Artemis Fowl Book 7: This is a Squee Post!

[sherrilina]

Ever since I learned that there was a seventh Artemis Fowl coming out this summer (they always seem to surprise me, I guess I need to follow this kind of thing more closely!) I have been excited and nervous at the same time, wondering where Colfer planned to go with the romance after what had happened in the last book…

All of the Artemis/Holly in the sixth book made me deliriously happy—I was on Cloud 9 for a week, constantly thinking about it and smiling, after having actually danced for joy when I read of the A/H kiss for which I had longed for so many years, and which I never expected! I remember seeing Colfer in person when the third book came out, and him answering a fan question about whether Artemis and Holly would kiss firmly in the negative, exclaiming that they were different species. So to actually see this dream of mine happen, for one of my long-shot d00med!friendship-based ships to actually transpire in canon, was phenomenal and surreal—for once I could stick canon in the face of nay-sayers insisting they were “just friends” and that I was “reading too much into it”, and say, “Wrong!” :p And my least favorite character after Opal, the horrid Ginny Mary Sue Minerva, who I feared would be involved in a romance with Artemis in the sixth book, didn’t even appear! It was like the sixth Harry Potter book all over again, but done right, IMHO! ;)

And it was so beautifully written as well, surprising me greatly—I had thought after the blundering, awkward, forced, shallow romance seen in the fifth book between Artemis and Minerva that Colfer, hilarious and wonderful as he was, simply could not write (intentional) romance. But with Artemis/Holly, Colfer showed just how well he could do so—unlike Artemis/Minerva, Artemis/Holly in this book was all subtlety, all about what was left unsaid between them, rather than their spoken words, with the car scene being a chief example of this (I wasn’t even entirely sure what they were saying at first, so much better than a sledgehammer of obviousness!). It was more about the little things, and all the more emotionally satisfying and lovely for it. Especially given all that has come before between them, all that they have shared, how far they have come from when he first kidnapped her as a cold, ruthless young boy. The kiss scene is still my favorite of the series, followed by the car conversation. Too bad there were so many problems with the main plot besides that, namely Opal’s annoying, boring self showing up as the villain once again, and much confusion.

In any case though, given how things ended between Artemis and Holly, with them saying how impossible a relationship would be, and seeming to claim that it could only happen in an AU verse like where they had just been, I was worried that this might be it—that Colfer might have been just trying to satisfy the A/H fans with this book, and meant to show how impossible A/H was so as to move on to A/M.

But this excerpt from the Amazon.com plot summary/description of the 7th book gives me great hope…

Captain Holly Short is unconvinced, and discovers that Artemis is suffering from Atlantis Complex, a psychosis common among guilt-ridden fairies - not humans - and most likely triggered by Artemis’s dabbling with fairy magic. Symptoms include obsessive-compulsive behavior, paranoia, multiple personality disorder and, in extreme cases, embarrassing professions of love to a certain feisty LEPrecon fairy.

I squeed so much when I read this—professions of love to a certain feisty LEPrecon fairy?! DO WANT! :D It definitely sounds promising as far as Colfer continuing to pursue Artemis/Holly romantic development, following the major developments in book six. Obviously Artemis is still hung up on HOLLY, not stupid Minerva (or he’d be confessing to HER, no?), which is a good sign for my ship! I am definitely interested to see how she will react, and who will hear this confession…:p In short, this makes me look forward to the book even more, and I just hope that the inevitable dumb Opal plot will not be too obnoxious and annoying to mar my enjoyment of the book overall…

The only thing I am not very happy about in regard to this book is its ugly-ass cover, which is in a completely different style from every other book in the series—I really hate it when series’ cover art changes mid-series, like it did with VA as well, but at least those changes weren’t as bad as this one…*sigh*  This will definitely be the biggest book release of the summer for me!

Anyone else here read Artemis Fowl?

Comments

[hmsharmony.livejournal.com]

THIS POST. I LOVE IT. YOU'RE GETTING ME ALL PSYCHED FOR AUGUST. I desperately need to see this relationship develop! I SENSE MAJOR SQUEEAGE IN MY FUTURE (Y/Y?).

I lack an A/H icon, so instead I'll use another shared beloved ship. <3

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Y!!! :D Lol, glad you liked it, and that you are also an A/H fan (though if you read AF you obviously would be, they are that series' equivalent of H/Hr!)...I'm hoping Colfer can salve our H/Hr wounds by making its similar ship happen!

And LMAO @ that icon! :p I'm ashamed to say it took me a sec to get it...

[hmsharmony.livejournal.com]

How could anyone NOT ship A/H? HOLY MOLY (haven't used THAT expression in a while :-P). I mean, okay, yeah, there's that whole age difference and the tiny little thing with it being a cross-species relationship, but they're just too epic!!

It took me a couple of seconds to get it the first time I saw it as well. ^_-

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

*is lame and only has one H/Hr icon*

IDK, but some people don't! I've gotten into some bitchfights about it online, even on Facebook! Some people find it squicky for those insignificant, trivial reasons you mention (plus the size diff), others for whatever reason ship her with Captain "Trouble" despite what an arrogant ass he is (hold on a sec, am I seeing a parallel with a certain redhead?) and how little they really interact, and others actually *shudder* ship Harry/Ginny Artemis/Mary Sue Minerva! It was sure nice though to be all, "Sorry, it's A/H!" to them after book 6! :p Though believe it or not some still claim the kiss was just "friendly"--oh suuuure! *rolleyes*

But yeah, I don't know what made Colfer change his mind, but I love that he did! :D I wonder if he looked back and realized how well he had written them, that a romance between them WOULD be more meaningful and sensible than A/M? If that is the case, then it's another reason why he > JK!

[hmsharmony.livejournal.com]

How could ANYONE want him with Minerva? She's an annoying little word-I-shouldn't-use. Seriously. A/H ALL THE WAY.

Did Colfer actually change his mind? That's really interesting! I never knew that.

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

It would appear that he did, unless he's been dissembling or lying all this time...I actually saw him in person state that Artemis and Holly would never kiss--he seemed weirded out and disgusted by the very notion! I read someone else reporting almost the exact same response when someone asked him that same question elsewhere. And then there's the fact that he supposedly stated at one point that Holly/Trouble would happen (or something like that), and it certainly seemed in book 5 like he was trying to set up something between him and Minerva...especially at the end! (Even though book 5 had had the most intense A/H moments to date, including a cheek kiss!)

But then of course in book 6 everything changed, and from the book 7 description it certainly seems like he's going to continue on this bettern A/H path...

[hmsharmony.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I do remember reading about that. I always thought it was made p. XD Well, it's fantastic to know that he seems to have changed his mind! Here's hoping he really has, because the feelings revealed in the sixth book were undeniable. I mean, c'mon. The end? I don't have the books with me because I'm at work, but doesn't Holly say something about if situations were different?

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Yep, she says something like, "in another time". And she said some other things as well indicative of lingering feelings for Artemis, like recalling their kiss, and being aware of the weight of him in her arms, etc. I need to go back and reread as well...not to mention finish my A/H fanmix before August!

[hmsharmony.livejournal.com]

Yes! When she's flying, right? That's when she thinks about the weight of him in her arms. &hearts

I AM PSYCHED FOR THIS FANMIX

[monamour23.livejournal.com]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS!!!!

im so excited. i love this series. its so creative and i have a huge crush on artemis, i wont lie.

gah. thankyou for letting me know about this.

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Who doesn't have a crush on Artemis?! Unf....especially now that he's all grown up and not jailbait

And heh I only recently heard about it as well, I need to keep up with these things better--I remember with book 6 I only found out about it the day of the release! At least this time I had more advanced warning...I'm glad to have informed others as well! :)

[monamour23.livejournal.com]

haha i forget hes young coz hes so clever and sarcastic and swoon-worthy! have you read the extract yet??? its on the artemis fowl website. it sounds promising!!!!

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Lol, exactly, he doesn't act his true age, which is one reason why I don't think the age difference between him and Holly is as big of a deal as some make it out to be...

And NO I have not seen that yet, I'll have to check it out!!! Thank YOU now for that heads up! :D

Extract of their kiss

[(Anonymous)]

I haven't got the book of them kissing and I can't get hold of, please please please can someone post the page the kiss is on AND the car bit please? I've manage to get hold of the kiss text but I really want to read their reactions and how they deal with it. Thanks

Re: Extract of their kiss

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Well this is waaaay late I know, but since I had the book out and was copying quotes anyway, I thought I'd reply in case you hadn't found it yet:

Kiss (p. 138):

"Holly," he said when his vision had cleared. His smile was sincere and grateful. "You saved me again."

Holly was laughing and crying at the same time, tears spilling onto Artemis's chest.

"Of course I saved you," she said. "I couldn't do without you." And because she was happy and flushed with magic, Holly leaned down and kissed Artemis, magic sparking around the contact like tiny fireworks.

Post-kiss Later (p. 168):

Artemis's head pounded, and Holly's mismatched eyes seemed to hypnotize him....But though Artemis felt hypnotized, even slightly dazed, he knew he was not mesmerized. There was no fairy magic here.

Artemis looked into those elfin eyes, and he knew that this younger, somehow more vulnerable Holly felt the same way, at this particular tangle of time and space, as he did.

After all we have been through. Or maybe because of it.

Car scene (pp. 179-181) is too long to copy out, but here are my favorite bits:

He sat there for a few minutes, concentrating on the experience. Storing it away....

It was true. Holly was different: the time stream had brought them closer together.