Cobbler's Child - Reviews

Eoin Colfer (2002)

OK, I confess I got this from Amazon because it was recommended for fans of Harry Potter. In fact, the reviews indicated that while the themes were similar, I should expect much better writing.

Joey gave it a go last summer but gave up halfway through. He said it was boring. Now it's my turn to try.

The funny thing about this book is I could never remember the title. Now that I've read it, I hope it will stick in my mind a bit better.

It is certainly better written than the Harry Potter books, and there are some similarities. So the Amazon blurbing that convinced me to buy it for Joseph was accurate.

But the contrasts are very interesting. Artemis Fowl is written by someone who knows the language and how to use it. All of the sentences are brief and simple enough to be parsed the first time through by a fourth-grader, I'm guessing. That's a huge contrast to HP, where I have to read some of the sentences through four or five times to figure out what they mean.

But in terms of storytelling, it falls short of HP. I'm having a hard time warming to it. In all honesty this could be my current mood, which is not on top of the world. But the main character is not a likeable one. Interesting, but not likeable. Which may make all the difference. There are other telling differences in this respect. For example, there's a scene where a character is taking on a troll single-handed. HP anyone? But while this one comes off nicely, and certainly skin-of-the-teeth, it's not nearly as vivid and memorable as HP jamming his wand up the troll's nose.

The AF plot is simpler overall than the standard HP plot (especially the last two - not that they had any more plotting than the previous ones, but they used so many more words to reveal it). So from that respect the AF stories should be easier for children to read and understand (along with the simpler sentence structure, etc.). But on the other hand some of the concepts in AF may be a bit more advanced. The captain of the guard cutting through red tape on his own behalf. I'm not sure how clear that would be to a fourth-grader.

Joey said it was boring. I wouldn't agree. But it is difficult to warm to. It doesn't draw the reader in the same way the HP stories do. I finally got drawn in in the latter half of the story, and it's indicative that Artemis Fowl appears very little through this portion of the story - most of the action dwells on other characters.

I had the book out at the pool recently and the swim coach said approving things about it. Evidently his child loves the series.

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25 February 2004 - 4 March 2004

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