Benny and Omar - Eoin Colfer

When I thought up my personal Around the World Challenge, it didn't occur to me that it would be so hard to get books set in some of the countries on my list! I picked this one up for Tunisia, and I was happy that it was written by the author of the Artemis Fowl series, since I have read and enjoyed most of those books. I didn't dislike this book, but I didn't like the writing as much as that in the Artemis Fowl series. Omar speaks in a bizarre patois that he supposedly picked up from TV, which seems somewhat unrealistic and gives a sort of Max Headroom feeling to the dialogue, and the other narration is done in a slangy Irish voice that would have been much harder for me to follow had I read it when I was younger and had had less exposure to slang and general everyday speech patterns from Ireland than I have now. The Benny character was somewhat unlikable but I think that was actually a realistic portrayal of a 12 year old boy, and I didn't dislike the character overall, although he could be frustrating. All in all though I found it a quick easy read, and I'm glad I got another challenge book read!