the story. 

It feels organic.  

Other Authors with Distinct Voices 

• Charlie N. Holmberg (The Paper Magician) 

• Rupert Holmes (Murder Your Employer) 

• Naomi Novik (Uprooted) 

A Central Question 

A central question is something an author sets up early in the story. This is usually related to a character’s goals, but it can also be connected to a philosophical or existential question posed to characters throughout a series.  

Ideally, every story should include this element. Otherwise, why are we engaging with these characters? What is the point? 

Including a central question that keeps the audience engaged is another reason why Artemis Fowl is such an excellent book. 

Examples of Central Questions in Books 

• The Hunger Games: will Katniss survive the games? 

• Philosophical question: is survival worth the cost? 

• The Maze Runner: will they ever escape the maze? 

• Existential questions: Who put them in the maze? What is beyond the maze? What is the purpose of the maze? Where did the monsters come from? 

These are examples of central questions which are answered in a single book. Central questions also come in the large economy size, which means they stretch over the course of an entire series.  

Examples of Central Questions in Book Series 

• Harry Potter: will Harry be able to defeat Voldemort?  

• Philosophical question: is the power of love stronger than hate? 

• The Cruel Prince: will Jude ever come into her own power? 

• Philosophical question: how far would you go to be independent? 

• Artemis Fowl: will Artemis ever become a law-abiding citizen? 

• Philosophical question: can you be a good person while pursuing a life of crime?  

Artemis Fowl poses a strong central question. 

Artemis kidnaps a fairy in the very beginning. The rest is about his battle with the underground fairy police, which means one question rises above all else: will Artemis get away with it?  

The central question is really that simple. And yet, it’s the reason that readers keep turning pages. Everyone wants to know if Artemis will get away with his crime.   

Sympathetic Protagonist 

In a world where antiheroes and morally gray characters are thoroughly explored, it can still be tricky to use this trope effectively.  

Let me note that there are two different kinds of criminal protagonists: the ones we read because they are deeply interesting, and the ones we read because they are interesting and sympathetic. 

Artemis Fowl is the latter. 

To pull it off, Eoin Colfer mixes several elements together: 

• Honesty 

• Competency 

• Conflict 

• Redemptive Qualities 

• Social Proof 

Honesty 

Call Artemis a mere ‘criminal,’ and he is likely to sneeringly correct you. He is a criminal genius. A mastermind. Artemis knows exactly who and what he is and fully embraces it.  

He wants to achieve criminal greatness.  

His greatest fear is that the family’s criminal empire will crumble on his watch. 

Artemis relishes his criminal escapades. Is that the stuff of heroic legend? No, but it is the kind of honesty that builds trust with a reader. 

Readers gravitate to characters they can trust.  

Competency 

Audiences connect with competent characters.  

This holds true across genres but is especially obvious in the fantasy genre, where many fan-favorite characters are assassins.   

While these are complex characters, something they have in common is an utter competency at their craft that readers respect even if they cannot condone it. 

It does not matter whether the character is an expert violinist or a criminal mastermind: readers like it when a protagonist is good at something.

It gives readers hope that the protagonist will accomplish their goals. 

Conflict 

Conflict drives a story forward. The more conflict, the better. 

The harder it is for a protagonist to succeed, the more audiences subconsciously want them to succeed. This is particularly true when the protagonist is competent. After all, it isn’t surprising when a newbie fails at something. 

On the contrary, we’d all assume it was cheap writerly chicanery if an unskilled protagonist tries something new and hits it out of the park.  

However, when a competent character struggles despite throwing all their skill into the fight, it grabs readers’ attention. How is the protagonist going to win? 

Psychologically, this is no different than watching a dung beetle marching up a steep hill with an impossible load.  

Outwardly, who cares if the beetle gets its smelly load up the hill? 

Inwardly, everyone is satisfied when the beetle triumphs. We can’t help it. Everyone wants the beetle to make it.

The harder the road, the sweeter the victory.  

This is true for all protagonists from Hercules to criminal misfits and even dung beetles. 

The harder it is for Artemis to achieve his criminal goals, the more that readers want him to succeed. 

Redemptive Qualities 

No one embraces a truly evil character. 

Artemis is a criminal who loves his work, but he is not evil.

Artemis’s brief flashes of guilt, along with his trepidation and grief, humanize him to readers. Plus, he feels a great sense of responsibility in his father’s absence to run the family criminal empire. 

Enormous greed aside, there is a great deal of pressure for Artemis to successfully steal fairy gold. His father is missing, his mother has snapped, and the family business is slowly crumbling. 

These elements shape Artemis into more than an enthusiastic criminal, but they do not excuse his actions. One element more than anything else makes him a redeemable character.  

Artemis truly believes that his plans and machinations will not harm anyone. In his mind, his evil master plan has no permanent negative effects on anyone. 

Whether or not that is true doesn’t matter.  

The belief proves that despite his flaws, Artemis has some lines (admittedly few) that he will not cross. 

Readers see redeeming qualities, which makes Artemis Fowl a character worth reading. 

Social Proof 

Artemis has his flaws. He is greedy, arrogant, smug, and maybe even a little self-delusional. But there is someone in the book who loves him despite those flaws, and this secondary character functions as social proof of Artemis’s worthiness. 

Butler views Artemis as a ward or younger brother. Even though Artemis is his employer, Butler has genuine affection for the criminal mastermind.  

Having a secondary character positively engage with the protagonist helps readers to see them in a different light. 

Examples of Books with Criminals as Protagonists 

• Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer 

• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo 

• The Raven Thief by Ashley Olivier 

• Only a Monster by Vanessa Len 

Closing Thoughts 

Artemis Fowl continues to resonate with audiences thanks to the well-executed techniques used by Eoin Colfer. 

Different novels use different tropes, tools, and techniques. These happen to be the ones that made Artemis Fowl a classic in the sci-fi/fantasy genre.  

They are also the elements that made it worth stealing from my brother’s bookshelf.  

And you know what?  

I have no remorse.