The Fowl Twins Deny All Charges

Gr 3-7–The second of this "Artemis Fowl" spin-off series doesn’t hit the same funny bone as its 2019 predecessor, The Fowl Twins, but fans of Myles and Beckett will enjoy their time with the goofiness anyway. In this installment, the white, male Irish twins’ parents put them under house arrest in their mansion, which only works until Myles gets kidnapped and Beckett goes to the rescue. This book’s villains, an ambitious dwarf family, aren’t nearly as hilarious as the bad guy of the first book, although what they can accomplish with spit and farts is impressively creative. Action sequences are bogged down with distractingly long, multi-paragraph explanations of backstory and world-building. Myles’ cleverness remains to be marveled at, as is Beckett’s physical prowess. There are some rather spectacular flatulence and magic technological feats along the way. Other than the dwarves, there are no new characters, nor are there any fabulous locations.