Book Review - Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code -Eoin Colfer

Saturday, June 20, 2009 | Labels: , , |


Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code

When people just didn’t have enough of Artemis when the second book was released that Eoin Colfer had to end up writing three more. The third book in this hugely popular series, Artemis Fowl and The Eternity Code focuses on the disastrous events that follow Artemis’ attempt to sell a device that he managed to piece together from the equipment that Butler salvaged from the fairy retrieval team that came to rescue Holly.

He creates a small device the size of a paperweight that can read DVDs a few meters away in amazing quality. He tries to sell it to a notorious businessman called John Spiro, who refuses Artemis’ offer to not put the device in the market for a year if John gave Artemis a whole load of gold (Yes, he just can’t resist gold). And while Artemis is demonstrating the device’s capabilities, he accidentally almost reveals the existence of fairies. John, who becomes the first person to outsmart Artemis by planting an ambush in the restaurant where they meet, takes the device from him and his bodyguard attempts to kill Artemis but is saved by Butler who dies in the attempt. (Shocking, I know but wait till the end).

Artemis is devastated and showing his true brilliance, he puts Butler in the freezer of the restaurant and makes a few calls to ensure the police don’t touch Butler. He puts Butler in a proper cryogenic chamber and makes a call coded with phrases only fairies would know. Meanwhile, when Artemis almost exposes the fairies, havoc breaks loose in the fairy world. Holly is sent to investigate and Artemis’ call alerts Foaly who send her to investigate it too. Artemis, who is relieved to find Holly, convinces Holly to heal Butler as he is frozen only a few minutes after his death. Holly does it, but Butler ends up growing 10 years older in few minutes.

Artemis explains about his mistake to Holly and Artemis convinces Commander Root to let him and Holly to retrieve the device, as it would expose the fairy world. As this is happening, John Spiro, who has connections with the Chicago mob, is told that his scientists would not be able to do anything with the device as it was encrypted with an “Eternity Code”. Root agrees, with a condition that Artemis would have to be mind wiped. John sends for a mob team to fetch Artemis.

The team just happens to consist of the very hilarious Mulch, who is working for the mob. Mulch warns Artemis and Artemis decides to play along and he is taken to John. Artemis, with the help of Butler’s sister Juliet, Holly and Mulch, through one of his ingenious plans, retrieves the devices only to be foiled by John who had anticipated it.

John forces Artemis to remove the encryption and Artemis meddles with the device and John is convinced that Artemis had really done it when what Artemis really does is to allow Foaly to connect with the device. Artemis convinces John to steal some product designs from his competitors, and John falls for it and takes Artemis along. Foaly, through some manipulation convinces John that he is really stealing the plans while the police are summoned. Artemis is whisked away from there by Holy and John is left trapped by the Police.

The best part comes when Artemis, in the fraction of a second when he is being flown away from the place, uses his device to hack into the LEP’s police site and to make Mulch a free bird. The crowning moment comes when Artemis gives Mulch a computer disk disguised as a gold coin with a hole in it, which was given to Artemis by Holly. Artemis hands Mulch a note telling him what to do and to come back to him with the disk to help him get back his memories. Whether he gets them back or not is revealed only in the next book. Eoin Colfer is brilliant with his remarkable style and plots.

The snappy humour, sarcasm and Artemis’ plans never fail to entertain. Artemis Fowl books are now coming to be compared with Harry Potter. It certainly deserves that distinction. So, go and read it and have your laughs.

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