The Lost Colony: Artemis Fowl, Book 5
Exciting fifth Artemis has time travel and demons.
Parents say
Based on 2 reviews
Kids say
Based on 28 reviews
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Eoin Colfer's The Lost Colony is the fifth book in the Artemis Fowl series. With its time travel theme, it will remind readers of Colfer's popular W.A.R.P. trilogy that came after this series. Expect plenty of fantasy action violence with bombs, shootings, stabbings, kidnappings, and the trading of hostages. A main character is feared dead. While Artemis still sometimes does things for his own gain -- namely, stealing magic -- he's more focused on saving his friends and will do anything to do so. Overall, he spends more time using his smarts to help others -- a new tack for the former criminal mastermind.
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What's the Story?
In THE LOST COLONY, former LEP captain Holly Short is called back into service in Foaly's new (and very well-funded) post in the secretive Section Eight. Demons, the Eighth Family of the Fairy People, have begun appearing on Earth, and Artemis Fowl seems to be able to predict when and where. But someone else, another genius child named Minerva Paradizo, has figured it out, too, and manages to capture a small imp named No. 1. Artemis agrees to help Holly and the fairies rescue the imp before more humans find out about him and start searching for more -- which might lead them to the fairy underground.
Is It Any Good?
This action-packed, time-traveling installment features a changed Artemis, more interested in helping others, especially his friends. With his brilliance, technology, family organization, and world-spanning adventuring, Artemis has become a sort of Tom Swift for the 21st century. As the series evolves, Artemis has lost the last traces of his criminal bent, almost becoming the millennial version of a Boy Scout. He and the fairies are now solidly on the same side and good friends. Even the violence has been dialed back a bit.
Five books into the series, the relationships and motivations are getting more complex, so it's best to start with the first book. Author Eoin Colfer seems to like putting Artemis up against other geniuses, but Minerva, who doesn't really mean any harm, is no Opal Koboi (for the uninitiated, she's the maniacal villain from books 2 and 4). So with The Lost Colony, the series returns to the pleasure of seeing Artemis, always in charge and unflappable, work out his complicated plans; he's not off-balance and one step behind, like in the fourth book.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Artemis' change in The Lost Colony. This seems to be becoming a trend in the series: criminals going straight. First Artemis, then Mulch, then Doodah. Why would these successful criminals find helping others more satisfying?
Is Minerva's drive for a Nobel Prize better than Artemis' past goal for wealth and technology?
What do you think of the way the author describes the People? Do you wish fairies were real?
Book Details
- Author: Eoin Colfer
- Genre: Fantasy
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Princesses, Fairies, Mermaids, and More, Adventures, Friendship, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires, Science and Nature
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
- Publication date: November 5, 2006
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 10 - 13
- Number of pages: 385
- Available on: Paperback, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Kindle
- Last updated: March 25, 2020
Our Editors Recommend
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The Reluctant Assassin: W.A.R.P., Book 1
Exhilarating but bloody tale starts off time travel series.
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Obsidian Mirror
Complex time travel page-turner starts sci-fi trilogy.
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The Fowl Twins
Artemis Fowl spin-off is clever and action-packed.
For kids who love fantasy
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