Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception

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Continuing to venture down the rabbit hole into the crazy and technologically superior world of Eoin Colfer’s Lower Elements, I spent this week holding my breath as I watched Captain Holly Short become public enemy no.1, Artemis Fowl try to regain some lost memories, a psychotic pixie chase world domination, and a dwarf eat a lot of chocolate.

The Opal Deception is the fourth book in Eoin Colfer’s delightfully modern series about a juvenile criminal mastermind who discovers the existence of fairies. In this book psychopathic pixie, Opal Koboi, escapes from the Argon Clinic and embarks upon the biggest and most convoluted revenge/world domination escapade ever. Framing Captain Holly Short for murder, Opal then conducts operations to bring the human and the fairy world together, bringing about a war which would eventually end with her sitting as Queen of the new world. Holly’s only hope to save the world (again) is criminal genius Artemis Fowl, however there’s the slight hitch of Fowl’s mind being wiped after their last adventure together and his having no memory of Holly or fairies.

While I still enjoyed this book and managed to make my way through it pretty quickly, I have to admit that the series is starting to become a little tiresome. I guess one of the biggest risks with creating such a rich world of fantasy for a children’s readership is that you have to keep trying to top the previous adventure, make the next one bigger, more exciting, more dangerous, and whatnot. Unfortunately, this can result in the series starting to feel as though it’s trying too hard and it loses that original zing that made it so appealing in the first place.

This is more or less what happened with The Opal Deception. While the story itself is nail-bitingly exciting and suspenseful, there is so much complexity in it in terms of the technology, Opal’s convoluted plan for world domination, and even the long journey of Artemis regaining his memories felt strained. I found myself not wanting to pick this one up as frequently as I had the others and, annoyingly, because there is so much happening that needs to be explained in 300 pages, there’s no real space for the breath.

Image credit: HarperCollins Publishing

But where the book does earn its stripes (or golden acorns narratively speaking) is in the development of the characters. While Artemis, Mulch and Holly have been going through moral and emotional changes – some more obvious than others- its in this book that those changes are really brought to the forefront of their characters and they work as driving forces within the narrative, making the book nicely balanced between story-driven plot and character-driven plot. As these changes were flippantly gestured at in earlier instalments, I really appreciated their being brought into sharper focus.

The Opal Deception is definitely in keeping with the series’ modern, exciting, and suspenseful vibes: delivering very satisfactory irony and emotional payoff at the end. If you’re into the series, it’s worth the time.

Author: Eoin Colfer, 2005

Published: Puffin Books, the Penguin Group Australia.