Worlds Inside Books

Artemis has changed since the first novel. He’s not so cold anymore and feels a bit guilty about having abducted Holly. We see that he cares about her well-being and is distressed when she’s injured.

Artemis doesn’t want to steal lots of money in this book, but to rescue his father. The man has been kidnapped by the Russian mafia. In order to ensure his father’s safety, the boy even asks the LEP for help.

This novel takes Fowl out of his comfort zone. He’s used to being the mastermind, the brain behind the plan. Now he has to do some physical work if he doesn’t want his father to die. We see a different boy if we compare it to the first book. He has a lot of doubts and questions his abilities to succeed in the field. This is probably what makes his behaviour much more believable.

He grows up a lot here. When first asked by a psychologist if he respects somebody, he doesn’t have an answer. This question is repeated at the very end of the book. This time Artemis has an answer, because he and Holly learned something while working together. Neither of them is as bad as the other thinks and they make a great team. They would be dead if they had been working alone.

The plot of this book is a bit more complex than the plot of the first one. There are two main stories that happen at the same time and sometimes it may seem that both are related.

We know who the mole is from the beginning, but we don’t know exactly what his final goal is. What happened in the first book affected him more than anybody thought. We see how making fun of people and blaming one person for the failure of a plan many agreed on can have very negative consequences. This is an extreme case and this person is hardly good and nice, but the good guys don’t have an exemplary behaviour either. They enjoyed all the comments and jokes.

Like what happened in the first book, good people are not portrayed as perfect heroes.