"Barely an hour north of Dublin's fair city lies the Fowl estate, where the boundaries have changed little in the past five hundred years" (Prologue, p. 7).

"Artemis did not yet have all the facts, but nonetheless he was reasonably confident that whatever was wrong with his mother could be healed with a burst of fairy magic. And he was the only human on Earth with that magic running through his system" (Chapter 1, p. 12).

"Holly couldn't help applying the phrase to Artemis' mail. So often the Irish boy manipulated people by telling them almost the truth" (Chapter 2, p. 36).

"He couldn't turn back the clock, but he knew a demon warlock who could. It was a chance. A chance" (Chapter 4, p. 51).

"This was a face that only a mother could love, and then perhaps only if her sight were failing" (Chapter 6, p. 73).

"Moving with less than its customary grace, the...