The Fowl Twins

by Eoin Colfer, Nathaniel Parker (Read by)

Overview

With all the hallmarks that made the Artemis Fowl series so popular, this hilarious spinoff adventure stars Artemis' younger brothers, along with a nefarious nobleman, a shadowy nun, and a fairy intern, and a maverick troll.

One week after their eleventh birthday, the Fowl twins—scientist Myles, and Beckett, the force of nature—are left in the care of house security (NANNI) for a single night. In that time they befriend a troll who has clawed his way through the earth's crust to the surface. Unfortunately for the troll, he is being chased by a nefarious nobleman and an interrogating nun, who both need the magical creature for their own gain, as well as a fairy-in-training who has been assigned to protect him. The boys and their new troll best friend escape and go on the run. Along the way they get shot at, kidnapped, buried, arrested, threatened, killed (temporarily), and discover that the strongest bond in the world is not the one forged by covalent electrons in adjacent atoms, but the one that exists between a pair of twins.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593154090
Publisher:	Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/05/2019
Series:	Artemis Fowl Series: The Fowl Twins , #1
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	1,195,531
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 6.00(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) is a former elementary school teacher whose Artemis Fowl series has become an international bestseller. He is also the author of The Wish List and the New York Times bestseller The Supernaturalist. He lives in Ireland with his wife and two children. Visit him online at eoincolfer.com.

Nathaniel Parker has appeared in several films, such as The Bodyguard, Wide Sargasso Sea, and Hamlet. His theater credits include The Storm, The Winter’s Tale, and The Rover. On television he has starred in Vanity Fair, Far from the Madding Crowd, and McCallum. Parker has also narrated many audiobooks, such as the Artemis Fowl series.

Hometown:

Wexford Town, County Wexford, Republic of Ireland

Date of Birth:

May 14, 1965

Place of Birth:

Waterford City, County Waterford, Republic of Ireland

Education:

Bachelor of Education, 1986; Education Diploma, 1987

Website:

http://www.eoincolfer.com

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/16/2019

Colfer’s clever spin-off of the Artemis Fowl series focuses on Artemis Fowl’s twin younger brothers—hyperintelligent Myles and near-feral Beckett, both 11. With their older sibling on Mars, the fraternal twins are dragged into a madcap adventure when they’re kidnapped by Lord Teddy Bleedham-Drye, a 150-year-old duke seeking the secret to immortality, which he believes rests in the venom of a diminutive troll that the twins are protecting. Sister Jeromina, a nun and agent of the secret organization ACRONYM, also has them in her sights. Meanwhile, Lower Elements Police Specialist Lazuli Heitz, a pixel (pixie-elf hybrid), seeks to rescue the imperiled troll—and the twins by extension. A globetrotting caper transpires as the myriad factions attempt to outwit, outsmart, escape, and double-cross one another. Colfer’s trademark tongue-in-cheek narrative voice is on full display, his characters existing in a preposterous balance between sincerity and absurdity, mad science, and technology. Though a working familiarity with the previous books is handy, this series opener is accessible and entertaining: the fast-paced plot, filled with unexpected betrayals, death-defying feats, and secret train cars, will appeal to Fowl readers established and new. Agent: Sophie Hicks, Sophie Hicks Agency. Ages 10–14. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

11/01/2019

Gr 4–8–Based on the same Eurocentric adventure platform, The Fowl Twins transcends the original "Artemis Fowl" series. Welcome to a new level of zany ridiculousness with the warm-hearted interplay between Miles and Beckett, Artemis's now 11-year-old twin brothers, as they fight together with a fairy creature against an elderly Duke and an evil nun, two of the most hilarious supervillains of all time. As his characters chase each other across Western Europe, Colfer mocks predictable tropes with ingeniously unexpected turns made possible by wacky technological or magical marvels and astounding physical feats. The wry narrator's choice of metaphor and unique turns-of-phrase are as delightful as the action on the page. Masterful pacing includes complicated action sequences broken into different perspectives, with time sped up or slowed down to maximize both the reader's excitement and their ability to revel in Miles's cleverness, or to guess at Beckett's hidden talents. Kids familiar with European landmarks will be especially pleased at glimpses of Amsterdam, Verona, and the Irish Coast; Spanish-speakers will appreciate the nefarious nun's frequent exclamations. A handful of beloved characters from the original series make brief cameos. VERDICT Funnier and more appealing than its popular progenitor, this title is destined to become a favorite.—Rhona Campbell, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC

School Library Journal

★ 2019-07-14
With their big brother Artemis off to Mars, 11-year-old twins Myles and Beckett are swept up in a brangle with murderous humans and even more dangerous magical creatures.

Unsurprisingly, the fraternal Irish twins ultimately prove equal to the challenge—albeit with help from, Colfer as omniscient narrator admits early on, a "hugely improbable finale." Following the coincidental arrival on their island estate of two denizens of the subterranean fairy realm in the persons of a tiny but fearsome troll and a "hybrid" pixie-elf, or "pixel," police trainee, the youngest Fowls immediately find themselves in the sights of both Lord Teddy Bleedham-Drye, a ruthless aristocrat out to bag said troll for its immorality-conferring venom, and Sister Jeronima Gonzalez-Ramos de Zárate, black-ops "nunterrogation" and knife specialist for ACRONYM, an intergovernmental fairy-monitoring organization. Amid the ensuing whirl of captures, escapes, trickery, treachery, and gunfire (none of which proves fatal…or at least not permanently), the twins leverage their complementary differences to foil and exasperate both foes: Myles being an Artemis mini-me who has dressed in black suits since infancy and loves coming up with and then "Fowlsplaining" his genius-level schemes; and Beckett, ever eager to plunge into reckless action and nearly nonverbal in English but with an extraordinary gift for nonhuman tongues. In the end they emerge triumphant, though threatened with mind wipe if they ever interfere in fairy affairs again. Yeah, right. Human characters seem to be default white; "hybrid" is used to describe nonhuman characters of mixed heritage.

Like its bestselling progenitors, a nonstop spinoff afroth with high tech, spectacular magic, and silly business. (Fantasy. 11-13)

Kirkus Reviews

Read More