''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 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. In September 2008, Colf ...

's ''Artemis Fowl'' series. It is preceded by '' Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident'' and followed by '' Artemis Fowl and the Opal Deception''. The storyline follows

Artemis Fowl ''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, the eight-book ''Artemis Fowl'', follows elf Lower Elements Police Reconnai ...

and his companions as they struggle to recover the " C Cube", a supercomputer Artemis had constructed from fairy technology, when Jon Spiro manages to steal it. Critical response was generally favourable.

Plot

Artemis Fowl II Dr. Artemis Fowl II is the eponymous character of the '' Artemis Fowl'' series by Eoin Colfer. Colfer has said that he based Artemis on his younger brother Donal, who as a child was "a mischievous mastermind who could get out of any trouble he ...

, the 13-year-old criminal mastermind, has created a supercomputer which he calls the "C Cube", from the stolen fairy LEPrecon helmets confiscated by Butler in the siege of Fowl Manor. It far surpasses any human technology made so far. Fowl meets Chicago businessman Jon Spiro in London to show him the Cube, in an attempt to buy a considerable amount of gold in exchange for keeping the technology off the market. However, Spiro ambushes and outwits Artemis and steals the Cube. In the process, Butler, Artemis' bodyguard, is shot by one of Spiro's staff, Arno Blunt. Artemis' demonstration of the Cube inadvertently detects Fairy technology below ground, causing a shutdown of all equipment in Haven city. In response, Commander Root sends Captain

Holly Short This is a list of characters in the '' Artemis Fowl'' novel series by Eoin Colfer. Overview * A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the property or that the character's presence in the property has yet to be announced ...

to London to find what the disturbance was caused by. She locates Artemis, who persuades her to revive Butler with fairy magic and the aid of cryogenics. The procedure saves Butler's life, but ages him approximately 15 years. Artemis reveals the Cube's existence to Holly and the LEPrecon's technical expert Foaly the centaur. Jon Spiro, meanwhile, has commissioned a mob family from Chicago to capture Artemis to break the Cube's Eternity Code which prevents Spiro from accessing its software. One of its employees is the dwarf Mulch Diggums, who is sent along with the thug Loafers to Fowl Manor to do the job. Although Mulch is rumbled, Loafers is incapacitated by Juliet, Butler's little sister, who has just returned from a failed final test at Madame Ko's Academy, where Butler trained to be a bodyguard. After a discussion with Root, who gives them 48 hours before he sends in a full Retrieval team, Artemis comes up with an elaborate plan to retrieve the Cube from Spiro's office in Chicago, involving the use of Holly, Mulch and Juliet. Root demands a mind-wipe of the three humans after the job is done, so Artemis leaves Butler in Ireland to ensure their memories survive. The heist is ultimately successful, with Artemis retrieving the Cube after tricking Spiro into entering a rival company's headquarters to steal their new products. The Chicago police immediately arrive to arrest Spiro and his associates, and Foaly wipes Artemis' movements from the CCTV. Holly and Juliet remove Artemis from the crime, and return with Mulch to Ireland. Although Arno Blunt escapes and tries to enter Ireland to kill Artemis, Butler has him detained and frightens him into confessing his crimes. Root then has the three humans mind-wiped, after Holly mesmerizes Artemis to see if there were any traces left to trigger his memories. Unbeknownst to all, Artemis has had Butler commission three sets of contact lenses to stop the process. Artemis' plan to retrieve his memories involves Mulch Diggums: Artemis has the date of the

search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize Police, law enforcement officers to conduct a Search and seizure, search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to Confiscation, confiscate an ...

of Mulch's cave changed to the day after his first arrest, rendering all subsequent convictions null and void. Artemis then hands Mulch a gold medallion before his mind-wipe, which is actually a computer disc containing all of Artemis' memories. Although Mulch is incarcerated, he takes comfort in the knowledge that "together they will be unstoppable."

Secret message

In European editions, the code on the cover reads "Think fairy, think again" the slogan for the original

. The code is not written in Gnommish or Centaurian, instead supposedly written in the "eternity code" with which the C Cube is encrypted. In the

hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound (At p. 247.)) book is one bookbinding, bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other clo ...

edition, the code for ''Eoin Colfer Artemis Fowl The Eternity Code Puffin'' is printed on the spine underneath the dustjacket, allowing the reader to decipher the code inside the book, which is a message from Artemis asking the reader to help him regain his memories by spreading the message that ''Artemis Fowl must find Mulch Diggums In the reprint of the book, the Eternity Code is changed to Gnommish.

Critical reception

Critical response was generally positive. ''Publishers Weekly'', complimented the book on its "Agile prose, rapid-fire dialogue and wise-acre humour."

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

rated the book A−, saying that "The kid's still got it...Harry better watch his back", and that the characters were "still silly and saucy". Disney Family Entertainment rated it three stars out of five and remarked that it was not "great literature", but it was well written and would be an entertaining summer reading book.

References

{{Authority control 2003 Irish novels 2003 fantasy novels Science fantasy novels Eternity Code Fiction about suspended animation Viking Press books 2003 children's books Novels set in Chicago Heist fiction Fiction about memory erasure and alteration Puffin Books books