Critique de School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-Rollicking good fun, this recording of Eoin Colfer's second Artemis Fowl adventure (Hyperion, 2002) loses nothing in the translation to audio. Artemis Fowl, a 13-year-old genius criminal mastermind, mounts an unswerving crusade to rescue his father, who is being held for ransom by the Russian Mafiya, no matter what the cost. Artemis, and his trusty manservant, Butler, recruit several members of the LEPrecon Fairy Police, including Captain Holly Short, the first female fairy officer, to launch a no-holds-barred plan in this story that is a mixture of high-tech spy novel and fantasy, combined with sidesplitting humor. The non-stop action ranges from Ireland to The Lower Elements-the Fairy world-to the Arctic Circle. Nathaniel Park does a fabulous job differentiating among characters, using numerous accents and intonations to good effect. Listeners new to the series will have no trouble following the story, but will probably want to read or listen to the first installment, Artemis Fowl (Listening Library, 2004) as well as the third title in the series, Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code (Listening Library, 2004).-Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.