The Opal Deception (Artemis Fowl #4)

Book: The Opal Deception (Artemis Fowl #4)

Author: Eoin Colfer

Bookshelves: 2011, Berlin (Germany), dwarves, fairies, fantasy, fiction, Ireland, leprechaun, reread

Begun: February 17, 2011

Finished: February 19, 2011

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

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

Characters: Artemis Fowl, II, Domovoi Butler, Holly Short, Commander Julius Root, Foaly, Mulch Diggums, Opal Koboi, Mervall Brill, Descant Brill

Review: (Spoilers for book # 2 (The Opal Deception) & # 3 (The Eternity Code) ahead): After more than a year in a self induced coma, Opal Koboi, the mastermind behind the events in The Opal Deception, has hatched a new plan. Awakening with the help of the Brill Brothers (Mervall and Descant, pixie twins who are something of a celebrity themselves (pixie twins being something of an extreme rarity)), Opal will destroy those officers and humans who helped to capture her the last time.

This list includes: Foaly, Holly Short, Julius Root, Artemis and Butler.

So when Foaly realizes that a goblin, who was apprehended during the B’wa Kell Goblin Rebellion round up, has snuck his way out of prison, Holly and Julius go into a tunnel (one of the magma flair tunnels) to get him. Only to come up against a mesmered creature.

A mesmered creature who is being controlled by Opal Koboi. As part of her devious plan, all the LEP’s sound recordings can’t work around the goblin and the computer screen that is attached to his chest. To top it off, she’s got technology working for her that will not allow the video recording to see her face on the computer screen, just a fuzzy blur where the picture should be.

And then all hell breaks loose. Somehow, the screen that was around the goblin detaches from him and attaches to Julius. This is when they are informed that it is a bomb. Opal tricks Holly into shooting at the screen (by telling her there is a sweet spot on the device that will save Julius). So now, it looks like Holly has shot her commanding officer. And when the bomb does blow up, Julius Root, Holly’s mentor and father figure, is killed. His last words were “live well.”

Holly takes off in her LEP suit and wings heading for Berlin where Artemis and Butler are in their Berlin hotel room after stealing a painting called the Fairy Thief.

Artemis has been obsessed with the artist who painted this pictures works for almost a year or so. He isn’t sure why he likes the idea of fantastical creatures (not remember his own friends who are members of the eight families of the People since Foaly had to mind wipe him and Butler after the John Spiro incident). Holly has to get to him before the BioBomb Opal hide inside the tube where the painting rest goes off.

It takes a lot (and some help from Mulch Diggums) but Holly convinces Butler and Artemis to help her clear her name and capture the rouge pixie whose plan for total world domination includes exposing Haven City to the humans who she plans to join up with (as a “human child” since having her ears rounded and a pituitary gland implanted.)

Can the friends save Haven and the world … again?

Awards: none

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)

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)

The Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl #2)

Book: The Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl #2)

Author: Eoin Colfer

Bookshelves: 2011, dwarves, fairies, fantasy, fiction, Ireland, leprechaun, reread

Begun: February 1, 2011

Finished: February 1, 2011

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

Setting: present day Ireland (outside of Dublin), Russia (Kola Pennisula) and Haven (underground land where the People live)

Characters: Artemis Fowl, II, Domovoi Butler, Holly Short, Commander Julius Root, Foaly, Mulch Diggums, Angeline Fowl, Artemis Fowl, Sr., Opal Koboi, Captain Trouble Kelp, The B'wa Kell, Briar Cudgeon

Review: (Spoilers for book #1 (Artemis Fowl) ahead) Artemis Fowl, the second, is back again and up to all of his old shenanigans!

Artemis, bolstered by his success with kidnapping Captain Holly Short and getting his hands on the LEP’s officer ransom fund (gold), is back at the private boarding school he attends. He’s in the middle of a “therapy” session with the school’s psychologist (who we all know Artemis is smarter than), when he receives a message from Butler that his father has contacted Fowl Manor (in a roundabout way).

An email with video has been sent to Artemis showing Russians holding his father (Artemis’s father has been missing for more than 2 years since his boat was destroyed off the Kola Pennisula in Russia’s northwest). He has been held all that time by the Russian Mafiya.

In the mean time, Holly Short has been reassigned for some time to another unit patrolling customs because of her involvement in the Artemis Fowl kidnapping. Everything is fine until one stake out. Holly and her partner (Captain Trouble Kelp) come across members of the Goblin Triad, The B’wa Kell, who have been smuggling mudman (human) batteries into the Lower Elements.

After almost getting killed, Holly (with Foaly and Root’s help) realize that the B’wa Kell is scheming and that something bad is about to go down. What they need is Artemis Fowl’s help.

Artemis needs the People’s help just as much as they need him. How can he get his father back without them?

Working together, Artemis and Holly fight two battles, a goblin rebellion in Haven City (for which Holly and Foaly are being framed) and gangster thugs in Russia.

Anti-hero tendencies are changing and Artemis is learning that sometimes there is a reward in helping others and not just looking out for number 1.

Awards: Book Magazine Best Book of the Year 2002

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)

Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl #1)

Book: Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl #1)

Author: Eoin Colfer

Bookshelves: 2011, dwarves, fairies, fantasy, fiction, Ireland, leprechaun, reread

Begun: January 27, 2011

Finished: January 28, 2011

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

Setting: present day Ireland and Haven (underground land where the People live)

Characters: Artemis Fowl, II, Domovoi Butler, Holly Short, Commander Julius Root, Foaly, Mulch Diggums, Juliet Butler, Angeline Fowl, Artemis Fowl, Sr.

Review: Sometimes there’s something to be said when you are the smartest person of your generation. A mastermind, some might say. A criminal mastermind. Kidnapping, hostage negotiation, beating the best technical minds in the world … all at twelve.

Artemis Fowl, the second, is the genius son of Angeline and Artemis Fowl who reside outside of Dublin, Ireland in Fowl Manor. Artemis is trailed by his ever vigilante and protective body guard, Butler. Butler, early 40s, is highly skilled and trained (having trained with Madame Ko, the best martial arts and body guard teacher in the world).

Artemis is a sad character at the beginning of the book. We know that his father was taken hostage by the Russian Mafia off the Kola Penisula, while conducting some nefarious business transactions, and his mother has gone slowly insane from missing him. Artemis is basically alone save Butler.

In the absence of parental figures (Butler is not a parental figure because he goes alone with the boy genius’s plans and, most of the time, assists him!), Artemis has taken the family motto to heart: Aurum Potestas Est (Gold is power).

His latest scheme seems farfected on paper but brilliant in practice. After lengthy research, Artemis believes that, yes, there are fairies and other fantastical creatures living amongst us (or underground in this case) and that he can separate them from some of their riches. After tricking a fairy to give up her Book (the rule book which all magical creatures must live by), Artemis lays a trap and captures himself a fairy who has come above ground to complete the Ritual (which will allow her to regain her used up magic – something the fairies must do whenever they use up their supply of magic by taking an acorn from one location and planting it far away where an oak grows at a river bend).

And who do Artemis and Bulter catch? Fairy Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon squad.

A member of the Lower Elements Police Recon Squad (LEPrecon), Holly is held for ransom (gold). Her supervisor/mentor, Julius Root, does all he can to get the first female LEPrecon officer back. With the help of tunneling dward/thief, Mulch Digums, and technical savant, Foaly (the centaur), it might be possible that Artemis will not win this time … or will he?

Great read. Anyone who likes Harry Potter or the Bartimaeus Trilogy has to give Artemis Fowl a try! Worth it!

Awards: Massachusetts Children's Book Award (2003), Blue Hen Book Award for Chapter Book (2003), Garden State Teen Book Award for Fiction (Grades 6-8) (2004), Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award for Intermediate (2004)

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)