SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
When Artemis Fowl accidentally puts “The People” in danger, he seeks out Holly and Root. Together they have to outsmart an unscrupulous businessman.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Artemis Fowl is in the position of undoing damage he has potentially caused. As such, it is another view of his character. An apologetic and slightly more humble one. He recognizes he made a mistake and is perhaps realizing that he may seriously need to change as well as win back Holly. There is also the aspect of his father and their relationship. How it was and how it is changing. It was rather insightful to finally learn of Artemis' past.
Butler isn't in most of the story. But through events it is revealed how important he is to Artemis, so their relationship does develop in that sense. Also, when he reappears, it's quite obvious how much he cares about his little sister when he takes her aside to warn her about the danger.
Holly Short is furious at Artemis for putting the People at risk. But it's hard to side with her when she becomes self-righteous.
Mulch Diggums accidentally ends up getting involved with Artemis again. He is his usual entertaining self. He plays an essential role to the plot, and for once, isn't coerced into doing things. He chooses to help out of the kindness of his heart. Sort of.
Juliet Butler comes along to help Artemis. We learn about her character for the first time. She is nothing like her calm, stoic older brother and often compares herself to him. She has a more obvious sense of humor and is more emotional. She has yet to become an official body guard.
Jon Spiro is our villain. He is annoying enough to make you despise him, but he is a good character to check Artemis' arrogance. In some ways, he is a more blunt, more emotional version of Artemis. Holly even makes this comparison. Not that he isn't two dimensional. He is. There is essentially nothing about him that makes him feel human. No family. No pets. Nothing good. He is in every way, an evil, greedy capitalist stereotype.
PACING
Just like the last two books, the perspective shifts between various characters. We have Holly's perspective, Artemis', Juliets, Butlers, Mulch, ect. We even have some flashback scenes with Artemis and his father.
ARTEMIS AND BUTLER
Butler is injured early on in the book, so he isn't in it all that much. But in the scene where he is hurt, Artemis cries and realizes he never expected to be without him. I thought it was sweet and probably the most that has been revealed of his feelings for his bodyguard.
HOLLY & JULIET
There is one scene between Juliet and Holly where they argue. Juliet says she is nothing like her brother and Holly says maybe she shouldn't be in this line of work. But Juliet replies having fun is how she deals with things and didn't she used to be like her? It's really the only meaningful interaction between these two. Juliet reveals her insecurity and Holly reveals her own hypocrisy.
SAME OLD ARTEMIS
You would think having a fairy kidnapping go horribly wrong would have been enough to humble Artemis. And although he did show some development in “The Arctic Incident” he seems to have reverted back to his selfish ways. But Artemis has never seriously addressed the need to change. Throughout the story, flashbacks to his father reveal he has been wondering if he can.
ARTEMIS AND SON-SPOILERS
Throughout the story there are flashbacks where Artemis recalls events with his newly returned father. He notes that his father seems to have changed. He is more humorous, and wants to change his crooked ways. Not just for his wife, but for his son too. Artemis can't believe it and he wonders if they could ever be a normal family. Surely he could never be a normal boy.
This is the first time that we have dived into their relationship and how Artemis' childhood was like. Even though his father was often cold to him, it was his worshiping of money that Artemis took away. Perhaps he was merely trying a please a man he hoped would return.
It's also revealed that Artemis senior wasn't known for his charm and got his way through his gruff exterior. It explains how Artemis has never learned how to feign charm and manipulate people. He never witnessed such behavior and assumed power was all you needed to persuade someone.
TRUST ME-SPOILERS
There is a scene in the story where it is obvious that Artemis is lying to Holly. It's revealed he did so because he knew that she would refuse to do what was necessary later on. Turns out she has to cut off a finger.
I actually sided with Arty on this one. It's just a finger and they are putting it back on. It's not as though they were taking a life or even causing him harm. Sometimes Holly can come off as self righteous and unrealistic. That's a small part of her character that can make her rather obnoxious. Instead of realizing Artemis is trying to change, albeit poorly, she instead rants in her head that magic isn't supposed to be used that way. What way? The way that saves The People from being discovered?
It was obvious Colfer intended for us to side with Holly and bemoan Arty's lack of morals. I didn't bemoan them. I bemoaned his lack of trust in Holly. But apparently she didn't deserve it. I wanted there to be something that Holly could learn from Artemis (even with all of his faults).
HOLLY
Is Holly so unbearable that she ruins the book? No. She just has a few more moments of Mud man hating then the last time. I think her acting in such a way was to add drama and make Artemis realize he needs to change. But I felt it was unnecessary, as it was obvious through the flashbacks with Artemis' father that he already wanted to change. And since Artemis never reveals this to Holly, Colfer must have thought his main character needed to show Holly that he had to change. Unfortunately, like I stated previously, it just didn't work. If he had obviously been in the wrong, it might have.
And its to be noted that Holly does feel differently about him later on. It's just that she never seems to address why she may have been wrong. So her character seems lacking in development.
ANOTHER LAME VILLAIN?
Is Spiro as bad as Opal? No. There may be a few cringe worthy lines, but they are limited. (For example when he says he misses the days when you could just throw someone out of a window. Because we all know, if you're wealthy and powerful, no one cared if you murdered someone for all to see.) And it's oddly satisfying to see Artemis get made a fool by a man so much like him in many ways. But while Arty has his family and the fairy world to humble and humanize him, Spiro has nothing. And that's a big flaw.
Oddly enough, it's the same as “The Arctic Incident”. Spiro's just not in the story enough to ruin it.
FORESHADOWING-SPOILERS
Artemis is given a contact lens that's a camera but it doesn't match his other eye. So he has one hazel eye and one blue. He worries that Spiro will notice.
The previously mentioned moment is when Artemis looks guilty for a moment and Holly notices. She asks is there is something wrong and he denies it.
Lastly, Artemis seems to be examining the back of Spiro's ears and says “interesting”.
The last two we get pay-off of. But Spiro never notices Arty's eyes until the last second when it's too late. His reaction was amusing as was Artemis' response to it. But it was odd that he never noticed until then.
CLIMAX
The climax was done rather cleverly, albeit a little silly. The voice of the cube was funny but what I didn't quite feel sure if I liked was that Spiro never notices the contact lens before it was too late. I don't understand why he wouldn't have seen it. Was it overly dark? Did Artemis hide his face? It's never clarified. The reason for the contact might have been a silly one, which I will discuss another time.
CONCLUSION
The main characters are still charming and have many meaningful relationships with each other (with only a few bad moments for Holly). The pacing is good and there is plenty of action. There is also moments of insight into Artemis' character with both Butler and his father. Although I have my issues, there are kind of the same ones I have had previously, and if anything, have lessened slightly. I give “The Eternity Code” four stars.
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