Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony
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| Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony | |
 European Edition cover of Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony |
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| Author | Eoin Colfer |
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| Illustrator | Stefan van Bolderick |
| Cover artist | Melvyn Grant |
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Series | Artemis Fowl series |
| Genre(s) | Children's Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Puffin Books |
| Publication date | 2 August 2006 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 384 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0141382686 (first edition, hardback) |
| Preceded by | Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception |
| Followed by | Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox |
Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony is the fifth book in the Artemis Fowl Series. The book, originally expected to be published in the UK and Ireland on September 7 2006, was shipped to stores early. On September 12 of the same year, The Lost Colony became available in the US, and was released soon to other countries. According to an interview with author Eoin Colfer there will be one additional Artemis Fowl book in the series after this one.
[edit] Plot summary
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The book begins in Spain, with Artemis and his bodyguard waiting for the arrival of an unknown guest. When they are just about to leave, and the 'guest' has not appeared, the 'guest' materializes, but he appears several feet away of where he is supposed to be. The 'guest', by now known as a demon, Artemis is grabbed by the demon, traveling back through time (pulling buttler's hand along with them), temporarily appearing back to the time of the construction of the Casa Milà. At the Casa Milá, Gaudi, who is working on a mosaic, witnesses the demon and Artemis, and supposedly makes his mosaic depicting the scene. The demon is only in the present for a few seconds, but Butler manages to grab Artemis's shoulder. The only reason he doesn't travel back in time too, is because he is wearing a silver charm, sent by Juliet, Butler's little sister, which has the power of anchoring someone to a dimension. Artemis notices that the index and middle fingers on his left hand have switched places.
Meanwhile, in the Lower Elements, Holly Short and Mulch Diggums go after the fish smuggler Doodah Day but are forced to release him at the last second by Wing Commander Vinyaya (Mulch was going to seal him in dwarf saliva which as evident in opal deception, is rock solid when exposed for 8+ seconds) , who takes them to a secret organization called Section 8, where they are greeted by Foaly. He explains that Section 8 is dedicated to making sure that no demons are captured by humans, as that would probably result in the discovering of Fairies by the otherwise named Mud Men. He knows Artemis is involved, and shows Holly Gaudi's mosaic showing Artemis and the demon stepping from the sky as proof. Holly is sent out to contact Artemis about how he was able to predict where the demon would arrive.
The plot then shifts to the demon island of Hybras, where an imp called N˚1 is bullied because he hasn't warped (when an imp turns into a demon, similar to human puberty, but much faster) yet. He explains that demon culture has not evolved much over the years, and that the demon pride is ruled by Abbot (Leon Abbot), a demon who ventured into the human world and returned alive. When he came out, he had two objects, a copy of Lady Heatherington Smythe's Hedgerow and a medieval crossbow. After stirring up a bloodlust among the younger demons and N˚1 turning a wooden skewer into stone (a warlock trait), several imps warp into demons. (Demon warlocks are by far the most powerful, but it is said that in the process of lifting the island, they are all dead, and no other known demon has magic.) Abbot uses some oratory powers that are suspiciously like the mesmer. This magical voice inside N˚1 head tells him to go to the volcano, and take off his silver, thus making him travel through time.
Meanwhile, Butler and Artemis are at the Massimo Bellini Opera House in southern Sicily, where Artemis has calculated the next demon will appear. Holly Short appears next to them, and just before N˚1 appears, Butler notices the same girl who was in the restaurant. He concludes that she must know about demons, and sends Holly to intervene, but N°1 appears and is shot with a silver-tipped dart, anchoring him to our dimension. The mysterious crew then drive off, but not before Artemis applauds their efforts, and recognizes the girl as the head of the operation. She quickly identifies him as Artemis Fowl and boards a train that eventually leads to Venice. Holly follows them.
While Holly is eavesdropping, she learns that the girl's name is Minerva, allowing Foaly to identify them. Artemis and Butler learn that Minerva's last name is Paradizo, and that three people--a Latin man, a Frenchman, and a Taiwanese are traveling with her. The Frenchman is obviously Minerva's father. The Latin man is Juan Soto, their security chief. The Taiwanese man is Billy Kong, commissioned for security. Born Jonah Lee in Malibu in the early seventies to Annie Lee, Kong had one older brother, Eric. Annie worked two jobs to support her family, so Eric had to babysit eight-year old Jonah. But, like most sixteen-year olds, babysitting really gets in the way of their social life. However, if Eric left him alone, Jonah would follow him. So Eric came back one night after a gang fight and told Jonah that he was fighting demons that could peel off their faces and eat "under-tens" at night. Normally Jonah would be skeptical, but with blood and horror on the TV that night and footsteps coming up the driveway, Jonah believed every word he said. One night, a gang killed Eric in a fight over a girl. "But Jonah knew different. He knew the demons had done it. They had peeled off their faces and killed his brother." When Eric was killed, Annie Lee moved Jonah to Taiwan, south of Taipei. Jonah Lee moved to Taipei and became a petty thief. He killed an accomplice with a kitchen knife once in a fight. Then he moved to Paris and changed his name to Billy Kong.
The plot shifts back to Holly. She reveals that Mulch cannot get through the three-feet thick rock walls surrounding the Paradizo complex, so she must get Doodah Day to drive in as Minerva's little brother in his mini car and gets Mulch to track him down, offering him amnesty for the operation. Doodah and Mulch make it inside and knock the boy out (first claiming to be the "chocolate faeries"), then Doodah impersonates him, supercharging the car and then hijacking the complex's security systems before escaping, allowing Foaly to create a fake storm force on the complex's cameras, resulting in panic. Holly, in all of the frenzy, pretends to be rendered unconscious by sleeping gas and is taken inside the chateau.
Meanwhile, Minerva interrogates N˚1. N˚1 demonstrates more warlock qualities--such as the gift of tongues. N˚1 reveals that the book Lady Heatherington Smythe's Hedgerow is revered as scripture, and that Leon Abbot brought it to the demons on Hybras. Abbot had actually asked for the book when he arrived at Chateau Paradizo. In exchange for the time tunnel calculations, Abbot received a few books to read and some old weapons from Minerva. He then asked to be called Leon Abbot, after General Leon Abbot in the book. N˚1 learns of how much human culture had advanced since crossbows. He also learns that the time tunnel is unraveling, and soon demons won't be safe anywhere and that the 'scripture' is a lie.
Holly is in a holding cell with Billy Kong. She is tied to a chair. After conversing with Holly, asking her if she remembered his brother and what happened to him, Kong tells her to peel off her face, and Holly tells her that she would comply but she could not because her hands were tied. Using a trick she learned from Wing Commander Vinyáyá, Holly melts the restraining bands on her hands and gets free, but conceals the fact. Kong comes to peel off her face for her, and she mesmerizes him when they make eye contact. She tells him to talk, and Kong sits down, unable to resist the mesmer. Holly pretends to peel off her face but actually shields--vibrating so quickly that they cannot be seen with the naked eye--and says, "Not only can I peel off my face, I can do my entire body." Then she knocks Kong unconscious.
Artemis is planning to rescue N˚1. He distracts Minerva from her demon with a phone call. Holly gets enough time to grab N˚1 and get out. Artemis, meanwhile, tells Foaly to erase everything on the Paradizo computers and crash all the sites any of the computers in the building had gone to in case they had fairy-related files stored there. This wipe is so intense that even major sites such as Yahoo and Google crash.
Minerva gets extremely angry, but is persuaded by Gaspard Paradizo (her father) to stop the project. Kong is outraged, and demands another demon to avenge his brother. When Minerva refuses to comply, Kong knocks both her father and Juan Soto out. To show that he means business, he plans to hurt Soto, and threatens to kill Minerva and her father if Minerva can't find another demon. Artemis does not like murder, so he calls Kong, and offers an exchange (Minerva for N˚1). Kong immediately says he'll choose the meeting place, but Artemis employs subliminal messaging to manipulate his decision.
At the Taipei 101 in Taiwan, Minerva is released in return for N°1. Kong plans to strap a bomb to N˚1's back and send him back to Hybras by plucking out the silver bullet that he was shot with, thus getting back at the demons for his brother's death. However, N˚1 shows that Artemis has already plucked it out, drops it on the floor, and disappears. With such a large mass of silver in the way (the damper), N˚1 is stopped halfway on the journey to Hybras and reappears next to the damper, where Holly picks him up.
The reason that Artemis picked the Taipei 101 for the rendezvous site was because an art exhibition there showed several statues in a circle having similar markings on their heads to N˚1. Artemis suspects that N˚1 may be a warlock, meaning that he has the gargoyle's touch, the ability to turn living things to stone and back again. After mesmerizing the curator, Artemis gets access to the exhibition, where N˚1 tries to turn one of the statues back to life, and realizes that it is Qwan, the elder warlock. N˚1 turns Qwan back to life, but all of the other statues are dead and remain as statues.
Meanwhile, a firefight starts between Kong's gang and Butler and Holly. Kong appears unconscious, but when Minerva starts to insult him, he grabs her leg. Butler knocks Kong unconscious and he releases Minerva. Kong's gang reveal a bomb, set to an eight minute timer. Holly, Artemis, N˚1, and Qwan fly out to Taipei to dispose of the bomb. Holly's wings fail and descend, but Artemis rips off N˚1's silver bracelet, allowing the time tunnel to swallow them up.
In our dimension, the police arrive. Butler quickly creates a cover story for himself and Minerva and manages to get Kong arrested for a murder he committed over a decade ago.
In the time tunnel, Artemis discusses with Qwan about the time tunnel. Artemis reasons that normally, an energy source is required, but with the energy source--a bomb--built in already, they would need fewer people than normal. They need five. They only have three, and N˚1 is completely new to magic. During this time, in the time tunnel, Artemis steals some magic from the tunnel by embracing some blue sparks in his mind.
On the island of Hybras, Hadley Shrivelington Basset, a new addition to the Council of Elders, argues with Abbot. He asks Abbot why the demons read human books and use human weapons. Abbot says that they will learn how the humans think and how the humans fight. Basset then argues that they do not give each other rabbit names or live in foxholes to hunt rabbits and foxes. Abbot now reveals that they are not going back to the future. He says that everything was just something for the demons to concentrate on. Abbot then mesmerizes Basset to his will. Abbot then crowns himself king of Hybras for life.
A soldier rushes to the council and notifies Abbot that four beings have arrived on the volcano. Abbot leads an army up to the volcano to fight the beings. The beings are Artemis, Holly, N˚1, and Qwan. Abbot is accused of mesmerizing the Council of Elders and N˚1. When he says that demons cannot have magic, Artemis claims that Abbot stole it from Qwan's former apprentice, Qweffor, and to prove his point, Artemis does a something very special indeed. He points his index finger (which is actually his middle one that swapped places with his index one) at the sky, and a blue spark popped out of it. "I know magic can be stolen, because I stole some myself," he replies. With this development, if they count Abbot, that makes five magical beings--enough to reverse the time spell.
N˚1 uses his newfound magic to distract the demons. Meanwhile, the time tunnel spell is unraveling, and soon no-one anywhere with silver or without silver will be safe. According to Artemis's calculations, they must count to 299 and then use the bomb's energy to go home. At the climax of the story, Holly tries to fire a burst at Abbot, who is approaching her, from her Neutrino, but the time spell whips it into the past, and Abbot manages to stab her with a cursed sword which prevents magic from healing the injuries it inflicts. Holly cries for help, but Artemis forces himself to ignore the pleas, concentrating on the bomb. Holly soon dies. In a few seconds, Abbot kills N˚1 and Qwan as well. Artemis then, using his calculations, fires a pulse from Holly's Neutrino. The blast exited the barrel, was whipped one minute into the past, hitting the Abbot of one minute ago just as he was about to stab Holly. The past Abbot was thrown against the crater wall, unconscious but alive. The present-time Abbot winked out of existence. Holly, N˚1, and Qwan were still alive, unaffected by Abbot.
Holly and Artemis drag an unconscious Abbot to the crater, joining hands with Qwan and N°1 to form a magical circle. They use his magic to harness the energy of the bomb to reverse the time spell. While the other magical beings give all their magical energy, Abbot "slacks off" and almost destroys the time spell. When all hope seems to be lost, a new voice appears, and is recognised by Qwan as his old apprentice, Qweffor. He had been living inside Abbot after the first time spell was ruined. Using his magical energy, the party make their way back to Earth.
When they land back in the 21st century, Artemis notices that he switched an eye with Holly. N˚1 asks Qweffor if he needs a handkerchief, as Qweffor is coughing and sneezing. When Qweffor calls N˚1 a runt, N˚1 realizes that Qweffor's body had once again been taken over by Abbot. Abbot attempts to take N˚1 hostage, but N˚1 "reasons" with Abbot in a menacing, powerful voice. To get rid of Abbot's consciousness, N˚1 expands Qweffor's consciousness until it fills the whole brain.
Unfortunately, Artemis was three years off when he reversed the time spell: therefore, he has time-travelled three years into the future. His parents now have twins, and Ark Sool has been fired. Mulch has continued the PI firm and has also recruited Doodah Day to be his new partner. Lastly, Butler reveals that Minerva has grown to be "quite a beautiful young woman" and talks about him a lot. The fairies sink Hybras and take the demons underground.
[edit] The Code
As with all UK & Ireland releases of Artemis Fowl, The Lost Colony has a code written on the bottom of each page. The Lost Colony's code is written in Gnommish as is the code in Book I and Book IV and reprints of books II and III.
The code along the bottom, when translated, reads:
"The Demon Scrolls tell of a warlock that will come to save our people, but I wouldn't rely too much on the scrolls. They also say that rabbits are the supreme beings and that the best cure for a sore throat is a poultice of dung and old socks. Hence, trust the Scrolls at your peril. There are however a few basic tips for survival in a Demon tribe that might be helpful. If you were a human, say, and had never actually met a Demon, which is unlikely to say the least. If you were a human you wouldn't be able to read this in the first place. So, Demon survival tips. First, never stab a Demon with his own sword. This is the ultimate insult and will result in a vendetta that could go on for generations. It is fine to stab a Demon with your sword; he will congratulate you for managing that, but only poor warriors lose their swords and get stabbed with them. If the opportunity arises give it a miss. Second. Demons have a pretty comprehensive system of sign language in which buttock slapping features heavily. It is very important not to slap the wrong buttock. Never slap someone else's buttock unless they stab you with your own sword; that is considered very bad manners. And learn the difference between the left buttock slap and a right buttock slap. If a passerby aims his buttocks at you and slaps the left one it means that there is a full moon due that evening and he hopes you will join him for the traditional hunt. If he slaps the right buttock it simply means you remind him of his right buttock. You can see where the problems could arise. Finally, never sneeze into your fist. Always allow the sneeze to run free into the air. Medical Demons assure us that the sneeze comprises millions of tiny flying Demons that zoom around the earth; under they can find a human to land on. When they alight on their host humans they hack into their scalps with tiny axes causing terrible headaches which make the humans easy to defeat in battle. So when a demon sneezes immediately slap your right buttock in the direction of the sneeze so that the tiny Demons can pass on the message to the human they land on."
[edit] Sources
- Official Artemis Fowl UK-site
- Artemis Fowl Confidential
- Artemis Fowl and The Lost Colony page, at Artemis Fowl Fangathering.
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