Artemis Fowl

Artemis Fowl Summary | Plot Summary

Artemis Fowl tells the tale of a twelve-year-old genius, a criminal mastermind who wants to acquire fairy gold in order to replenish his family's fortunes. Bringing together both the human and fairy worlds, Colfer writes about Artemis's quest for the gold and how the fairies try to prevent him from gaining their riches.

Artemis travels to Ho Chi Minh City with his manservant, Butler, to meet with an informant about the Book, which tells about the history of the fairies and spells out their rules and regulations for behavior. Led to a sprite, Artemis tricks her into letting him look at her Book for thirty minutes. Butler takes a photo of each page so that they can decipher it later. Back in Ireland at Fowl Manor, Artemis tries various means to decode the pages. He finally figures out the language of the book. Artemis is also concerned with his mother, who is slowly losing her mind since Artemis's father disappeared a year ago.

Holly Short is an elf who works as a LEPrecon in Haven City, which is near the core of the earth. She is the first female to be assigned to the LEPrecon unit and her superior, Commander Root, doesn't feel that she is doing a good enough job. Just as he is about to demote Holly, a call comes in that a troll is loose on the surface. Holly goes to the surface and tracks the location of the troll. She finds that the troll is breaking through a wall into a restaurant filled with people. Without waiting for the Retrieval Squad, she goes in, but because she hasn't completed the Ritual lately, her magic is low, leaving her visible to the troll and all of the humans. She struggles with the troll but manages to subdue it. When Root and the Retrieval Squad arrive, they find that Holly has placed the humans in an unconscious state so that the fairies can mind-wipe them. Root orders Holly to complete her Ritual.

Holly needs to find a site where ancient oak, full moon, and winding river meet. She flies to a remote location that fits this description to gather a seed, which she needs to plant away from this site to restore her magic. The site that she chooses is the very one that Artemis has staked out. Holly lands, not seeing the humans, and finds an acorn. Artemis and Butler sneak up on her and tell her that they are taking her hostage until the fairies bring Artemis gold. They drug Holly and take her locator to a Japanese whaler.

Root and Foaly, a technology-minded centaur, figure out that Holly has been kidnapped. Root goes to the Japanese Whaler where he finds the locator. Artemis speaks to him through a camera he has placed in the room, telling Root who he is and that he has Holly. Root barely manages to escape an explosion that Artemis has planted. Root launches a command post at Fowl Manor, where Artemis is holding Holly.

Root sends a squad down the avenue of the manor with their shields on to hide them from human eyes. Artemis captures a picture showing the squad and sends Butler out to deal with them. He quickly disarms them and says that they want a negotiator. Root orders that a time-stop be set up. Inside the house, Holly finds an acorn in her shoe and begins banging her bed against the concrete floor in an attempt to crack the cement. After the time-stop takes effect, Artemis sees that his mother has disappeared from her room, where she had been sleeping moments before.

Root goes into the manor to negotiate with Artemis. Artemis tells him that he wants a ton of gold. Root tells him that they should release Holly or the place will be bio-bombed, which would kill any living creature within the walls. Artemis says, however, that he can escape the time-stop and thus, the bio-bomb. Outside, the experts agree that Artemis is telling the truth when he says he can escape.

Root sends for Mulch Diggums, a kleptomaniac dwarf, who is able to tunnel in human houses because he's given up his magic. Mulch tunnels into the wine cellar of the manor. From there, he finds the safe room, where he breaks into several safes, one containing the copy of the Book. Just as Butler is about to capture him, Mulch lets loose with the gas that has accumulated in him from the tunneling. Butler is thrown back against the wall and Mulch is able to get away. On his way out of the house, Mulch makes it look like he dies in a tunnel cave-in so that he can escape from Root and prison.

Holly manages to break through the cement. She plants her acorn and her powers are restored. She escapes from her cell, leaving Juliet, Butler's sister, in it and gets some of her equipment back, finding out that the troll is being released into the house. Butler goes down to the cell to rescue Juliet, who has had a spell cast on her and thinks she's watching a wrestling program. They arrive in the lobby just as the troll comes through the door. They hide behind a suit of armor but the troll finds them. Butler shoots the troll, but the troll attacks him and throws him against the wall, leaving him for dead. Holly arrives and tries to distract the troll away from Juliet, but the troll also flings her against the wall. Holly lands next to Butler, with her hand touching his arm. She sends her healing powers to him and he recovers. He dons a suit of armor and attacks the troll again, just as its ready to kill Juliet. Butler overcomes the troll and sends it outside the manor.

Artemis sends a message to Root that he is still willing to negotiate. Root agrees to send him the gold, thinking that after they do this and Holly is released, they can bio-bomb the manor and get the gold back. They send the gold in. Artemis asks Holly for a wish: to make his mother well again in exchange for some of the gold. Artemis's share of the gold is unloaded and Holly and her share are sent out. Artemis, Butler, and Juliet drink champagne laced with tranquilizers and they fall asleep. Root detonates the bio-bomb and after about one minute he gets a squad ready to go in and retrieve the gold. However, the squad finds that they are unable to enter because Artemis is still alive. Only Holly can go in. She doesn't find any bodies. The fairies leave before the time-stop ceases, heading back to Haven City.

Artemis and Butler wake up. Sleeping allowed them to escape the time-stop and thus, the bio-bomb. They go to check on Artemis's mother and find that she is well again. Artemis has restored some of his family's fortunes with the gold.