Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code

Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code

First edition cover
Author	Eoin Colfer
Language	English
Series	Artemis Fowl series
Genre	Children's, Fantasy novel
Publisher	Viking Press
Publication date	27 April 2003
Publication place	Ireland
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	352 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 0670913529 (first edition, hardback) 0141321318 (third edition, paperback) {{isbn}}: Check isbn value: invalid character (help)
OCLC	249117789
Preceded by	Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
Followed by	Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception

Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code (or Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code) is the third book in 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. The storyline follows Artemis Fowl 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, the 13-year-old criminal mastermind, has created a supercomputer which he calls the "C Cube", from stolen fairy technology. It far surpasses any human technology made so far. When Fowl meets Chicago businessman Jon Spiro to show him the Cube, Spiro ambushes Artemis and steals it. In the process, Butler, his bodyguard is killed by one of Spiro's staff. However, Artemis manages to revive him with the aid of cryogenics and fairy healing magic, courtesy of Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon squad. Unfortunately, the healing does not work entirely as planned. It leaves Butler alive, though fifteen years older and unable to carry out his duties as a bodyguard. However, his sister, Juliet, agrees to help Fowl recover the stolen computer. With the aid of the rest of the LEPrecon team and kleptomaniac dwarf Mulch Diggums, they break into the Spiro Needle where Spiro's company, Fission Chips, is housed and Artemis is being held captive. Holly, Juliet, and Mulch went out to free him and recover the C Cube.

Spiro is quite a challenging opponent, even for Artemis. He has impressive security devices, and the vault containing the C Cube is nearly unbreakable. However, the fairies' technology is still more advanced, and Artemis manages to get into the vault where the Cube is held. Artemis lets Foaly take control of the C Cube and tricks Spiro into going to the offices of rival company Phonetix in order to sabotage their work projects. He manages to get Spiro arrested by Chicago police.

Commander Julius Root is concerned that Artemis is becoming too much of a liability to the People. Artemis and his staff have submitted to mind-wipes, which will erase anything fairy-related from his memory. However, he plans to return by giving Mulch Diggums a disc disguised as a coin. The disc contains information that may help Artemis recover his memories and knowledge of the People.

Secret message

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

The cover of the U.S. edition has a secret message written in the cover which reads: "The boy is in trouble"

Critical reception

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