I liked this YA novel when it was first published, in 2001. I remember being confused about who to root for – the boy genius / criminal mastermind who wants to restore his family’s fortunes in Ireland, or the military police fairies underground, who use sophisticated technology to stop humans finding out about their existence. The story centres around Artemis’ plot to kidnap a fairy – this turns out to be Captain Holly Short – in exchange for gold. He manages to get hold of the fairies’ book and decode their secrets. With the help of his bodyguard, Butler, he is more of a challenge than the fairies bargained for.

It’s an action-packed story with lots of clever inventions and snappy characters. The idea of dwarves eating through the earth, like worms, was particularly interesting. I didn’t like the violence, however. The very different perspective on fairies was unusual and the worldbuilding was detailed. The writing style was over-reliant on people grinning, grunting and snorting! They also tended to curl their fingers around things. I’m happy to have revisited this book, but I don’t fancy catching up on the series. A film adaptation was released in 2020, to generally negative critical reviews.