Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox (Book Review)

Intro

Artemis Fowl series is definitely one of my favourite book series that I have been following for years. I remember reading the first book of the series back when everyone else was crazy about Harry Potter.

The fist book came out in 2002 if I am not mistaken when I was in Sec 2, and since then I have been hooked to the series.

I think I should give a slight intro about the book. Basically humans are not the only sentient species living on earth. Fairies actually exist. You name it dwarves, goblins, pixies, elves...However they have been living in exile for a thousand years after losing the battle against mankind, and make their home deep underground in the earth's crust. So the story begins when Artemis Fowl makes the first contact with the fairies, and all the storyline begins from there.

There are 2 main characters, Artemis Fowl and Holly Short. Artemis is a child prodigy who at the age of 12 has become a feared criminal mastermind governing the Fowl Empire of syndicates and black market deals. Although throughout the story he did repent and became a good person.
Holly Short meanwhile is a highly talented elf and the only female elf in the LEPrecon(humans mistake them for leprechaun, in reality they are the Lower Element Police Reconnaissance Squad, a kind of scout that operates above ground to prevent humans from knowing that fairies exist still in the underground) ranks, the most elite department of the Lower Element Police. She is the best pilot of LEP, impulsive, rash and compliment Artemis's character perfectly. Well thats about it.

The Book

The Time Paradox is the latest of the installment. Its the sixth book of the series. Eoin Colfer (the author) talks about a very interesting concept here which is the time paradox.

Paradox is a statement that leads to contradiction and time paradox is essentially about all the contradictions that can be stipulated when we talk about time travel. From the book itself, there is 2 school of thoughts. One is that if one were to alter some events in the past, it will result in a very serious repercussion in the future, in what we refer to as the butterfly effect. People might cease to exist, entire future change, etc...there is nothing paradoxical in this line of thinking.

What is interesting is that in the 2nd school of thought, if someone were to time travel, they won't change anything in the past, because the repercussion is already felt in the past. Pretty confusing huh? But this is where the paradox lies, and I find it incredibly fascinating. In other words, any altering that the time traveller did in the past is considered as events already happening in the past and thus no altering of the future at all. But for that to happen, the time travel has to happen first, but since we already consider the fact that the repercussion is already felt, it means that contradictorily, the repercussion is felt BEFORE the time travel itself. Simply fascinating, I would really love to know who actually came up with this hypothesis because its so interesting.

Well, anyway, after all that has been said, you might be thinking I was talking about a science text book, but rest assured, its a storybook. More suited for teenagers definitely, but I have been following the series for so long, so I don't think its worth it to just give up on the book because I am too old for it. Although, I have to admit, maturity does take away some of the fun when you are reading the book. Hard to explain how, but maybe when we were young, we are more receptive to fun?

Synopsis

Anyway, back to the book. A short synopsis beforehand, the story kicks off shortly after the end of the 5th book (The Lost Colony). Artemis Fowl has came back to the human world and realize that he had 2 twin brothers, and 3 years has pass by although he was only trapped in the time warp for a few seconds.

Artemis thus used his magic to (Magic he stole from Holly in the time tunnel) modify the memory of his parents so that they will forget that he had been missing for 3 years. Life then settle down into a peaceful monotony until Artemis's mother suddenly fall ill due to an unknown disease. It leaves even the most respectable doctors baffled and before he know it, his mother was dying.

So Artemis turns to his fairy friends for help and found out the disease is called Spelltropy, and was plague that used to affect only fairies and totally immune to healing from magic. Artemis was told his mother has only a few hours left. Artemis was further devastated when he was told the cure for the disease came from the brain fluid of an extremely rare lemur, and it happens that Artemis captured the last one of its kind and unknowingly caused its death 4 years ago. (Back when he was the evil Artemis)

So, as expected their only choice is time travel back into the past and rescue the lemur from the younger Artemis. Pretty interesting really, since it pits the good older Artemis with his old cynical evil younger self. And that is how the story goes...

Review

I would definitely say its a good book, although I really wish it could be much better. The build up to the climax is quite unexciting, since the protoganist for this installment happens to be a madman bend on making all the animals in the world extinct, it just doesn't interest me.

And sad to say I really miss the character Julius Root which the author killed off in the 4th book. Eventhough its already the sixth book, I still dearly miss the old tough commander.

And as for the character development, I would say Eoin Colfer is going through what I call the missing character syndrome. With the introduction of so many characters all the way from the first book. Its weird when you see some of them missing in action in the sixth book. What happen to Minerva? What happen to Butler, Artemis ever faithful bodyguard who only make an appearance right at the end of the book.

I would say too much emphasis is placed on Artemis and Holly. Cause the whole book is mostly about this two only.

But there are some interesting parts definitely, for one, the finally awaited hints of romance between Holly and Artemis. I have been waiting for it ever since the 2nd book where hints were given previously.

And whats more Eoin Colfer has verified that for the next installment he will be working more into the origins and birth of Artemis and Holly.

So here's me looking forward to the 7th installment of the series, although Colfer said that he will only be starting on the book in around 2011, by which I am almost 24...not really an age where you read teenage books, but who cares...

"Hiam Cieo Kua" - Dried Chili Boar Meat

Just to remind me how to cook this dish, my mum thought me last week, one of my favourite dish, I gave it a try but overcooked it a bit, which resulted in tough meat and slightly bitter taste from the spices.

Ingredients:
Garlic
Shallot
Ginger
Boar Meat (Belly parts, the one with 3 lines, ie: skin, fat, meat, cut into cubic shape.)
Mixed Halba
Oil
Salt
Dried chilli
Curry leaf

Introduction

One of the earliest recipe I picked up from my mum. Its easy to cook, but not easy to cook it so that its soft and tender.

Not for those who cannot take spicy stuff, cause this dish is hot..., anyway you can control how
hot you want it by changing the amount of dried chili, my mum usually put around 10 if I am not mistaken.

I consider it a rare delicacy cause first you need wild boar meat, which is not easy to obtain, and this dish is rarely seen in the southern part of the malaysia peninsular. I remember I used to eat it often back when I was staying in Kedah which is a northern state. Maybe because there are more "dusun"s there, and thus more active hunting and trapping of the wild boars.

Anyway, definitely one of my favourite dish. Which is why I asked my mum to teach me.

Instruction

Might not be fully correct, cause I am recalling it from my memory.

To start with, slice up the garlic and shallot. The amount is up to you, the more the better of course, but keep the ratio of garlic to shallot at 1 to 2. As for ginger, about 2 inches will do, the more the better of course, cut into thin slices too. Cut up the dried chili into small slices too.

Heat up the oil in the wok, try to use as little oil as possible since, as you cook the meat, it will release a lot, and I mean a lot of oil. Put in the garlic, shallot and the ginger and fry them until a the aroma rise. Put in the curry leafs as well, about 2-3 stalks of them, without the stalk of course.

When the aroma is really really good, put in the boar meat and mix it thoroughly for maybe 5 minutes and adding a good 1-2 pinches of salt to draw out the water and oil from the meat.

Keep stirring until the water is all dry and then add in the dried chili with the mixed halba. For the mixed halba its really up to you how much you add, but never too much of it, or you will be eating spices instead of meat.

Keep stirring until they are well mixed and cover up the wok to avoid the meat becoming to dry. Stir every 5 minutes or so, until the meat turn light golden brown and you will notice a lot of oil in the wok due to the oil from the fatty parts of the meat. You can remove the wok from the fire and pour out the oil slowly so that its not too oily.

The meat should be about cooked now, and be careful not to overcook or you will burn the spices and add a rather unpleasant bitter taste to the meat. If you think the meat is too hard, pour in a small measure of water and stir the meat until the water is absorbed. It will soften the meat somehow. But most importantly, must not overcook, cause thats what happen when I tried the dish and the meat tasted bitter.

Once the meat is cooked, its ready to be served.