精靈的贖金

I thought this book had excellent plot, but I didn't enjoy it enough to keep reading the series. The fairy technology invented was really cool, I think the hostage/heist set up with all the major plot points happening at one location was really effective, and I thought the set-up for a lot of the characters was really interesting - I can see particularly how Artemis's character could be developed in fun ways.

On the other hand, the writing style wasn't super interesting and felt a bit cliché sometimes. It was also felt a bit misogynistic, the whole thing where Root was explaining he had to treat Holly differently because she was the first female officer BECAUSE other people were going to be harsher on her for being a female officer. I was like okay??? So we're just justifying misogyny with other people's mysogyny???? It wasn't really framed as a character flaw either, I got the impression we were supposed to be surprised to find out Root was actually on her side. Similarly with Artemis one of the times he feels remorse in the books is attributed to him noticing that Holly is a girl, "like mother or Juliet" - Juliet is hired to protect him and trained as a Butler which is a big deal in the book so it makes little sense for her to be seen as more vulnerable with the info we've been given.

Anyway, I thought it was an ok book with EXCELLENT plot (according to Leo's descriptions the following books have amazing plot points too) which I probably would have enjoyed loads as a kid but didn't vibe with much when I read it recently.

[Spoiler Free Review]I'll come right out of the gate with my problem: I personally felt like this book was very slow and to be honest boring at times. Which is a shame, because the premise is great! Artemis, Butler, Juliet and Holly are so far intriguing and that's why I will keep reading this series and hope it will get better. But spending a whole book in one place with one hostage situation is difficult to write entertaining and I fear that was the problem. Too much time spend with the fairies who have an interesting world and mechanics, but more than 80% of the book was them bumbling around and we had little time with Artemis. What I'm trying to say is... I don't think the first book of this series was the best introduction to it nor the most gripping, unlike let's say Lockwood & Co or Percy Jackson, those first books grab you hard, but they also have a faster pace. BUT I did like the writing and Artemis is a great idea of a character. I'm looking forward to the rest.

Dans les faits (ou les fées lol), la note serait plus 3,5. Ce qui est bien pour un livre qui, bien qu’il m’intéressait, partait avec un mauvais apriori dû à son genre. J’ai souvent tendance à penser que les auteurs de jeunesse n’apportent pas de soin à leur écriture, que les phrases sont simplement là sans plus de réflexion. Eoin Colfer (et le traducteur Jean-François Ménard) m’ont gentiment rabattu le clapet. Le livre est drôle, les jeux de mots intelligents et j’ai souris à plusieurs reprises. Le défaut que je peux souligner (et qui peut ne concerner que moi) est qu’Artemis, le héros éponyme, est assez en retrait. Dans un sens, cela est dû à son rôle de manipulateur de l’ombre, qui observe silencieusement les pions sur son échiquier. Je pense que ce ressenti vient de deux choses : premièrement, le livre est avant tout une mission de sauvetage, d’infiltration, sur une bonne ambiance de film d’action, c’est qui ne constitue pas mon intérêt principal de lecture. Je préfère les livres qui s’attardent sur les personnages et leur psychologie. Ce qui explique mon envie de m’attarder sur Artemis qui est un personnage très bien écrit, avec ses atouts, ses complexités et ses faiblesses.Tous les personnages sont à mon sens attachants, ils ne tombent pas dans les clichés, ont tous leurs ambitions et leurs projets qui justifient leur caractère et leurs actes. Maintenant, si je continue les prochains tomes (ce qui risque d’arriver), ça sera davantage pour en découvrir plus sur le héros principal que pour les aventures en elles-mêmes.