The Supernaturalist

‘The Supernaturalist’, by Eoin Colfer (author of the ‘Artemis Fowl’ series) is a children’s science-fiction novel (influenced in many ways by film noir and other predecessors of the cyberpunk science fiction movement, resulting in what could be termed a children’s cyberpunk novel).

Related Topics:
Eoin Colfer - ‘Artemis Fowl’ series - Science-fiction - Novel - Film noir - Cyberpunk

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‘The Supernaturalist’ is set in a near-future city owned by a large corporation. A low-orbit satellite controls traffic, communication and sanitation, and hence the city is named Satellite City.

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Cosmo Hill is an orphan, and is kept in the Clarissa Frayne Institute for Parentally Challenged Children, a Dickensian environment in which the orphans are rented for product testing. Cosmo escapes, and in doing so is severely injured. He observes, for the first time, a cryptozoid species which appears to suck his life-force.

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He is rescued by a group of street children who can see and battle these organisms (called Parasites), and upon joining them has to deal with many twists and confusions.

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As in ‘Artemis Fowl’, there is heavy emphasis on humor, tough-guy posturing and technology. One of the main characters of The Supernaturalist is named Stefan Bashkir, used by Fowl as an alias in . Also, the corporation that owns the city, Myishi(presumably linked to the scientist of the same name who sold his soul to the devil in the Wish List), mentions beating Phonetix, a company that was also mentioned in . The dystopian near future is in many ways similar to Blade Runner and to a lesser extent Neuromancer, but Colfer's influences are older; rooted in Raymond Chandler and other hard-boiled writers.

Related Topics:
Dystopia - Blade Runner - Neuromancer - Raymond Chandler

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The surprising ending leaves enough room for a sequel, as there seem to be even more supernatural creatures around.

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