Artemis Fowl is a teen fantasy novel written by Irish author Eoin Colfer. It is the first
book in the Artemis Fowl series, and is followed by Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident. Described by its author as "Die Hard with fairies"<1> it follows the adventures of 12-year-old Artemis Fowl, a criminal mastermind.
Throughout the book, the third-person narration switches repeatedly from following the human characters to following the fairy characters.
Artemis Fowl II is the twelve year old son of a European crime lord, Artemis Fowl Senior. Along with his friend and bodyguard Butler, Artemis believes he has discovered the existence of fairies. He tracks down a sprite posing as a healer in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam and acquires The Book from her - the fairy holy book that is written in Gnommish.
Meanwhile, an elf named Holly Short is chasing a troll that managed to reach the surface of the Earth - fairies live underground. Assisted remotely by a centaur named Foaly and her commander Julius Root she incapacitates the troll. This uses the last of her magic, and Root demands that she completes the magic restoring
ritual.
Artemis decodes the Book, learning of the Ritual in the process, and he and Butler proceed to a site for the Ritual where they find Holly. She attempts to employ the mind-controlling mesmer, but fails and is tranquillised. The Lower Elements Police are immediately aware of her disappearance and Root goes to the surface to search for her. He locates her tracker and heads to its location - a whaler off the coast of Dublin. Through an audio/video communicator, Artemis tells Root that he has Holly for ransom.
An LEPretrieval team is sent to scout Fowl
Manor. Using their shield, which allows them to vibrate faster than the eyes can follow, they manage to enter the manor grounds. They are detected by a specialized camera, however, and Artemis sends Butler, who defeats them. Root decides to lay siege to Fowl Manor using a
time-stop, and negotiations are entered - the ransom demand is one metric ton of 24-carat gold. Artemis uses the opportunity to reveal his knowledge of the time-stop which the fairies applied as part of the siege, and implies that he can escape it.
The attempts to gain entry to the manor continue as a dwarf called Mulch Diggums is recruited to break in. He tunnels underground to reach the house, and feeds a loop to the cameras before locating a safe containing a copy of the Book. The Fairy Council decide that nothing is working and promote a lieutenant called Briar Cudgeon to Commander. He sends a troll in to force the humans to allow them entry. Meanwhile, Holly Short remembers she dropped an acorn in her boot and completes the Ritual in her prison cell, regaining her magic, and escaping.
Artemis is granted the ransom, and it is sent to the house. He asks Holly for a wish, to cure his mother from insanity, which she grants at the cost of half the gold. The LEP decide to attempt to kill Artemis to retrieve the rest of the gold, and "blue-rinse" the house with a bio-bomb which kills all organic life. Artemis, knowing that they will do this, escapes the time-stop with Butler and Juliet by drugging them. When Butler wakes, he demands an explanation from Artemis for why they were drugged, and Artemis explains that by changing one''s state of wakefulness in a time-stop, one could overcome its effects.