The Artemis Fowl Files (Artemis Fowl)

Rating:
Summary: The Files of Artemis Fowl are GREAT!!!
Review: Here's the book description from the UK edition (the release date is slightly earlier than in the US). Looks pretty darned good, and will help tide us over as we wait for the next Artemis adventure!
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Artemis Fowl's confidential files have been discovered in his safe at Fowl Manor. Ever since his first contact with the fairy people he has kept a locked dossier. Now you too can share the secrets:

Two FABULOUS stories: 'LEPrecon' - The story of Captain Holly Short's move from Traffic to Recon, and how she became the first female officer to serve under Commander Julius Root. 'The Seventh Dwarf' The World Book day story, featuring Artemis, Butler, Holly, and everyone's favourite kleptomaniac dwarf, Mulch Diggums.

EXCLUSIVE! Interviews with major characters including: Artemis, Holly, Foaly, Mulch and Eoin Colfer himself.

TOP SECRET! Coded extract from the Fairy Book for you to translate.

FASCINATING! Fairy-spotters section - could you tell a troll from a goblin?

CONFIDENTIAL! Technical diagrams of Foaly's top inventions.

And much more ...

Rating:
Summary: The Artemis Fowl Files
Review: The book which is only about 200 pages is mostly made up of the two shorts stories. One called 'LEPrecon' - The story of Captain Holly Short's move from Traffic to Recon, and how she became the first female officer to serve under Commander Julius Root and the other is called Seventh Dwarf(which I had already read when it was published earlier, just not in the United States).

LEPrecon was somewhat of a disappointment. The villian, who has a very interesting background, turns out to be flat in the end and the story was just lacking the usual Fowl smartness and edginess. The story is pretty much a prequel that explains the beginning of Holly and Root's relationship. The Seventh Dwarf on the other hand was much better. Mulch Diggins returns as he and Artemis plot to steal a diamond off a word famous tiara. They run into some problems with the LEPcron, namely Holly Short, though trying to steal the tiara from a band of circus dwarfs. This story had the usual Fowl flair and the ending was very interesting.

The rest of the book is composed of various sections that include interviews with the main characters of the series, a fairy code to decode, a gnome alphabet, guides on technology, a very interesting report card of Artemis Fowl's, and some puzzles to solve. I found the interviews most entertaining and the puzzles were okay, though some were quite unchallenging. Overall the book is a good one to fill your time while waiting for Artemis Fowl: Opal Deception.

Rating:
Summary: Worth a look
Review: The highlights of the book are obviously the two exclusive (well, the Seventh Dwarf was already published, just not in America) short stories. They take place either before or after the first one.

The book starts out with the story 'LEPrecon', which is about how Holly Short became the first LEPrecon officer. It has an interesting and gripping first chapter but plummets through there. The idea of the villain, who is related to a major character in the series, is very interesting but then they become the typical James Bond villain. A lot of the villains in Fowl are tongue-in-cheek cheesy, but the guy turns out so bland there's no interest in him whatsoever.

Rather, the story is just for fans to see how Holly and Root met, among other things. A standard/average prequel in other words.

Then we have a fairy code to decode and a Gnommish alphabet guide to help us out. I didn't finish decoding it yet but from what I gather its nothing particularly juicy.

After that we have a small 'guide' about the different species. Nothing really special. Then we get treated to some 'interviews' which are worth a look. Root's in particular had me cracking up, Holly and Artemis's interviews gave some insight into their characters and relationships, and Mulch's gives a small hint at what to occur in an upcoming book.

The report card for Artemis is a bit funny, and after that we get some really dull technology guides. I consider myself a pretty big AF fan but there's nothing that really held my interest. We get some ho-hum games which aren't particularly challening. Examples for the crossword include a three letter word for what Holly loves to do and the name of a dwarf with a bad wind problem.

So far the collection is bland and possibly slightly above average. Yeah, its probably something to tide us over, but its just fluff. Then we get 'The Seventh Dwarf' which is why this review gets 3 stars instead of 2. It manages to be an interesting, engaging story with a satisfying ending. Its funny, and has a some of Colfer's trademark wit. He also manages to fit in between the first and second books without any problems.

Check it out from the library if you can before you buy it, because with the exception of the Seventh Dwarf it'd be gathering dust on my shelf.