I went into this book ready to meet the twins as functioning members of the Fowl family, and I got them. Myles is the smart, Artemis-like twin - the personality type that the series has come to depend on. Beckett is the "dumb" polygot and martial artist. They are also physically different looking, just to drive home the point of "these twins are nothing alike!" But it was stereotyping to the max, and that aspect kind of bothered me at times. Myles also suffered heavily from comparing himself to Artemis constantly, to the point that he still felt like a character in the book. Through digital recordings and references to him that felt like nearly every chapter, Myles (and sort of the whole book) fell under the shadow of the previous series. And, to be fair, I expected that somewhat. Artemis Fowl was a great book series and it's why I continued on to this subsequent series. However, I feel like the new Fowl characters would really shine if they had let them stand on their own four feet without the constant mentions.

I liked Lazuli. I thought it was fun to explore her identity in the fairy culture. However, I kind of felt like she sort of took a back seat in this book. She was a necessary element for the book to have, as I assume this will kick off subsequent adventures exploring the underground fairy world. However, I sometimes felt she was just kind of set dressing so that the Fowl twins could succeed. I felt like she really came into her own in that final fight when she got her magic, so I look forward to seeing her grow more over the course of the later books. I felt like they spent more time developing Whistle Blower, who was honestly kind of cute. NANNI was also an interesting side character, and I love the idea of artificial life becoming sentient, so I'm interested in seeing what way they go with her.

Was it enjoyable? Yeah. I don't think it was as good as the original series, but that's a tall order anyway. Will I read on? Also yes.