''Artemis Fowl and the Opal Deception'', known in America as ''Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception'', is a teen
fantasy novel
Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fa ...
published in 2005, the 4th book in the
''Artemis Fowl'' series by the Irish author
Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer (; born 14 May 1965) is an Irish author of children's books. He worked as a primary school teacher before he became a full-time writer. He is best known for being the author of the Artemis Fowl (series), ''Artemis Fowl'' series. I ...
. Preceded by ''
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code'' and followed by ''
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony'', it is centred on the brilliant pixie
Opal Koboi's second try at rebellion (after her
first attempt was a failure) and
Artemis Fowl II
Dr. Artemis Fowl II is the eponymous character of the ''Artemis Fowl'' series by Eoin Colfer.
Fictional character biography Origins
Colfer has said that he based Artemis on his younger brother Donal, who as a child was "a mischievous masterm ...
and his fairy comrades' efforts to stop her. Critical reception was mixed, with some reviews praising the book and others deeming its writing poor and confusing.
Plot
The book begins with the pixie
Opal Koboi faking a coma inside a hospital to avoid incarceration by the
Lower Elements Police (LEP) after her failed rebellion and attempt of world domination (which took place in ''
Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident
''Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident'', known in America as ''Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident'', is a young adult and fantasy novel written by Irish author Eoin Colfer, published in 2002. It is the second book in the ''Artemis Fowl'' serie ...
'').
Opal Koboi, who had been under 24-hour surveillance, had
DNA tests done every 4 hours, a seeker-sleeper planted in her arm (a device that can make the criminal faint, while also giving their position away) and had her in a net trapped with monitoring pads by the LEP to ensure that Opal was actually in the asylum cell, with help from the Brill Brothers Opal manages to replace herself with a clone, which is identical to herself (the only difference being that the clone is
brain dead which is also the current state the sensors detect Opal's coma-like mind to be in).
Opal lures Commander Julius Root and Captain
Holly Short of the LEP into a lava chute alone by putting General Scalene under the mesmer there. Koboi then kills Commander Root by using a 30-centimeter metal box packed with explosive gel and covered in stealth ore (framing Captain Holly Short as the murderer, she told Holly that if she shot a certain part of the exploding box, it would turn off (it only went faster), since stealth ore couldn't be picked up by any electronics the LEP cameras only saw Holly shooting the commander, clear as day), and launches a
bio-bomb at
Artemis Fowl, which fails to kill him and his bodyguard Domovoi Butler because Butler grabbed Artemis and jumps from the three-story hotel, using a mattress to cushion the fall.
Artemis Fowl was mindwiped in the third book of the series, ''
Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code
''Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code'' (known in America as ''Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code'') is the third book of Irish children's fiction author Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series, ''Artemis Fowl'' series. It is preceded by ''Artemis Fowl ...
'' and has no memory of meeting the fairies. This has also caused him to revert to his former self - the one cruel enough to kidnap a fairy. But he has a conscience that he chooses not to listen to.
Artemis is rescued from the scene of the bio-bomb attack by Holly. She tells him who she is, in hopes to ignite his memory. He does not regain his memories of the past adventures but agrees to help her for a fee. They are then recaptured by Koboi and thrown into a
troll
A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...
-infested abandoned fairy theme park known as the "Eleven Wonders of the Human World" (containing scale-models not only of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, also known as the Seven Wonders of the World or simply the Seven Wonders, is a list of seven notable structures present during classical antiquity. The first known list of seven wonders dates back to the 2 ...
but also the additions of
Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two massive rock-cut temples in the village of Abu Simbel ( ar, أبو سمبل), Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt, near the border with Sudan. It is situated on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about sou ...
,
Borobodur
Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indonesi ...
,
Rapa Nui and the Throne Hall at
Persepolis). After a desperate battle against the troll hordes on a model of the
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, they are rescued by former criminal
Mulch Diggums and Butler. Holly and Artemis become friends "bonded by trauma" and Artemis says he feels that he doesn't need money to help a friend.
Opal then proceeds with her plan to help renowned Italian billionaire environmentalist Giovanni Zito send a probe downward by mesmerising him that she is his pampered adopted daughter Belinda Zito, which, according to Koboi's plan, will cause the humans to find the fairies and start an inter-species war, leading to fairy
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
. The plan is to blow his fields with several megatons of TNT and then wait for the 118 million tons of iron, with a probe in it, to sink to the core at a rate of per second.
After being rescued, Mulch gives Artemis the disk that had been passed off as a gold medallion, which Butler was given earlier in the book. Artemis views the disk and regains his memories. He is overcome with the guilt of what he had done to the fairies but to Holly the most and for the first time, he apologizes for kidnapping her. He realizes that Holly, Butler, and Mulch were the only friends he had. Together, the four friends take on Opal Koboi, knowing that they are the only ones that know she's escaped. It becomes a more difficult task with the LEP on their tail, who still thinks Holly is the one who killed the Commander. The new Commander refuses to believe anything, despite the fact that everyone knows Root was like a father to Holly.
Afterwards, the story follows the struggle over the probe, which is closing in on the E7 chute. The probe eventually misses the chute, and Koboi crashes into a woman's vine field. She uses her last bits of magic to mesmerize the woman that she is Belinda, her child. However, a week later, Koboi is detained by the LEP, and Holly is cleared of all charges over Commander Root's murder. However, she is frustrated by Commander Root's replacement,
Ark Sool, so she resigns and starts a
private investigation
A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...
firm with Mulch Diggums.
It is also apparent that Artemis has had a change of heart, as he anonymously donates the famed painting ''The Fairy Thief'', which he had stolen directly before Koboi's bio-bomb attack, to the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
museum.
The Tongue
There is a secret code at the bottom of the book, containing a message from Foaly.
This is translatable if one has the
Gnommish
Gnommish is the " fairy language" used in the ''Artemis Fowl'' series by Eoin Colfer. It is not actually a language at all, but the English language encoded into a letter-substitution cipher where each symbol represents a letter. Lines of transl ...
alphabet, available in ''
The Artemis Fowl Files
''The Fowl Adventures'' is a series of eleven fantasy novels written by Irish author Eoin Colfer revolving around various members of the Fowl family. The first cycle, ''Artemis Fowl'', follows elf LEP recon officer Holly Short as she faces th ...
'' by
Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer (; born 14 May 1965) is an Irish author of children's books. He worked as a primary school teacher before he became a full-time writer. He is best known for being the author of the Artemis Fowl (series), ''Artemis Fowl'' series. I ...
, or the ''Artemis Fowl'' website.
The message on the cover of the US publication, barely decipherable, reads "Opal wants revenge", it is faintly repeated several times on the sides of the tube.
The Gnommish symbols around the molecules on the front cover read "DNA never lies".
Critical reception
The book received generally mixed reviews. ''Entertainment Weekly'' noted that the characters were "still a blast", however, the review also said "Colfer seems too dazzled by all the gadgetry and explosives jammed into this tale."
Disney's ''Family.com'' called the book "pretty confusing", though said it still retained the strengths of the series as a whole.
The ''School Library Journal'' wrote that "the prose is clunky", however, it continued to say that the "creativity carry the narrative through the tight spots and impossible situations."
References
{{Authority control
2005 Irish novels
2005 fantasy novels
Science fantasy novels
Opal Deception
2005 children's books
Novels about cloning
Heist fiction
Puffin Books books