Artemis Fowl Series Book #6: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

In book 6 of the Artemis Fowl series, Artemis is dealing with the fall out from his three-year absence. He’s playing with his younger brothers when his father comes in and tells his son that his mother is barely hanging on to life. Her organs are shutting down. It turns out that Angeline Fowl has a disease call Spelltropy that plagued the People for many years before a cure had been found. The only cure for this disease comes from a species of lemur that is instinct, thanks in part to Artemis Fowl.

So what does Artemis do? Well…as the title of the book suggests he goes back in time to stop himself from selling the last of this species of lemurs and bring it back so a cure can be administered to his mother. Through twists and turns that gave me a few headaches, you find out that the mastermind of this plot is none other than Opal Koboi only from eight years ago. The following quote from the book when Artemis realizes this, pretty much sums up how I felt when she was brought in: What do I have to do? He thought. How many times must I save the world from this lunatic?

Seriously? What does Artemis Fowl have to do to defeat this devilish pixie? This girl has survived a coma, becoming human, and yeah, even though this is the Opal from eight years ago, she still survives a kraken collapsing on her. The only problem now is that there are two Opals out there, this CAN NOT end well.

While writing this book blog over the last few months, I’ve gone through a list of things that I don’t like in books – prequels written after the primary series, novellas, etc. – now I’ll add one more thing to my list. TIME TRAVEL. Seriously. Here’s another quote from the book that basically explains my feelings about time travel in books:

 It was confusing even for Artemis. Opal wouldn’t even be in his present if he hadn’t gone back in time. And he had only gone back in time because of a situation she had created. It had been Artemis’s own attempts to cure his mother that had led Opal to infect her.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. I loved Artemis and Holly in this book – especially a teenaged version of Holly. It was fantastic. The only two things I didn’t care for was the use of Opal and the time travel. My head still aches from trying to figure out how any of it was possible. …Wait. That might have actually been the headband… hm…

Bookshelf worthy? Support your local library!!