The first edition cover of the first book. |
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Artemis Fowl
The Arctic Incident The Eternity Code The Opal Deception The Lost Colony The Time Paradox The Atlantis Complex The Last Guardian (2012)[1] |
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| Author | Eoin Colfer |
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| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy, Young adult |
| Publisher | Viking Press/Disney Hyperion |
| Published | 2001–Present |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) Audiobook |
Artemis Fowl is a series of science fantasy novels written by Irish author Eoin Colfer, starring the teenage criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl II. Colfer summed up the series as: "Die Hard with fairies."[2] There are seven novels in the series; the first was published in 2001 and the seventh was released in 2010.[3][4] The eighth and final book is set to be released in 2012. A graphic novel was released in 2007, and a second in 2009.[5][6] A third graphic novel and a movie are currently in the writing process. [7]
Contents |
Artemis Fowl is the first book in the series. Artemis Fowl, the main character and anti-hero, and his body guard, Butler, kidnap LEPrecon Captain Holly Short, a fairy elf, to ransom her to "the People," the various fairies who have moved their entire civilization underground to hide from humans, for one ton of twenty-four carat gold.
A graphic novel adaptation was released in 2007.[5] A film adaptation was reported to be in the writing stage in mid-2008, with Jim Sheridan directing.[8]
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident is the second book of the series. It follows the rescue of Artemis Fowl I from the Russian Mafia, alongside the battle against the goblin rebellion led by the pixie Opal Koboi and elf Briar Cudgeon. A graphic novel adaptation was released in 2009.[6]
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code covers the theft of the fictional C Cube by Jon Spiro and its eventual recovery. Butler is shot in the chest, and Holly Short heals him. In the end, the Lower Elements Police mind-wipe Butler and Artemis. They regain their memories in the next book. The graphic novel adaptation will be released around the end of 2012.[9]
The fourth book, Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception, covers pixie Opal Koboi's second attempt at world domination, after her first unfruitful attempt in the second novel. Koboi convinces Giovanni Zito, a fictional environmentalist, to send a probe into the ground. The probe would have revealed the existence of fairies to the humans, but Artemis and Holly stop it. However, Koboi kills LEP Commander Julius Root, framing Captain Holly Short. Short is eventually acquitted but does not return to the LEP. Without Root, Short leaves the LEP and joins Mulch Diggums to form a private investigation firm.
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony involves the bringing of the demon island Hybras back from "Limbo", with assistance from a powerful demon warlock called N°1. The demons regrouped in Limbo, hoping to get enough warriors to overthrow the human race so that fairies could live on the surface once more. But the time spell goes wrong, trapping the demons in Limbo without a warlock to bring them back.
The sixth book of the series, Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, was released in the United States on July 15, 2008 and in the United Kingdom on August 7, 2008. Artemis' mother, Angeline Fowl, becomes ill with Spelltropy, and the only cure lies in the brain fluids of the silky sifaka lemur, the last of which was killed by Artemis when he was ten. N°1 takes Artemis to the past, where Artemis must battle his former self to recover the last silky sifaka lemur before the younger Artemis kills it in a business transaction with Damon Kronski, the leader of the Extinctionists.
In Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex, Artemis contracts the Atlantis Complex because of a combination of guilt and magic.[10] Artemis has called a meeting to discuss a new plan to save the environment. Holly Short notices that the usually sharp Artemis counts his words in fives and does not remark on her new haircut (Artemis picks up on changes immediately). The middle of the meeting is suddenly interrupted by a hijacked probe that comes hurtling toward the meeting place. Artemis believes that the probe is a hallucination, forcing Holly to shoot Artemis. The bolt of electricity releases Orion, Artemis' other personality. Orion shares Artemis's brain and knowledge of Gnommish, but is less intelligent and talks in a medieval-like fashion. In Mexico, Butler realizes that Artemis tricked him into thinking that Juliet, Butler's younger sister and a professional wrestler, is in danger. At Juliet's wrestling match, the audience is mesmerized, and in the frenzy, Juliet suddenly remembers the world of fairies, even though she had been mind-wiped. Meanwhile, Orion, Foaly, and Holly are trapped inside the probe and decide that Holly should knock them all out with her gun to save air. Butler and Juliet meet up with Mulch Diggums, an old friend, who provides a ship for them. The boat picks up the revived members in the probe. They conclude that the fairy who mesmerized the crowd is Turnball Root, Commander Julius Root's brother. He wants N°1, a demon-warlock, to help his dying human wife. They then get captured. Artemis makes one of the henchmen to shoot him, making him Orion, who has no fear of numbers. They are about to win when Turnball reveals a plan to blow up the ship and escape on the probe, but his wife hears him and convinces him to help her pilot the ship into a trench, where it blows up at a safe distance from the hospital ship.Later, Artemis then wakes up on the hospital ship, and reluctantly agrees to magic and therapy. Butler calls Mrs. Fowl who prepares to pack so she can see Artemis.
The final book in the series, Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian will be released in summer 2012.[1] Eoin Colfer has revealed some of the plot line of the book: a portal, behind which dwell the spirits of Fairy soldiers and which is located on Artemis Fowl's lands, will be opened by Opal Koboi, and the spirits will rise and possess the bodies of humans. It will be Artemis and Holly's job to get the spirits back into the portal before they rampage across the world.[11]
Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel is a graphic novel adaptation of the first book, published in October 2007. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident: The Graphic Novel, an adaptation of the second book was released in 2009. An adaptation of the third book is to be released in 2012.[9]
The Artemis Fowl Files is a companion book to the series, published in October 2004.
Electronic Arts has brought the first six books in the series to the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi as parts its Flips kids' range and which was released on December 4, 2009.[12]
"Artemis Fowl: The Seventh Dwarf" is a story written for World Book Day[13] and is set between the first and second books.
The audiobooks are narrated by Nathaniel Parker. Certain versions from different audiobook companies are narrated by Adrian Dunbar and Enn Reitel.
Artemis Fowl II is an Irish child prodigy and a ruthless master criminal. He uses his intelligence to build his family fortune through crime. In the first book, he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the fairy LEP, to obtain massive amounts of gold. He later works with fairies to defeat villains and save both his and the fairy world. At first, Artemis is cold and cynical and does not seem to care about others. His moral character slowly improves throughout the series, under the influence of Holly and his family, until he only steals from those who deserve it and will share it with the public.
Domovoi Butler is Artemis' loyal butler and bodyguard. His comprehensive knowledge of weapons and extensive training in martial arts allowed him to become the only human to ever win a fight against a troll. Butler follows Artemis around the world on his adventures and possesses a wide variety of contacts that he can use to aid Artemis. He is also one of Artemis' few good friends.
Holly is the elf captured by Artemis in the first book. She is the first and only female officer in LEPrecon, the recon division of the LEP. Holly is very strong-willed and smart, and will defy the orders of superiors and disobey rules if she believes that she can be of more help that way. She often helps Artemis and Butler save the human and fairy worlds. Her relationship with Artemis Fowl has changed dramatically since the beginning of the series, morphing from hostility to grudging respect to friendship.
Colfer has said in interviews that the series is about Artemis growing up.[8]
The series has been called "the new Harry Potter",[14] although Colfer does not agree.[15] Kate Kellaway of The Observer called the first book "a smart, amusing one-off. It flashes with hi-tech invention – as if Colfer were as much an inspired boffin as a writer".[15] Time.com said, "Artemis Fowl is pacy, playful, and very funny, an inventive mix of myth and modernity, magic and crime", while The New York Times Book Review said that "Colfer has done enormously, explosively well".[16]
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