The Fowl Twins (novel)

Lore & Background

Colfer stated that after writing Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian he had had 'enough' with the series, opting to take a 'breather' from it in favor of other projects. He decided to return to the Fowl series after having 'had too many stories running around in [his] head to ignore', referencing that while it is 'not very Irish to be proud of something, but I started to feel a pride in the [Fowl] world.' Colfer cited Carysfort College as the inspiration for Spanish antagonistic spy-nun Sister Jeronima. The novel features the returns of Ishi Myishi from Colfer's 2001 novel The Wish List and Diavolo Conroy from Colfer's 2013 novel 'The Reluctant Assassin'.

Reader's Guide

The Fowl Twins serves as a spin-off and continuation of the Artemis Fowl series, marking the second cycle of The Fowl Adventures. Its release was timed to promote the then-upcoming Artemis Fowl film adaptation for Disney+. Critical reception was positive, with Kirkus Reviews praising it as 'a nonstop spinoff afroth with high tech, spectacular magic, and silly business.' The Times called it 'another wildly imaginative adventure,' highlighting the 'wildly different natures' of the titular twins. The Chicago Tribune acknowledged it as the 'best children's book of 2019,' and Tampa Bay Times complimented its character dynamics as 'a little magical mayhem.' The novel's significance lies in expanding the Fowl universe while reintroducing characters from Colfer's other works, bridging his literary worlds.

Did You Know?

• The Fowl Twins was released on 5 November 2019 by Viking Press and Disney Hyperion.
• The novel features the return of Ishi Myishi from Colfer's 2001 novel The Wish List.
• The character of Sister Jeronima was inspired by Carysfort College.

Position Within the Fowl Adventures

The Fowl Twins trilogy occupies the second cycle of what Eoin Colfer's broader Fowl Adventures encompasses. The Irish author's fantasy universe is structured across eleven novels in total, with the first cycle—commonly known simply as the Artemis Fowl series—comprising eight books. The Fowl Twins then picks up the narrative thread five years after the events of that initial run, shifting the spotlight from the prodigal Artemis to his younger twin brothers. This temporal gap allows the world Colfer built to evolve while the central family dynamic shifts. Both cycles have been commercially successful and critically well-received within children's literature, and both have spawned graphic novel adaptations, underscoring the franchise's visual and narrative breadth. The series as a whole has sold over twenty-one million copies across forty-four languages as of 2013, cementing its place among the best-selling book series of all time.

The Twins' Confinement and Their Guardians

The Fowl Twins places its two young protagonists under a strict regime of house arrest, a direct consequence of the criminal legacy their older brother Artemis left behind. Their daily existence is overseen by two very different supervisors. The first is Lazuli Heitz, described as a "pixel"—a hybrid being of both elf and pixie heritage—whose presence brings the magical world of the fairy people into the twins' domestic sphere. The second is NANNI, an artificial intelligence whose architecture is derived from the brainwaves of both Holly Short and Artemis Fowl himself, making it a unique fusion of elf and human cognitive patterns. This dual guardianship—part supernatural, part technological—frames the twins' world in a way that is distinctly different from the action-heavy, globe-trotting adventures of the first cycle. The setup positions the series as an intimate, contained story where the extraordinary is filtered through the lens of two children trying to navigate a life shaped by their family's infamy.

Reader Legacy and Commercial Reach

The Fowl Twins benefits from the enormous readership base built by the Artemis Fowl series that preceded it. By 2013, the combined novels had surpassed twenty-one million copies sold and been translated into forty-four languages, a figure that places the franchise firmly among the best-selling book series in publishing history. Within the children's literature genre, both cycles have drawn consistently positive critical attention, and the brand has extended beyond the page through graphic novel adaptations of both the first and second cycles. In 2010, readers themselves voted Artemis Fowl as their favorite Puffin Books title of all time, a testament to the deep emotional connection the series forged with young audiences. For the Fowl Twins trilogy, this legacy means it arrives with a built-in audience that already knows the Fowl family, the fairy world, and the moral complexity of a character who began as a villain and evolved into an anti-villain working alongside the very people he once opposed.

Adaptations and the Wider Media Landscape

The Fowl Twins exists within a broader adaptation ecosystem that has seen both triumph and disappointment. The most high-profile attempt at bringing the franchise to screen was a Disney film based on the first novel, which entered development in 2016 and was eventually released on the Disney+ streaming platform on June 12, 2020. The film received negative reviews from critics and audiences alike, and Disney removed it from the service on May 26, 2023—a brief and troubled run that highlighted the difficulty of translating Colfer's layered fantasy into a single feature. In contrast, the graphic novel adaptations of both the Artemis Fowl cycle and the Fowl Twins trilogy have offered a more faithful visual interpretation, allowing the intricate fairy-world technology and character dynamics to be rendered in a medium better suited to the source material's scope. For readers of the Fowl Twins, these adaptations serve as a reminder that the story's world extends well beyond the printed page, even when the most ambitious screen versions fall short of the books' ambition.