Artemis Fowl is a science fiction, adventure, and fantasy book series written by award-winning author Eoin Colfer. This book series has become very popular because of its intriguing story and complex characters. It is perfect for both fantasy-loving adults and children. This guide will show you how to read the Artemis Fowl books in order.
This story represents the struggle of good and evil in a sophisticated and interesting way, so there’s a good reason why the Artemis Fowl book became an international bestseller in 2001.
#1 Artemis Fowl Books in Order of Publication
Reading the Artemis Fowl books in order of publication is the easiest way to read. This is actually a pretty straight forward list.
- Artemis Fowl (2001)
- Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident (2002)
- Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code (2003)
- Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception (2005)
- Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony (2006)
- Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox (2008)
- Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex (2010)
- Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian (2012)
- The Fowl Twins (2019)
- The Fowl Twins Deny All Charges (2020)
- The Fowl Twins Get What They Deserve (2021)
#2 Artemis Fowl Books in Order of Series
You might be wondering what the point of a list of Artemis Fowl books in order by series is, considering that the book list is the same as the one above.
But we only bring this to your attention so that you can be aware it is possible to skip the entire primary Artemis Fowl series. Alternatively, feel free to conclude your reading with the last book of the original series if the newer books aren’t your style.
Whatever works best for you. Reading the different Artemis Fowl series in this order helps you understand where the stories end and a new one begins.
Artemis Fowl Series
- Artemis Fowl
- Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
- Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code
- Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception
- Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony
- Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox
- Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex
- Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian
The Fowl Twins Series
Who is Artemis Fowl?
Artemis Fowl is a genius 12-years-old child and a criminal mastermind. He discovers the existence of magical and technologically advanced creatures known as The People; a group made up of centaurs, demons, dwarfs, elves, gnomes, goblins, pixies, and more.
In the beginning, the young antihero follows his father’s steps into heisting, planning to exploit the people’s gold by kidnapping a reconnaissance officer of the Lower Elements Police (LEP). However, as the story continues, he develops a deeper sense of morality and allies with the fairies in more meaningful journeys.
The award-winning Irish author, Eoin Colfer, once described the series as “Die Hard” with fairies. It does have lots of action.
Now let’s take a look the Artemis Fowl Books in Order
Artemis Fowl Books Summary
NOTE: The following summaries contain major spoilers. Only use them to refresh yourself on previous books if you’re returning to the series and are looking for a reminder of the Artemis Fowl books in order.
1. Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl is a genius boy and a descendant of a long line of criminals. After the family fortune is lost and his father goes missing, he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the fairy Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance in the secret underground world of the People and holds her for a big ransom of gold.
He manages to hold her with the help of his servant, Butler and takes Holly to his home. LEPrecon officers try to infiltrate Fowl Manor, but Artemis knew they were coming and was ready, foiling their operation with the help of Butler. Hesitant about what to do next, the LEPrecon crew recruits infamous thief Mulch Diggums to break into Artemis’s home and retrieve Holly.
However, after several failed attempts, the fairies send Artemis the gold he requested. Artemis lets Holly go, but he politely asks her to cure his mother of her mental illness in return.
Holly negotiates to grant this favor for the price of half the gold ransom, which Artemis agreed to pay. At the end of the story, there´s a killing attempt led by the fairies against Artemis and his associates, but Artemis manages to escape unscathed and take those he knows with him.
Artemis Fowl reviews at Goodreads.
Rating: 3.85/5.
2. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident begins with the sinking of the Fowl Star at the hands of the Russian mafia. Artemis Fowl I is kidnapped and held in the Arctic for two years. Two years later, our protagonist’s son receives a mysterious message from the Fowl Star while meeting with a school psychologist.
At the same time, Captain Holly Short and a pixie, Chix Verbil, were guarding a semi-abandoned duct when Chix was shot in the wing. The culprits turned out to be the “B’wa Kell”, a goblin organization. The human batteries used in the weapons and the goblin Shuttle, constructed from recycled material, puzzled the LEP agents.
This triggered them because goblins are ‘very dumb,’ according to the book. So they concluded that Artemis Fowl was behind the whole thing.
The message Artemis Fowl received turned out to be a message from his father. The statement was brief but just enough to fuel Artemis’ hope of rescuing his father.
Artemis and his friends have to go underground accompanied by the infamous dwarf Mulch Diggums and enter Opal Koboi’s laboratories. In their incursion, they run into a lot of trouble and are almost killed by goblins. Finally, they manage to reach Opal and show him a video cleverly recorded by Foaly.
It showed Cudgeon narrating how he was going to betray her and take over on his own. This, of course, does not amuse Opal, who sets out to kill Cudgeon. Cudgeon died, but no one cared because the LEP had taken over again.
When they returned to the Arctic, a clever move by Artemis, who fakes his father’s death, serves to get him back, albeit one leg short and nearly frozen, but alive.
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident reviews at Goodreads.
Rating: 3.94/5.
3. Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code
In Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code, Artemis decides to do one of his last “jobs” due to the rapid recovery of his father in the university hospital in Helsinki. This time, he decides to do business with Jon Spiro, the famous Fission Chips company owner. The two agree to meet at a restaurant where Artemis offers him his new and most innovative invention, THE B CUBE.
During this meeting, Artemis will find himself in serious complications, to the point of almost losing his best friend, Butler. Once again, Artemis and Holly form their invincible team, which, with Foaly’s help, will recover the stolen technology. In exchange for the magical help, Artemis, Butler, and Juliet must undergo a memory cleansing to wake up without remembering anything of their adventures with the Magical Creatures.
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code reviews at Goodreads.
Rating: 4.02/5.
4. Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception
Artemis has just suffered a “memory wipe”. He remembers nothing of the magical creatures and so he turns his attention to other matters: stealing an enigmatic work of art that only a few know about.
However, in the underworld, there is someone who does remember him. Opal Koboi, the goblin antagonist who led the Goblin rebellion, lies in bed plotting the most perfect revenge against him.
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception is divided into 3 key momentums:
- Completely obsessed
J. Argon Clinic. Three months earlier.
Opal Koboi is treated after that falling into a year-long coma.
As the number 1 criminal, she is guarded by an LEP agent, day and night, her DNA is checked three times a day, and she is kept in a locked room. One night two goblins, the Birilli brothers, cut the light, enter Opal’s room, wake her up from a self-induced coma and replace her with a clone. They then take her for plastic surgery to make her look like a human.
- The magic thief
Munich, Germany. Present time.
The magic thief is a painting that Hervé painted, the number 16. It is thought that Hervé only painted 15, but it is rumored that he painted one more, which was stolen from him, and stolen from the thief, and the cycle continues to this day. Artemis located it and wants to steal it.
He finds out that it is owned by a group of lawyers, Meat & Sparrow, who put it in a safe deposit box in the bank of Munich, and he is planning to steal it from there.
For this, he must enter the chamber where the safety deposit boxes are, and they do it by requesting to join the box of Butler, with the name of Colonel Xavier Lee, and Artemis dressed as a normal teenager named Alfonse.
- On the Edge of Death
Lower elements. Unknown time.
General Escaleno of the B’wa Kell escapes from Monkey Rock and is detected at the E37 shuttle terminal. Holly Short and Julius Root go to attend to the situation.
Upon entering the station, they discover two strange things: Escaleno dead on the ground with some kind of box on his torso and the goblin shuttle on the takeoff rails.
On Escaleno’s torso, the box comes to life, and a screen shows the face of Opal Koboi, who tells them that this is his revenge and that in that shuttle terminal, one was going to lose his honor and another was going to die.
They try to leave through the door, but it closes. Also, Opal had locked the audio system on the helmets and covered the box with stealth ore. Therefore, the box that was in Escaleno’s torso and what was talked about inside there was never known until Holly told.
The only option they had was to use the shuttle to escape. But when Root grabs Escaleno, the box attaches itself to his torso and Opal reveals to them that it’s a bomb, which was going to explode in 60 seconds, but it also had proximity sensors, so if Holly got too close to Root he would die.
Opal lies by telling Holly that if she hits the red dot on the box it will free the commander and Holly shoots. Upon hitting the dot the bomb explodes taking the commander’s life. Opal reveals to her that she will kill the two humans who helped stop her. Holly knows which humans she means and gets into the shuttle and leaves to warn them.
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception reviews at Goodreads.
Rating: 4.02/5.
5. Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony
Humans and fairies fought a great battle for the magical land of Ireland 10.000 years ago. When it became clear they were going to lose, fairies decided to move their civilization underground and keep themselves hidden from the humans; this was the Lower Elements’ birth, revealed in this chapter. All the fairy families agreed on this, except the eighth family, the demons… The lost colony.
Artemis, the “evil” Irish genius has gone to Barcelona to wait for a very special guest. But what is the surprise of Butler when a demon appears.
After that incident, Artemis finds his perfect match, and companion: Minerva Paradizo, a genius who is at Artemis’ level, but she has the advantage; she is anonymous and very, very stubborn and will try to interpose herself as much as possible between Artemis and the demons.
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony reviews at Goodreads.
Rating: 4.00/5.
6. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox
Three years have passed since Artemis’ last adventures and, now, he is a normal boy. Having made peace with the magical world and become a respectable person, there is only one thing that worries him: his mother’s health, which is deteriorating by the minute.
According to the doctor, she suffers from a very rare incurable disease called Spelltropy and has only a few days left to live. But Artemis has an ace up his sleeve: he has magic from the elemental world and is convinced that he can cure his mother.
Failing that, he has no choice but to ask for help from the magical world, which assures him that the antidote to his mother’s illness is in the brain of an animal that Artemis himself killed eight years ago, the silky sifaka lemur of Madagascar.
Artemis has only one possibility left: to go back eight years and recover the brain of that animal to save his mother, even if he has to cross paths with Opal Koboi from the past and his own self from eight years ago.
Foley argues against the plan, but due to Artemis’ lying to Holly, saying that she infected her mother Angeline with Spell disease, Holly agrees to help him immediately to make up for it, and Foaly gives in.
Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox at Goodreads.
Rating: 4.08/5.
7. Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex
Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex narrates Artemis’ eagerness to save the planet from its imminent deterioration due to global warming, using nano-wafers that reflect the sun and camouflaging them with snow.
But his attempts are cut short by the action of a rival from whom no one would have expected anything, Turnball Root, the criminal brother of Julius Root, who manages to escape from the maximum-security prison of Atlantis using the little attention they have on him and the power of the magic runes, which are very powerful and only need a drop of magic to work.
Meanwhile, Artemis’s bodyguard, Butler, is in Mexico. A paranoid Artemis fools him into traveling to Cancún by telling him his sister Juliet, was in danger. Juliet and Butler escape a horde of zombie-like wrestling fans who were remotely controlled by unknown forces.
Turnball Root is later revealed as the mastermind behind these plans and hires a gang of dwarfs to take Butler and Juliet out, but they are shut down by Mulch Diggums. Then they rescue Artemis, Holly, and Foaly, and all six go after Turnball.
Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex reviews at Goodreads.
Rating: 3.98/5.
8. Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian
“I have ancestral warriors subjected to my will. I want the whole world to throw itself at my feet and I am willing to risk everything and sacrifice anyone who opposes my wishes.”
Opal Koboi, Artemis Fowl’s worst enemy, has opened the door to the Berserkers, an army of magical warriors locked in the depths of the Earth and thirsting for vengeance.
With their support, and the help of magical powers Opal has decided to completely destroy the human race. But Artemis is not to be intimidated: he must save her brothers and fight the plans of her enemy and her magical allies. Artemis faces them against the clock, aware that her own life is in danger…
Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian reviews at Goodreads.
Rating: 4.16/5.
Artemis Fowl Books Frequently Asked Questions
Can You Read the Fowl Twins Before Artemis Fowl?
Yes. Even though there are references to the first series, these books tell another story where Artemis’ younger brothers take place as leading characters.
Are Artemis Fowl Books Worth Reading?
The first book has a rating of 4.6 out of five stars at Amazon based on 4720 reviews. It was also rated 8 out of 10 at Fantasy Book Review.
The story is fun and light. It represents the classic “heist” format: there are twists and turns. Sometimes the plans work, and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they seem to fail but somehow end up working.
Colfer a hidden, futuristic sub-society of mythical creatures that presents the underlying mystery and magic to the series. On the other hand, Artemis is a normal human boy who cracks open the mysteries of this underworld. Well, at least as normal as a billionaire genius pre-teen with an evil mastermind complex can be.
Artemis Fowl Disney Movie
The Artemis Fowl books have sold 25 million copies in 44 different languages across the globe, making it one of the biggest selling fantasy series of all time.
This success attracted the attention of Miramax Films, which purchased the film rights in conjunction with Tribeca Productions in 2000. Plans were announced for a film adaptation of the series in 2001, with Lawrence Guterman as chief director, Jeff Stockwellas screenwriter, and Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal as producers. But due to a development dispute between The Walt Disney Company and Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who were leaving Miramax.
In July 2013, Walt Disney Pictures announced that they would produce an Artemis Fowl film with The Weinstein Company, covering the events of the first and second novels of the series, with the screenplay written by Michael Goldenberg.
Artemis Fowl’s release was delayed to 2020 and then canceled on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, it was released digitally worldwide exclusively on Disney+ on June 12, 2020.
The film received mostly negative reviews from critics and audiences who criticized the film’s characters, plot, visual effects, dialogues, and changes made to the original material.
Conclusion
Now that’s we’ve covered two ways to read the Artemis Fowl books in order, you probably realize the series is an excellent story for both adults and kids who enjoy science fiction and fantasy. This story dives into a complex narrative of an anti-hero that struggles with the duality of right and wrong.
What do you think about this anti-hero? Which way do you plan to read the Artemis Fowl books in order?
Looking for more books in order?
Check out our list of The Maze Runner Books in Order.