Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl Series: Book 3)

9/10

Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code is the third book in the Artemis Fowl series, and just like the second book in the series, this book is an improvement on its predecessor. If you haven't read an Artemis Fowl book before, you could probably pick this one up and have a great time, but my recommendation would definitely be to start from the first book and work your way though them in order.

Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code cuts straight to a coffee shop where Artemis and Butler are trying to sell a piece of human / fairy integrated technology to entrepreneur and all-round bad guy Jon Spiro. Spiro is ruthless, and he outmanoeuvres Artemis and Butler through a display of firepower about as subtle as a brick. With Butler incapacitated and the technology stolen, Artemis has no choice but to call in help from his "friends" at LEP, but obtaining their help will come at a significant cost.

I really enjoyed this book much more than the first two, primarily because this is really the first time we get to see Artemis Fowl matching wits against what you would call an arch-nemesis. John Spiro is most definitely an intellectual match for our boy genius, forming the basis of the high stakes game of cat and mouse that defines this book. The whole thing is reminiscent of The Princess Bride, where Westley and the Sicilian try to outwit each other on which cup has the poison - "I knew you would know that I knew you did that thing deliberately, and I knew you would know how I would respond, so I cheated." I hope this trend of Artemis matching wits with arch-nemeses continues in the future books, because its just so much fun to read about.

I don't have much else to say about the rest of the book. Colfer's writing is much better, we get to see the characters slightly grow and evolve, the story is well crafted and entertaining from start to finish, and the ending makes me want to pick up the next book almost immediately. I think if you are this far into the series you already know what to expect, so just pick up this book and have some fun. I know I did.