I had to talk my 12-year old into letting me read this to him and his brother (10) for a bedtime novel, since "I kinda wanted to read this series on my own." We compromised with him letting me read the first one to them, and then they will both read the rest by themselves. Since I enjoyed the title, this made me a bit sad, but hey, I can always read it on MY own too. 
 Artemis Fowl is a 12-year old semi-evil genius. Oh, and he's filthy rich. Butler is his, well, butler (and bodyguard, and muscle, and sounding board). Artemis finds a way to crack the ancient secrets of Fairies, and he plans to use this information for purely selfish means. 
 I liked the story line, I liked the characters and the setting. I didn't like how many times the author used "started" in the "move suddenly" sense. The first time I saw it, I used it as a teaching moment for the boys, since they were not familiar with that usage. By the fifth time, even they were pointing it out when the word appeared. Yeah, that's picky, I know. But I noticed it. 
 I especially enjoyed Holly, Root (good laughs from him) and Mulch. This was my first experience with dwarves that tunnel underground by unhinging their jaw and swallowing the ground in front of them, only to forcefully propel it out their backsides shortly thereafter. Whoah. 
 Trevor (10) says that he took off a star because a) "I didn't like the overabundance of violence" (he strongly dislikes violence--I didn't find it excessive) and b) "I didn't like how evil the humans were." Fair enough. I get bored with sugary-sweet, heart-of-gold humans, so Artemis was a good change of pace for me. Recommended!