Author says he will write one more book featuring the child criminal mastermind, and reveals rough storyline for his final adventure
The child genius Artemis Fowl, whose criminal schemes have powered seven children's novels to bestsellerdom since 2001, selling 20m books around the world, is under a sentence of execution. His creator, Eoin Colfer, has revealed to the Guardian that this summer's outing, The Atlantis Complex, will be his teenage mastermind's penultimate adventure.
"One more book, and then that'll be the end of that," he said. "He will be faced with a choice where he can be kind to somebody and he won't gain anything, or he can be unkind and he will find a million dollars in a suitcase, and he will choose the nice way, and that will be the end," he explained. "That's how I'm going to finish it, on a very simple choice."
The child mastermind has changed through the series, Colfer continued, from being "pretty much your standard bad guy ... kind of two dimensional", to someone with "a bit of a conscience". "He's gone from being this horrible bad guy to being more of a Robin Hood kind of guy, where he does commit crimes, but you feel they're kind of warranted," he said.
Like Peter Pan, Colfer explained, Fowl will put away the magic, the childish things, but he will also do something "that could be considered very human". "There's not going to be any huge battle, and going up the stairs to heaven, it's not going to be that kind of finish." he added. "There will be the big adventure, but the end will be in a little epilogue. End of story."
The manager of children's specialist bookshop Tales on Moon Lane, Georgina Hanratty, said she'd be disappointed to say goodbye to Artemis Fowl. "Artemis is one of our key series for 9-12 year olds," she said. "The combination of action and adventure, strong male and female lead characters and Eoin's brilliant humour make them perfect for a wide range of readers, and the feedback has always been fantastic." New titles are always "eagerly anticipated", with Fowl's inclusion in Puffin's 70th birthday celebrations showing "a big upturn in sales in the last couple of months as new readers discover the series". "I'd be sad to see him go," she concluded. "He's a really great character. But when it's over, it's over."
The author also admitted to a pang at bidding farewell to a character whom he said was inspired by a picture of his brother Donal dressed up in his Sunday best, and took on more and more of the characteristics of Colfer's own son. "I've grown fond of Artemis," Colfer said. "I'll be reluctant to leave that world."
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Monday, July 26, 2010
Eoin Colfer to bid farewell to Artemis Fowl
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