Artemis Fowl: the Opal Deception

Eoin Colfer (author)

Penguin Books, Australia: 2005; 340pp

ISBN: 0141381698

Genres: adventure, fantasy

Issues: environment, friendship, values

Following the failure of the Goblin Uprising, the super intelligent pixie, Opal Koboi, is in a deep coma in the Argon Clinic. So when Commander Root is killed on duty, everybody is convinced that Captain Holly Short is the murderer.

That is, after all, what the evidence suggests. Foaly, however, refuses to believe the evidence, even when Holly flees the scene and appears to go renegade.

Holly knows that she didn't kill her Commander, the fairy who has been like a father to her. Holly knows that what Opal Koboi is planning could mean the end of the People. And Holly knows that only Artemis Fowl, Irish boy genius and her former nemesis, has the brains to help her defeat Opal without the support of the LEP. The only problem, of course, is that the Fairy People have wiped all knowledge of their world from Artemis' brain and even the sight of Holly isn't enough to stimulate his memories. Convincing Artemis to help her, despite his scepticism, Holly attempts to contain the disaster before People and Humans collide.

Fans of the Artemis Fowl adventures will be delighted to see the return of Mulch Diggums, the kleptomaniac dwarf with hidden talents, and Butler, Artemis' massive bodyguard, although Foaly plays a less obvious role in this story. Artemis and Holly are catapaulted through the usual madness and mayhem in their efforts to save the world - again. Much humour, dwarfish flatulence and desperate plotting takes place. Despite that, however, The Opal Deception is not as entertaining as the three previous novels.

Eoin Colfer makes the mistake of indulging in a little too much back story, a little too much of the ‘Artemis had vague memories of...' style of narration in order to include events and personal discoveries from previous adventures. He also has Artemis engaged in rather too much navel-gazing - wondering why he feels guilty about things that previously didn't worry him, for example. Although these meanderings are presumably designed to express the personality crisis that Artemis is experiencing after the fairy mind wipe he underwent in Book 3, the same effect could have been achieved through the insertion of segments from Artemis' diary, a technique that Colfer has used successfully in earlier works.

It is a relief, therefore, to find at the end of The Opal Deception that Colfer obviously intends to take the Artemis Fowl stories in a new direction.

If you're interested, check out the author's homepage for more information about his various books, his life and interests: http://homepage.eircom.net/~eoincolfer65/home.htm