Artemis Fowl is a series of young adult fantasy novels written by Irish author Eoin Colfer. The book series gained wider recognition after the first book was adapted into a Disney+ movie that premiered in 2020. The movie was directed by renowned filmmaker Kenneth Branagh and Dame Judi Dench was cast in the adaptation, while the titular character Artemis Fowl Jr. was played by newcomer Freddie Shaw.
How Many Artemis Fowl Books Are There?
There are 12 Artemis Fowl books in total. The first book in the series came out in 2001, while the last one came out in 2021. As of 2008, the book series sold over 18 million copies worldwide. There are eight (and a half) books in the so-called first cycle that ended in 2012 and there are three books in the second cycle that started in 2019 and ended in 2021.
Eoin Colfer described the Artemis Fowl book series as “Die Hard with fairies” and it follows young antihero, child prodigy Artemis Fowl as he dedicates his life to criminal activity. He continues to lead the fowl criminal empire, which has existed in his family for many generations. After thorough research, Artemis is convinced that he has confirmed the existence of fairies.
Artemis Fowl Books In Order At A Glance
The Artemis Fowl series was alternatively titled the First Cycle of The Fowl Adventures, and it introduces Artemis Fowl II as a villain and the Peoples’ enemy, but as the books progress, Artemis’s character develops, and his moral compass changes. The People is the name for fairies, fictional beings who possess magic in the Artemis Fowl world. Fairies are exactly one meter and one centimeter big and they have hidden below to escape humans’ destructive way of life.
First cycle:
- Artemis Fowl (2001)
- The Seventh Dwarf (2004)
- The Arctic Incident (2002)
- The Eternity Code (2003)
- The Opal Deception (2005)
- The Lost Colony (2006)
- The Time Paradox (2008)
- The Atlantis Complex (2010)
- The Last Guardian (2012)
Second cycle:
- The Fowl Twins (2019)
- Deny All Charges (2020)
- The Fowl Twins Get What They Deserve (2021)
As you see there are two cycles The Fowl Adventures or The Artemis Fowl book series. The first cycle follows the adventures of Artemis Fowl II and the second cycle follows his younger twin brothers, Myles and Beckett Fowl.
Artemis Fowl Books In Order: Fully Explained
First cycle:
1. Artemis Fowl (2001)
Artemis Fowl is not your usual twelve-year-old. He is a millionaire, a genius, and above all, a criminal mastermind. But even a genius like Artemis can’t predict what will happens when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren’t the sweet fairies you heard of in fairytales—they’re dangerous! The first book is a perfect introduction to the riveting, magical world of Artemis Fowl.
2. The Seventh Dwarf (2004)
The Seventh Dwarf is book number 1.5, so it is happening between the events of the first and second book. This book was written especially for World Book Day. Mulch Diggums is a dwarf on the run from the Lower Elements Police and he is trying to get his hands on the priceless Fei Fei tiara. Something is wrong, stealing it seems too easy. That’s because it is too easy. Artemis Fowl, the criminally good mastermind, has set him up.
3. The Arctic Incident (2002)
In the second installment, everyone has a mission- Artemis Fowl wants to find his father, held hostage in Russia; Holly Short wants to find who’s supplying the goblins with human technology; Foaly wants to find out who’s disabled all the LEP Technology and pointed the finger at him. Artemis gets a ransom demand for his father but is captured by the LEP who accuse him of supplying the goblins with dangerous Human technology. At the same time, down in the underground world, chaos has arisen. An unknown traitor armed a horde of trolls, setting them loose to wreak havoc on the citizens. In the end, Artemis and Holly must now join forces—a mix that proves to be both charming and volatile.
4. The Eternity Code (2003)
Now, a thirteen-year-old criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl has constructed a supercomputer from stolen fairy technology. This technology in the wrong hands could be fatal for humans and fairies alike. But of course, Artemis has a brilliant plan. He’s not going to use this supercomputer; he is just going to show it to a ruthless American businessman with Mafia connections. His bodyguard, Butler, will be with him to ensure everything goes as planned. There is no way something can go wrong, right?
5. The Opal Deception (2005)
The evil fairy Opal Koboi has spent the last year in a coma, plotting her revenge on all those who prevented her attempt to destroy the LEPrecon fairy police. And Artemis Fowl is number one on that list. Last time, Artemis had his mind wiped of his memories of the world belowground. But the People have not forgotten about him. Once again, Artemis must stop the human and fairy worlds from clashing—but this time, he has to face an enemy who can actually outsmart him.
6. The Lost Colony (2006)
Ten thousand years ago, humans and fairies fought a battle for the island of Ireland. When the fairy families realized that they could never win, they decided to move their civilization underground and keep themselves hidden. Almost all the fairy families agreed on this, except the eighth family, the demons. When a spell goes wrong the demos get stuck in Limbo, for ten thousand years. Now, the time spell grows weaker and the fairy Council is concerned about this and is monitoring any materializations. Even the best fairy scientists cannot figure out where the next demon will pop up. But, Artemis Fowl can. He has solved temporal equations that no normal human should be intelligent enough to understand -but Artemis Fowl is no normal human.
7. The Time Paradox (2008)
After disappearing for three years, Artemis Fowl has returned to a different life. In this new life, he has twin younger brothers. He takes care of them and teaches them the important things in life. Everything turns upside down when his mother contracts a life-threatening illness. The only hope for a cure is in the brain fluid of the silky sifaka lemur- for whose exciton is due to Artemis’s past actions. With the help of his fairy friends, he travels back in time to save the lemur and bring it back. The rules of time travel are not simple, but to save his mother, Artemis will have to break them all and outsmart his smartest opponent yet: Artemis Fowl, age ten.
8. The Atlantis Complex (2010)
At a conference in Iceland, Artemis gathered the fairies to present his newest idea to save the world from global warming. But Artemis is acting differently- he is being nice. The fairies diagnose that the reason why Artemis is being nice is something called, the Atlantis Complex. This is a fancy name for the obsessive-compulsive disorder that has damaged Artemis’s brain, his mightiest weapon. Now, Captain Holly Short doesn’t know what to do. The subterranean volcanoes are under attack from vicious robots and Artemis is not in the right state of mind to fight them. Can Holly get the real Artemis back before the robots destroy everything?
9. The Last Guardian (2012)
Opal Koboi, a power-crazed fairy, is plotting to decimate mankind and become a fairy queen. If her plan succeeds, the spirits of dead fairy warriors will rise from the earth, inhabit the nearest body and wreak havoc. But what happens if those nearest bodies include various animals and two little boys named Myles and Beckett Fowl? Can Artemis and Captain Holly Short stop Opal and prevent the end of the world?
Second cycle:
1. The Fowl Twins (2019)
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Myles and Beckett Fowl are eleven-year-old twins, but the two boys are very different. Beckett is blonde, messy, and hates that he has to wear clothes. Myles is neat, he has an IQ of 170, and he wears a fresh suit every day just like his older brother, Artemis Fowl.
This adventure is filled with the most unusual of individuals: an immortal duke, a miniature troll, a nunterrogator, and a Police Specialist that’s 42% elf. And of course, the Fowl twins are on the case – one a genius with a criminal leaning, and the other possesses an unusual talent that has not been fully explored.
2. Deny All Charges (2020)
Artemis’s little twin brothers Myles and Beckett “borrow” the family jet without permission, and it ends up as a fireball over Florida. The Myles and Beckett and their fairy minder, the pixie-elf hybrid Lazuli Heitz, are lucky to escape in one piece. The Fowl parents and fairy police are fed up and they decide the twins have to be placed under house arrest. But the real problem is: who was tracking the Fowl jet and why would someone want to blow them out of the sky? Now, Beckett and Lazuli must work together to find Myles and rescue him. Their investigations will take them across continents, deep underground, and into subaquatic supervillain lairs. Will Beckett be able to come up with a plan without Myles?
3. The Fowl Twins Get What They Deserve (2021)
For almost two years, Lord Teddy Bleedham-Drye has been plotting revenge against the Fowl Twins, who humiliated him in Book One. The only thing Teddy wants is what they deserve- death. Teddy tries to fake his own death. But the Twins don’t buy it. Myles, Beckett & Lazuli have to visit a mortuary, and then they meet ghosts and encounter clones. It all ends in an epic showdown on Scilly Island between the Regrettables and Teddy.
Do You Need To Read Artemis Fowl Series In Order?
The Artemis Fowl series should be read in order. Every book follows up on the events of the previous one and every character grows and develops from book to book. This applies to both Artemis Fowl’s adventures and the adventures of his twin brothers, Myles and Beckett. This is a magical and wicked book series that is a wonderful introduction to the world of reading.
