The Eternity Code (Artemis Fowl #3)

Book: The Eternity Code (Artemis Fowl #3)

Author: Eoin Colfer

Bookshelves: 2011, Chicago (USA), dwarves, fairies, fantasy, fiction, Ireland, leprechaun, reread

Begun: February 15, 2011

Finished: February 16, 2011

Media Type: audiobook (downloaded from library online catalog and listened to on iPod Touch)

Setting: present day Ireland (outside of Dublin), Chicago (USA) and Haven (underground land where the People live)

Characters: Artemis Fowl, II, Domovoi Butler, Holly Short, Commander Julius Root, Foaly, Mulch Diggums, John Spiro, Juliet Bulter, Arno Blunt

Review: (Spoilers for book # 2 (The Arctic Incident) ahead) Artemis Fowl is back with another money making/world dominating scheme in The Eternity Code.

After two previous adventures with the People and their advanced technology (thanks to Foaly, the centaur), Artemis has gathered a bunch of equipment which never should have fallen into Mudman hands. Cannibalizing parts from LEP helmets and other items, Artemis creates the C Cube, a highly advanced and complicated “computer.”

In London, Artemis and Bulter meet with John Spiro, a shady American businessman who has made his money in technology, and his bodyguard, Arno Blunt, a New Zealander, at a small bistro. Artemis wants to blackmail Spiro into paying him 1 metric ton of gold to keep the C Cube and its technology off the market for one year, giving Spiro enough time to liquidate stocks in his own company before the C Cube’s release, which will ultimately bring down Spiro’s business.

Spiro, known for his ties to the Chicago mob and other shifty dealings, turns the tables on Artemis and Bulter when EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE BISTRO turns out to be working for him (Artemis finds this out when they all draw guns on them). Spiro leaves the restaurant with the stolen C Cube.

But Artemis has something else up his sleeve … a percussion grenade, which knocks out most of the assassins in the bistro. Still reeling, Butler goes into the kitchen to check out the people who were back there and to make sure that threat was neutralized. That’s when Blunt shows his face and attempts to kill Artemis.

Butler jumps in front of his charge (what he calls his principle) and takes a bullet meant for the teen. Laying dying, Butler clips Blunt in the temple with a bullet (knocking him out but not killing him). Unfortunately, Bulter is not so lucky. He knows the shot he took for Artemis is a mortal one and we see a very poignant moment between Artemis and his best friend/father figure as Butler dies.

But Artemis, being the boy genius that he is, will not accept Butler’s death and puts a plan into action; a plan that involves the bistro’s fish freezer, a cryogenics lab, and our dear friend Holly Short.

Artemis must save Butler and his C Cube from a corrupt businessman. Is there nothing the team of Holly and Artemis can’t do?

Great book. We see more of Artemis’s humanity as he delves into his psyche post-father-recovery. His father has been changed by his time in captivity and gold isn’t the only thing that is important to him anymore (much to Artemis’s consternation!). Great book!

Awards: British Book Award, WH Smith Award

Recommended by: don’t remember

Recommend to: Harry Potter fans, Bartimaeus Trilogy fans, anyone who likes fantasy or faires etc, 9 year olds and up (read by themselves) and 9 and under (read to them)