Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
I read the first part to the series recently and found it an extremely entertaining read. The hero is this child genius and a great criminal and he goes after the magical people to get more money. Seems like a very rudimentary verons of rowling's Harry Potter right? But what I really liked about this book is the humour lacing the whole narrative. Stereotypes and witty retorts along with a racy narrative make it worth reading. Most people find fantacy fiction kiddish. But I really think it brings out the inner fantacies of basic human nature. By the way, Samit Basu's 'Simoqin Prohesies' and 'The Manticore's Secret' presents a desi version of the same fantacy fiction genre. Its worth a read if you enjoy this sort of thing.