Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception
Encyclopedia
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception (known as Artemis Fowl and the Opal Deception in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

) is a teen fantasy novel published in 2005, the 4th book in the Artemis Fowl series
Artemis Fowl (series)
Artemis Fowl is a series of fantasy novels written by Irish author Eoin Colfer and all the books are best sellers, starring the teenage criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl II. The author summed up the series as: "Die Hard with fairies." There are seven novels in the series; the first was published in...

 by the Irish author Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer is an Irish author. He is most famous as the author of the Artemis Fowl series, but he has also written other successful books. His novels have been compared to the works of J. K. Rowling...

. Preceded by Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code is the third book of Irish children's fiction author Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series. It is preceded by Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident and followed by Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception...

 
and followed by Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony is the fifth book in the Artemis Fowl Series by Irish writer Eoin Colfer. The book, originally expected to be published in the UK and Ireland on September 7 2006, was shipped to stores early...

, it is centered on the brilliant pixie Opal Koboi
Opal Koboi
Opal Koboi is a fictional character from the Artemis Fowl series - a set of seven fantasy novels written by Irish author Eoin Colfer. After the character's May 2002 introduction in the second book in the series as a supporting antagonist, Colfer again used Koboi as the main antagonist in the fourth...

's second try at rebellion (after her first attempt
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident is the second book in the Artemis Fowl series written by Irish author Eoin Colfer. It follows the story of Opal Koboi's rising alongside the rescue of the abducted Artemis Fowl I, Artemis Fowl II's father...

 was a failure) and Artemis Fowl II
Artemis Fowl II
Artemis Fowl II is the antihero and main character of the fictional series Artemis Fowl by the Irish author Eoin Colfer.- Origins :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 got into"...

 and his fairy comrades' efforts to stop her. Critical reception was mixed, with some reviews praising the book but others pointing out confusion and poor writing.

Synopsis

The book begins with the pixie Opal Koboi
Opal Koboi
Opal Koboi is a fictional character from the Artemis Fowl series - a set of seven fantasy novels written by Irish author Eoin Colfer. After the character's May 2002 introduction in the second book in the series as a supporting antagonist, Colfer again used Koboi as the main antagonist in the fourth...

 faking a coma inside an asylum
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...

 to avoid incarceration by the Lower Elements Police (LEP) after her failed rebellion and attempt at world domination (which took place in Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident is the second book in the Artemis Fowl series written by Irish author Eoin Colfer. It follows the story of Opal Koboi's rising alongside the rescue of the abducted Artemis Fowl I, Artemis Fowl II's father...

).

Opal Koboi, who was under 24-hour surveillance and had DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 tests done every 4 hours by the LEP to ensure that Opal was actually in the asylum cell, with help from the Brill Brothers manages to replace herself with a clone, which is identical to herself (the only difference being that the clone is brain dead
Brain death
Brain death is the irreversible end of all brain activity due to total necrosis of the cerebral neurons following loss of brain oxygenation. It should not be confused with a persistent vegetative state...

).

Opal lures Commander Julius Root
Julius Root
Julius Root is a fictional character from the Artemis Fowl series of children's books written by Irish author Eoin Colfer.- Personality :Julius Root was the commander of the reconnaissance division of the Lower Elements Police. Root was frequently angry, and when angry, he became extremely...

 and Captain Holly Short
Holly Short
Holly Short is a fictional character and a LEPrecon Captain in the Artemis Fowl book series by Eoin Colfer.-Character outline:Holly Short is a talkative and sarcastic elf with an auburn crew cut and hazel eyes, as well as the pointy ears and nut-brown skin typical of her species...

 into a building alone. Koboi then kills Commander Root of the LEP (framing Captain Holly Short as the murderer), and launches a bio-bomb at Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl II
Artemis Fowl II is the antihero and main character of the fictional series Artemis Fowl by the Irish author Eoin Colfer.- Origins :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 got into"...

, which fails to kill him and his bodyguard Domovoi Butler
Domovoi Butler
Domovoi Butler is a fictional character in the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. Known for his skill and strength, he is the bodyguard and mentor of the main character of the series, .-Role:...

.

Opal then proceeds with her plan to help Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 environmentalist Giovanni Zito send a probe downward, which, at least in Koboi's plan, will cause the humans to find the fairies and start an inter-species war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...

, leading to fairy genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

.

Artemis Fowl was mindwiped in the third book of the series, Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code is the third book of Irish children's fiction author Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series. It is preceded by Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident and followed by Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception...

and has no memory of meeting the fairies. This has also caused him to revert back to his former self- the one cruel enough to kidnap a fairy. But he has a conscience, the difference is he chooses not to listen to it.

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-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
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
The Seven Wonders of the World refers to remarkable constructions of classical antiquity listed by various authors in guidebooks popular among the ancient Hellenic tourists, particularly in the 1st and 2nd centuries BC...

 but also the additions of Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel
Abu Simbel temples refers to two massive rock temples in Abu Simbel in Nubia, southern Egypt on the western bank of Lake Nasser about 230 km southwest of Aswan...

, Borobodur, Rapa Nui and the Throne Hall at Persepolis
Persepolis
Perspolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire . Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran. In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid...

). After a desperate battle against the troll hordes on a model of the Temple of Artemis
Temple of Artemis
The Temple of Artemis , also known less precisely as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to a goddess Greeks identified as Artemis and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was situated at Ephesus , and was completely rebuilt three times before its eventual destruction...

 at Ephesus, they are rescued by former criminal Mulch Diggums
Mulch Diggums
Mulch Diggums is a fictional kleptomaniac dwarf from the Artemis Fowl series by Irish fiction author Eoin Colfer.He has been arrested numerous times by the LEP due to his criminal nature; stealing from Mud Men is his speciality. An expert burglar, he is also infamous for his powerful and deadly...

 and Butler
Domovoi Butler
Domovoi Butler is a fictional character in the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. Known for his skill and strength, he is the bodyguard and mentor of the main character of the series, .-Role:...

. Holly and Artemis become friends "bonded by trauma" and Artemis says he feels that he doesn't need money to help a friend.

After being rescued, Mulch gives Artemis the disk that had been passed off as a gold medallion. Artemis views the disk and regains his memories. He is overcome with 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.

Afterward, the story follows the struggle over the probe, which is closing in on the E7 chute. The probe eventually misses the chute, 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 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
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

 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
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 translatable Gnommish run along the bottoms of books one, two,...

 alphabet, available in The Artemis Fowl Files
The Artemis Fowl Files
The Artemis Fowl Files is a companion book to the Artemis Fowl series written by Eoin Colfer.It contains two short stories, one about Captain Holly Short joining LEPrecon, and the second about Mulch Diggums and Artemis Fowl working together to steal a tiara...

by Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer
Eoin Colfer is an Irish author. He is most famous as the author of the Artemis Fowl series, but he has also written other successful books. His novels have been compared to the works of J. K. Rowling...

, 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 reviews for Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception were generally mixed. 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." Bookstove called it "fabulously written" and "a perfect mixture of wit, humour and world saving antics with a supernatural twist." Disney's "Family Entertainment" did not recommend the book and called it "pretty confusing", though 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."
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