Artemis Fowl Books in Order: How to read Eoin Colfer’s series?
Artemis Fowl is a twelve-year-old mischievous Irish mastermind, a member of a dysfunctional family with a rich history of crime. He can easily hatch a complicated and brilliant plan and it is exactly what he does to rebuild the Fawl Fortune after his father’s capture and his mother’s descent into madness.
Artemis Fowl is intelligent, cold, and ruthless, but with an evolving moral compass as he grows up and goes on multiple dangerous adventures involving magical creatures, high-tech gadgets, and daring heists. The series features a wide range of memorable and well-developed characters, including the titular Artemis Fowl, his loyal bodyguard Butler, and a cast of magical creatures with their own unique personalities and motivations. In fact, the relationship between Artemis and his family, particularly his father, is a recurring theme throughout the series.
How to read the Artemis Fowl Series in Order?
Every novel in the Artemis Fowl book series mostly works as a standalone story, but the lives of the different characters evolve from one novel to the other. It’s better to read them in chronological order.
- LEPrecon – Short story about who follows Holly Short who have to hunt and tag Commander Julius Root with a paintball gun on a remote island while being filmed for evaluation by Trouble Kelp, in order to join LEPrecon. It’s a prequel included in The Artemis Fowl Files, but it is better to read it after a few books.
- Artemis Fowl – Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history. With two trusty sidekicks in tow, he hatches a cunning plot to divest the fairyfolk of their pot of gold. He knows that the only way to separate the little people from their stash is to kidnap one of them and wait for the ransom to arrive. But when the time comes to put his plan into action, he doesn’t count on the appearance of the extrasmall, pointy-eared Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaisance) Unit–and her senior officer, Commander Root, a man (sorry, elf) who will stop at nothing to get her back.
- Artemis Fowl: The Seventh Dwarf – a short story written for World Book Day set between the first and second books. Artemis Fowl lures the dwarf, Mulch Diggums, to New York City and then brings him back to Ireland to steal the priceless Fei Fei tiara which contains a one-of-a-kind blue diamond. However, a gang of six dwarves led by Sergei the Significant have already stolen the tiara and plan to sell it at a circus to several European jewellery fences. The story is included in The Artemis Fowl Files.
- Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident – Artemis Fowl II learns that his missing father is alive and being held for ransom by the Mafia in Russia. He and his gigantic, highly-trained body guard, Butler, prepare to rescue Artemis I when they’re called below ground by the Lower Elements Police (the fairy recon squad) for questioning.
- Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code – Artemis Fowl is going straight-as soon as he pulls off the most brilliant criminal feat of his career. But his plan goes awry, leaving his loyal bodyguard, Butler, mortally injured. Artemis’s only hope of saving his friend is to employ fairy magic; so once again he must contact his old rival, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon fairy police. It is going to take a miracle to save Butler, and Artemis’s luck may have just run out…
- Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception – Artemis Fowl’s memories of the fairy race have been wiped, and his one fairy ally, Captain Holly Short, is on the run. He needs his memory back–and fast–because a power-crazed pixie is out for revenge, scheming to overthrow the Lower Elements Police. With Holly gone, Artemis is depending on a flatulent dwarf. Things are about to explode…
- Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony – Until recently, Artemis Fowl was the only human to have discovered that magical beings do indeed exist. But now a second juvenile genius wants to capture a demon for scientific study. Only an ancient time spell separates the demons from humankind–and Artemis must prevent it from unraveling. If he fails, the bloodthirsty tribe will relaunch their quest to wipe humans from the planet.
- Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox – When Artemis Fowl’s mother contracts a life-threatening illness, his world is turned upside down. The only hope for a cure lies in the brain fluid of the silky sifaka lemur. Unfortunately, the animal is extinct due to a heartless bargain Artemis himself made as a younger boy. With the help of his fairy friends, the young genius travels back in time to save the lemur and bring it back to the present. But to do so, Artemis will have to defeat a maniacal poacher, who has set his sights on new prey: Holly Short.
- Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex – When Artemis commits his entire fortune to a project he believes will save the planet and its inhabitants, both human and fairy, it seems that goodness has taken hold of the world’s greatest teenage criminal mastermind. But the truth is much worse: Artemis is suffering from Atlantis Complex, a psychosis common among guilt-ridden fairies and most likely triggered in Artemis by his dabbling with fairy magic. Unfortunately, Atlantis Complex has struck at the worst possible time. A deadly foe is intent on destroying the actual city of Atlantis. Can Artemis escape the confines of his mind-and the grips of a giant squid-in time to save the underwater metropolis and its fairy inhabitants?
- Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian – The evil pixie Opal Koboi is wreaking havoc yet again. He has reanimated dead fairy warriors who were buried in the grounds of Fowl Manor. Their spirits have possessed Artemis’s little brothers, making his siblings even more annoying than usual. The warriors don’t seem to realize that the battle they were fighting when they died is long over. Artemis has until sunrise to get the spirits to vacate his brothers and go back into the earth where they belong. Can he count on a certain LEPrecon fairy to join him in what could well be his last stand?
The Fowl Twins Books in Order
This spinoff adventure series stars Artemis’ younger brothers, along with a nefarious nobleman, a shadowy nun, and a fairy intern, and a maverick troll.
- The Fowl Twins – Myles and Beckett Fowl are twins, but the two boys are wildly different. Beckett is blonde, messy and sulks whenever he has to wear clothes. Myles is impeccably neat, has an IQ of 170 and 3-D prints a fresh suit every day – just like his older brother, Artemis Fowl. A week after their 11th birthday the twins are left in the care of house security system NANNI for a single night. In that time, they befriend a troll on the run from a nefarious nobleman and an interrogating nun, both of whom need the magical creature for their own gain…
- The Fowl Twins Deny All Charges – Myles and Beckett, borrow the Fowl jet without permission and it ends up as a fireball over Florida. The twins plus their fairy minder, the pixie-elf hybrid Lazuli Heitz, are lucky to escape with their lives. The Fowl parents and fairy police force decide that enough is enough, and the twins are placed under house arrest. But Myles has questions, like: who was tracking the Fowl jet? Why would someone want to blow them out of the sky? These questions must infuriate someone, because Myles is abducted and spirited away from his twin.
- The Fowl Twins Get What They Deserve – For almost two years, Lord Teddy Bleedham-Drye has been plotting revenge against the Fowl Twins, who humiliated him in book one. Teddy plans to give them exactly what they deserve: permanent death. He threatens Myles with his weaponized jet, and Beckett and Specialist Lazuli succeed in disarming the aircraft and causing an accident that kills Lord Teddy. But does it really?
You can complete your reading with The Artemis Fowl Files, a companion book to the Artemis Fowl series, it contains two short stories (The Seventh Dwarf and LEPrecon), interviews with the book’s main characters, a “report card” of Artemis’, containing comments from his teachers, diagrams of some of Foaly’s inventions, a crossword and word search, and a translation of the Gnommish alphabet, along with a secret message to use it with.
The Artemis Fowl Graphic Novels
Some of Artemis Fowl’s series has been adapted in comic book form.
- Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel – an adaptation of the first book.
- Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident: The Graphic Novel – an adaptation of the second book.
- Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code: The Graphic Novel – an adaptation of the third book.
- Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception: The Graphic Novel – an adaptation of the fourth book.
If you like our article about the Artemis Fowl series in order, don’t forget to bookmark it! You may also be interested in the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz.
