Artemis Fowl Read-Along

[Battery]

Heyyy I'm caught up for 2 more days!! Sorry it took me so long, for the sake of sparing everyone a wall of text I'm going to just pick and choose my favorite points from the first few weeks' worth of my notes rather than posting everything.

So, Prologue through Chapter 3:

• So, Root was the youngest full commander in LEP history. I wonder how much his experience with that informs how he deals with Holly. There must have been plenty of detractors for him too, when he got the position.
• Artemis in disguise as a normal teenager is such a good metaphor for the situation with the mindwipe.
• "If the computer says Boohn, that's who it was." Just like "DNA never lies."
• Holly is used to predicting Artemis, so she correctly expects something is up with Koboi's plan. But Koboi =/= Artemis, so she can't place what.

Now, Chapter 4:

• Folks with non-US editions, does Angeline ask Arty to call her "mom" or "mum?"
• Of course he's ambidextrous
• So what twelve countries do we think Butler keeps his stashes in?
• Artemis and Butler apparently appear on Holly's "people to live for" list. Juliet, Mulch, and Foaly evidently do not.
• This is the first book so far where it's felt like Artemis is the supporting character in Holly's plot rather than vice versa. It's very cool to read things the other way around!

"Sky and earth seemed to stretch and drip like oil paint on a canvas" I really like how this ties into the painting that they've just stolen, it's a really nice choice of words.

Very true!!

Not that it matters, but it’d be interesting to hear a play-by-play rendition of how Artemis thinks the rescue with his father went down.

True!! I didn't even think of that, there are a ton of blanks to fill in there

Holly says comms are down, but she can essentially Google and hack hotels? Seems strange. Why not send Foaly a message over the fairy-equivalent of Facebook? Oh god. I can totally see Foaly just legit having a FB.

That does seem inconsistent! And I can 100% imagine Foaly having a Facebook too, I'm picturing him watching humans migrate from Friendster to MySpace to Facebook to Twitter just bemusedly making absurd profiles along the way

[Iris]

Heyyy I'm caught up

I guess I can't stay behind then!
Respect to Arty and Affie for being so on top of things.

Chapter 3
- I've said it before and I'll say it again. I can't legally call them paranoid if they turn out to be right, but they are paranoid. Someone is giving tips to goblins and they immediately check if Opal is still secure despite the four-times-a-day DNA checks? I mean, even knowing that it turns out to be her, I consider it overkill. Foaly is both overconfident and underconfident in his own skills. And very familiar with Opal's style.
- Holly's intuition is buzzing like a swarm of bees? Interesting. In the past books Eoin usually used analogies like that for Butlet's soldier sense.
- Would you look at that, Holly's soldier sense is buzzing too a few pages later! They are so alike. No wonder they get along.
- Root immediately decides Holly should do surveillance on Artemis for a few days once they've caught the convict. I doubt he really suspects Artemis is involved, this sounds like an excuse to give Holly a few days above the surface since he knows she's getting promoted.
- I'm really glad he tells her he's proud of her. You know, considering the thing.
- Foaly just really wants to show off his new suits.
- I remember just not believing he was really dead when I read this the first time as a kid. I think I actually went a few pages back to read it again, figuring I'd read something wrong.

"If the computer says Boohn, that's who it was." Just like "DNA never lies."

Exactly. Both very paranoid and overconfident at the same time.

Seriously, this argument for accepting the promotion makes zero sense. I’d rather have a competent officer with boots on the ground then propped up in a cushy office while incompetents like Grub run amok.

No, I agree with Root. You need someone competent calling the shots when things go really wrong. And someone competent making the shift roster so Grub doesn't run amok.

Mmm. Fancy suits. It’d be a shame if they got blown up or put through a wringer of an adventure.

Haha!

Opal especially I wouldn’t have thought of as having put a great dependence on her plan to relying on the goodness of Holly and Root willing to rescue Scalene. People like Opal, villains and knaves….I wouldn’t think it’s in her nature to emphasize, or to believe in the good nature of people.
Note I am contractually obligated to say “wouldn’t” as obviously she did.

I think Opal considers what you call 'good nature' as weakness. Something that Artemis coincidentally shares with her, now that I think about it. He has a conscience, but actively dislikes having it. And Opal considers them inferior to herself and therefore most certainly believes they'll give in to their 'weakness'.
That being said, I agree Holly should just have written Opal in the air or signed it. All the rest I can concede to chalking it up to Opal's brilliance.

Chapter 4
I had no real notes of my own, except the agreement that Butler would approve.

This is the first book so far where it's felt like Artemis is the supporting character in Holly's plot rather than vice versa. It's very cool to read things the other way around!

You've given an explanation as to why I liked this part of the book so much as a kid. I wasn't able to put it into words until I read this comment.

Chapter 5
- Touching upon the fairies paranoia once again, Foaly is far too powerful. Being the only one who can operate the system? That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. And I'm not even talking about the scenario where he's corrupt, what if he gets a heart-attack and dies? Does the entire LEP just go down, tech-wise? How do the People who do DNA swaps four times a day and who have the sense to have a backup generator for electricity not have a backup centaur?
- Even if you believe Holly is corrupt, it's good sense to follow the trail to whoever else is involved. You can't just dismiss the trail because she died. This is why we need competent mayors and not just competent people on the ground.
- Oh, gloating is so working against Opal. She loves theatre too much. An amusement park? I love the aesthetic, but still.. You can't fault our protagonists for caring with such a glaring weakness of your own.
- I forgot Artemis believed Holly so easily. I just remember she found it very difficult to work with him without his memories, I now realize that was because he believed her story, but not how friendship works.
- What does Artemis even need the gold for? In the first book he had a good reason.

Chapter 6
- I'm too lazy to check the science, but Mulch's method of escaping seems very far-fetched to me.
- Butler has time for a joke about Mulch's hygiene despite the stressful circumstances.
- Butler remembers! Watch out, Opal!

[Battery]

Respect to Arty and Affie for being so on top of things.

100%! Way to go actually keeping up, you guys

- Holly's intuition is buzzing like a swarm of bees? Interesting. In the past books Eoin usually used analogies like that for Butlet's soldier sense.
- Would you look at that, Holly's soldier sense is buzzing too a few pages later! They are so alike. No wonder they get along.

That's such a sharp observation! I wonder how much of that is them having rubbed off on one another, and how much is just similarity that was already there

- Root immediately decides Holly should do surveillance on Artemis for a few days once they've caught the convict. I doubt he really suspects Artemis is involved, this sounds like an excuse to give Holly a few days above the surface since he knows she's getting promoted.

Aww You're so right


My notes for chapter 5:

• Aww Two chapters ago, Foaly was acting so sure that all of his inventions were reliable and foolproof, to the point of getting irritated that anyone would suggest otherwise. Now with Holly's helmet showing her vitals flatlining, he wants to badly to believe the tech malfunctioned
• Artemis only trusts himself, calling back a bit to his lack of respect for anyone else in TAI
• Butler's excuse about managing to grab the mattress on the way down, lol
• Oh man, I've been looking forward to the Eleven Wonders sequence since we started all this
• Poor Holly really is having the worst time

And chapter 6:

• Mulch Diggums, jotting down the same "hisself" notes as artymon
• Mulch acknowledging to himself so matter-of-factly that Holly is his friend! The growth!
• Wait!!! This is the context for "don't you point that thing at me, I've seen the damage it can do" from Call Me Artemis Fowl?!!
• Butler and Mulch both dismissing out of hand the possibility of Holly having murdered Root is making me smile so much

- Touching upon the fairies paranoia once again, Foaly is far too powerful. Being the only one who can operate the system? That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. And I'm not even talking about the scenario where he's corrupt, what if he gets a heart-attack and dies? Does the entire LEP just go down, tech-wise? How do the People who do DNA swaps four times a day and who have the sense to have a backup generator for electricity not have a backup centaur?

Wow, yeah, that is kind of a glaring hole in their operations, isn't it? In a different situation, I can imagine them having to show up at Artemis's doorstep and ask him for help as he gets just the most smug look on his face.

- What does Artemis even need the gold for? In the first book he had a good reason.

Good point. Maybe that's why it's so easy to make him feel bad about it, he doesn't really have a good reason besides feeling like it's just something he has to ask for

[artymon I\/]

Hello hello all! A terrific Tuesday to all!

Apparently I needed another day for them, heh. Actually, turns out I didn't, but I'll do my best to give my notes a brief edit check.

A Whimsical Wednesday to only those that read this!


Chapter 5: Meet the Neighbors

• “If you don’t have the stomach for it, centaur. I’ll do it myself.” Thanos confirmed.
• Red eyed creatures in Artemis’s dream? Do I sense a premonition?
• As much as I love this entire scene with Butler and the hotel staff, they so would not just run off and leave him alone. That'd be even worse for them than testifying against the hotel. But I'll be damned if the image of the not-normally-polite chef hopping over debris doesn't make me snicker ridiculously.
  Is this another example of reputation over personal safety? Is that the theme of this book?
• Rather curious that Butler gave zero thought/consideration to alerting Artemis Senior or Angeline of their son’s disappearance. It implies he is more loyal to Artemis Junior above all. Which makes sense, we’ve seen Butler describe Artemis as the son or brother he never had, heck, even in the first book….no in book 6, I vaguely recall a mention that Butler wasn’t even being paid due to the status of family funds at the time of Artemis Senior's disappearance. Butler’s loyalty cannot be bought. Or sold.
• Always found it so amusingly businesslike of Artemis buttoning his jacket over the torn and bloody shirt. I can easily picture him straightening up and adjusting his tie as well. Yet another example of maintaining appearances.
• Another what if, what if Opal went to track Artemis down to plot revenge and on learning of his mind wipe status and seeing his turn to darkness decided to offer to cut him in on her revenge scheme. Currently, his loyalty is for sale. Opal could stroll in and offer gold and Artemis would happily assist her Future /\rty here, yeah, she could offer him gold and bribe…but as she herself says, she doesn’t want competition. Especially after the fiasco with Cudgeon. She's a strong, independent woman that doesn't need no man to win her battles!
• Artemis also gives zero consideration to alerting his mother and father. Now yes, we could go with the "he’s not an ordinary kid/teenager" bit…or perhaps no one wants to interrupt the Fowls’ spa day.

Chapter 6: Troll Nasty

• Mulch!
• Don’t even bother, Fishboy, there's no way you can recover from them burns.
• Hisself. WHHHHY. Thank you, Mulch
• I know I keep saying such things, but it’d be interesting to see an “unmolested” plotline of a) Mulch & Root’s interview (because you know that'd be a hysterical riot) and b) Mulch returning the “medallion” to Artemis.
• Again, what did Artemis do with the real medallion? This is just a separate disk, isn’t it?
• Licking and grooming? How cat like xD
• Curious, just one pilot? What if he had a heartattack or revealed to have ill intent or something?
• “I’ve been dead before.” Badass line is badass. Take note, Trubs.
• “They never had a prayer: Mulch was gas powered, they merely had wings and fins.”
• Again, consistency with having a Phonetix mention is cool.
• “Butler had been with Artemis since the day of his birth, just over fourteen years ago, and in that time he had had been dragged into more fantastic situations than the average presidential bodyguard.” And these are his thoughts “pre”-Fairy. Instantly makes me think back to book 1 where Butler is grumbling how it takes four people to guard a low level politician but he was expected to handle all the chaos going on
• A thought occurred, that doctored message Artemis sent to Guiney, he’d’ve gotten it by now. I know “Angeline” said not to call her…buuuut I can’t see the school respecting that. They’d totally call her anyway. Unless they got the “spa day” memo as well. Let’s say Guiney calls and alerts Angeline and she in turn tries to call Artemis, what then? If he ignores, she’d try Fowl Manor, as that’s apparently The Plan in nonstandard circumstances of danger. And then she’d get the fairy message. Variables to consider. If we didn’t already know how it ends.
• “You cannot be serious.” Translation: “I’m not getting paid enough for this.” xD
• I like the distinction between “a casual burglar” and “a professional thief”
• Man, Butler has zero regard for proper parking procedures. The phone store, the airport, Fowl Manor...may I see your license and registration, sir?
• A trail of food. Even kidnappers have to eat, Butler.
• This is the second time Butler has gotten the drop on Mulch. Not an easy task from my understanding.
• “It’s about to get worse.” Are you taking notes, Trouble?
• How does that saying go? All roads lead to Rome? Here, it’d be all roads lead to Fowl Manor.

“Hold on a minute,” said Butler. “I need to get a tissue to wipe my eyes.”
“You don’t believe any of this, do you?”
“Do I believe in fairy police and pixie conspiracies and tunneling dwarfs? No, I don’t.”

I love that even though it doesn’t say it, I can picture Butler starting to get up in mock of getting a tissue (but probably going to check cams or something) and pausing mid-pose to reply. Maybe that actually is in the book and my copy is missing it, or maybe the writing style of a book/author and their characters is superior to the point where you can anticipate thoughts and actions of said characters.

• You reckon Artemis is aware Butler knows his password? How would he feel about that? Or perhaps Artemis uses a “common” password and a “personal/private” password? That’s sort of how I operate with my work/personal accounts.
• Actually, this password thing speaks on a few different levels. This disk was created by “post” fairy Artemis of the Past in anticipation of being received by “pre” fairy Artemis of the Future/Present. (If that makes sense at all.) Did Past Artemis expect to turn back to being selfish and greedy, inherently loyal to the family motto? Or has and will Aurum est postestas forever be his password?
• Sorry. I fixate on strange things.
• Quick Time player. Omg, I remember those.
• “Below the surface are several species of fairy. Most are possibly primates, but I have not had the opportunity to conduct medical examinations as of yet.” This gives us two implications: Either Artemis planned to/contemplated dissecting a fairy…or a different sort of examination.
  But that’s drifting into territory best left for others to infer.
• Only two other people known Butler’s name. Juliet and Madame Ko? Maybe not even her. Maybe that’s why she was not wowed by Artemis's call in TEC. More to the point, if it is only Madame Ko and Juliet who know Butler's name: Does this imply/verify Butler's parents are deceased?
• Only one word was needed for Butler. I’ll attempt to write a note to come back to this later on.
• Of course the LEP wouldn’t mention Mulch. Can’t tarnish that image now, can we?
• The Importance of Appearances and Reputation is Superior Above All Else and Outweighs Personal Safety is officially the theme for this book. Just need a better working title on that.
• “Illegal is always faster.”

Sorry, this chapter has been extremely quotable for me

~~

- Holly's intuition is buzzing like a swarm of bees? Interesting. In the past books Eoin usually used analogies like that for Butlet's soldier sense.
- Would you look at that, Holly's soldier sense is buzzing too a few pages later! They are so alike. No wonder they get along.

Good catch! I feel like I've subconsciously registered the soldier's sense bee buzz...admittedly in my head I literally end up picturing the Spider-Sense lightning bolts.

- I remember just not believing he was really dead when I read this the first time as a kid. I think I actually went a few pages back to read it again, figuring I'd read something wrong.

Same, actually :/
I kept hoping somehow it'd be wrong, maybe he was only severely hurt or there'd been a last minute escape and come in at the last second to clear Holly. Heck, I'd even take a convenient time travel plot.

Chapter 5
- Touching upon the fairies paranoia once again, Foaly is far too powerful. Being the only one who can operate the system? That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. And I'm not even talking about the scenario where he's corrupt, what if he gets a heart-attack and dies? Does the entire LEP just go down, tech-wise? How do the People who do DNA swaps four times a day and who have the sense to have a backup generator for electricity not have a backup centaur?

A backup centaur. I'm dying over here
But yeah, seriously, you'd think they'd have revamped their security measures after TAI where they were actively gunning for Foaly. And Opal ends up being responsible? Too much power in too few hands.

Seriously, this argument for accepting the promotion makes zero sense. I’d rather have a competent officer with boots on the ground then propped up in a cushy office while incompetents like Grub run amok.

No, I agree with Root. You need someone competent calling the shots when things go really wrong. And someone competent making the shift roster so Grub doesn't run amok.

- Even if you believe Holly is corrupt, it's good sense to follow the trail to whoever else is involved. You can't just dismiss the trail because she died. This is why we need competent mayors and not just competent people on the ground.

I stand corrected. Good catch and good on Eoin for sneaking that in there.

- What does Artemis even need the gold for? In the first book he had a good reason.

It's gold. Aurum est potestas.

Chapter 6
- I'm too lazy to check the science, but Mulch's method of escaping seems very far-fetched to me.

It's dwarf magic. Totally legit.

- Butler remembers! Watch out, Opal!

Aww Two chapters ago, Foaly was acting so sure that all of his inventions were reliable and foolproof, to the point of getting irritated that anyone would suggest otherwise. Now with Holly's helmet showing her vitals flatlining, he wants to badly to believe the tech malfunctioned

Poor Foaly....

Artemis only trusts himself, calling back a bit to his lack of respect for anyone else in TAI

Well dang, now that you mention it...true!

Butler's excuse about managing to grab the mattress on the way down, lol

Can we start a pool to get Amy to make an animated gif of this? Butler falling and "managing to grab a mattress"

Mulch Diggums, jotting down the same "hisself" notes as artymon

I 1000% blame Mulch for it
Say what you will, he's a pedantic thief.

Butler and Mulch both dismissing out of hand the possibility of Holly having murdered Root is making me smile so much

That's honestly so heartwarming! Right up there with that Lupin meme from PoA. "Hm, this map my friends and I designed in our teens says my buddy who's been dead is alive...certainly no way my magic map could be wrong...guess I'll go see what's up with Peter!"

Wow, yeah, that is kind of a glaring hole in their operations, isn't it? In a different situation, I can imagine them having to show up at Artemis's doorstep and ask him for help as he gets just the most smug look on his face.

And a consulting bill in hand!

I'd read that ficlet, haha.
Foaly takes a vacation and immediately things go haywire.

- What does Artemis even need the gold for? In the first book he had a good reason.

Good point. Maybe that's why it's so easy to make him feel bad about it, he doesn't really have a good reason besides feeling like it's just something he has to ask for

It's gold. It's shiiiiny.

In all seriousness, I suppose the gold is a symbolic way of saying that this Artemis is more or less the same Artemis as the one who abducted her. Morally anyhow.

What will Artemis actually do with the gold? Nada, hold onto it, let it become even more valuable. Him asking is purely a matter of principle. An automatic slight/insult against his Conscious.

[artymon I\/]

An Oenophile Odin's Day to all!

I shall indulge in one of those infamous naughty doubleposts and unleash my notes for technically last week's reading

Chapter 7: The Temple of Artemis

• How does a wanted criminal get a government grant for a covert stealth shuttle? She must have obtained it before the events of TAI. Wouldn’t the government have mandated the shuttle to be tagged/tracked? Easily able to write off as having been disabled. But wouldn’t the LEP have impounded it or reneged the grant and confiscated the asset?
  I guess this is the equivalent of Blofeld borrowing money to buy/build a weaponized Aston Martin…and then going rogue and MI6 shrugging their shoulders over it. Or perhaps Q would be a closer comparison. Q building the Aston Martin then going rogue.
• I know, I obsess over all these silly details.
• Dangit, now I’m getting awwwed by how much Zito loves his fake daughter. Where does he think she is, btw? School field trip?
• Again, what is going on with these travel times? I would think wings on fairy are equivalent of a human on a bike and a shuttle to be about “equivalent” of a car; a bike is faster than being on foot, but not faster than a car, except in rare circumstances.
  Somewhere in my comparisons, I’m trying to ask, why would it take so long (five hours) to get to the Eleven Wonders? We’ve seen Artemis, Holly, Root, and Butler journey practically all over the world with a stolen junker goblin shuttle in a matter of hours. Not to mention Holly’s ferrying trips with humans on her wings.
  Certainly a fancy stealth shuttle would have a little more oomph under the hood? Or perhaps Opal and co. have to tread carefully and sneak around certain checkpoint areas?
• Mmm, truffles.
• But, no really, why would she go to all the trouble of installing this booty box? Was this compartment thing already there and she just beefed up the security on it for novelty’s sake? This in turn leads me to reassess my earlier comment about the shuttle: did she design this thing personally from the ground up? Blueprints/schematics and all? The book calls it a “concept model that never went into mass production.” Keyword here, I think, is mass production. This may imply a few were made or started, but never met a full order.
  So, while it’s likely Opal didn’t come up with the idea, it still stands that someone did. Why?? We can speculate, going off Opal’s mention of vegetable smuggling, that the shuttle designer may have been a history buff and just threw it in there for giggles. Or it’s meant to be a expensive family vehicle – like an unholy love child of a Maybach and a minivan – where you might hide something from the kids. Was it always refrigerated? Was this an adult beverage cooler?
• All I’m saying, this Chekhov's booty box just sounds like a mistake waiting to happen.
• AU Plottwist: Holly and Artemis end up befriending the trolls and the abandoned Eleven Wonders park becomes the safest place for when the human invasion commences.
• I could be off on this, I’ve gotten the impression that real estate is a hot commodity, as in, there’s not a lot of space underground. Cramped and no fresh air. So it seems strange the fairies would go to all the trouble to build this fairly expansive two third model park and abandon it for so long.

“Now, why do you suppose someone would name a male child after a female goddess?”

Did you just assume Artemis’s gender? Opal, babe, it’s 2020, don’t be a…whatever the phobe trope would be. We can nearly do whatever we want in the name of personal expression and liberty. Provided it does not harm/encroach/infringe on others’ personal expression and liberties.
If you want to survive with the humans, you have to accept that. [insert meta political joke]
Curious to think though, how “progressive” we’ve become in even the last ten years. No joke or slight meant.

You think Opal fancies herself a Goddess?

• Aha! See? Troll pheromones, they’re going to love Holly and Artemis.
• Holly taking charge, like a boss!
  If Artemis wasn’t wiped, how do you think that version may have handled the situation? Can’t say I’d have high expectations, but it might be interesting if there’d be some scrap of data he’d’ve been able to put to use. Come to think of it, aside from TAI, he hasn’t exactly seen a lot of “field action”
• “How’s your wing” Mulch is such a mob enforcer. Which is fitting, considering…
• Say what you will about the life choices that have led him here, Mulch is pretty clever when he wants to be.
• ....which is why I can't entirely blame Chix's skepticism.
• So far, Mulch’s go-to strategy has been “Spit at problem until it goes away” and I kinda dig it. I think it’s worth a shot anyway.
• At least you could say he gives a spit about his friends.
• soznotsoz
• Pretty sure Butler is at least part of the reason I never partook in smoking.
• Bonded by trauma. Oh Artemis, your bedside manner will never improve, will it?
• “haunted by human meat” Are we to infer to infer this troll is the very same one from the first book? In that case, can you imagine it seeing Butler and having Vietnam flashbacks and running away in terror?
• Despite his reservations on giving up crime and going straight with his father, Artemis still wishes to do right by his father’s name.
• Lying about remembering everything in the face of death to comfort a friend is about the most Artemis thing you can do. (Being paid to do it is the ultimate Artemis thing)
• *begins to type a snarky jest about conversing with a posterior, then deletes*
• Dare I say it? The boys are back together!
• We’re including Holly as one of the boys, just so we’re clear. She’s cool like that.

I'm slightly disappointed we don't get a rematch scene between Butler and the troll,, if that was the same one anyway, but alas. Maybe another time.

[AFrules12]

Hi!!

I'm sorry I've been MIA, the newest (and last :'( ) book of the Percy Jackson series came out and I got super into it and ignored AF but I'm only a week behind now, so I thought I'd post. (Also I really am going back to my childhood, reading PJO and AF at the same time )

Chapter 5

• That was an interesting fact about chameleons that I didn't know, thanks Arty.
• It is interesting how Arty has circled back to the gold
• Maybe if you hadn't mind wiped him he'd still be a friend and you wouldn't have to pay him?!? I know it's not Holly's fault but she should recognise that the reason Arty isn't a friend anymore is because the fairies literally took away his memories, which, in all honesty, isn't the friendliest thing to do.
• Also blaming Arty for his lack of growth? He lost his memories, what do you expect?!? I can't remember the time span previous 3 books but that growth took a while and without the fairies as a catalyst it will be super slow, if not non-existent.
• Opal really does her entrances well, credit for that. I do wish she wasn't evil, I really like how she pushed to become an inventor and break gender stereotypes rather than follow her father's wishes. She could be a really good role model if she just stopped killing people.
• Do kids wear checkered pinafores at school all around the world? Like I've always just assumed it was a British/Irish thing because I know a lot of countries don't have school uniforms at all.
• Sir E. Brum, cerebrum, amazing. Genius level pun, well done Mr Fowl.
• If asking is fairy nature then maybe explaining is too, maybe Opal just simply cannot resist explaining her plans because it's part of her nature.
• Poor Holly

Chapters 6 and 7

• Sexist fairies yay /s
• Fun fact: Methanobrevibacter smithii is a microbe found in the human gut. The level of just random, quite in-depth general knowledge in Eoin Colfer's books always amazes me.
• The family motto doesn't seem like the safest password tbh, I'd expect better from Artemis.
• Truffles!!
• I wonder why they have x-ray arches in fairy shuttle ports, did they just copy the mud men when they starting using them or was there an event that led to them being used? Or maybe fairies are just super proactive but from the rest of this book I find it kind of hard to believe
• It is interesting that Butler gets his memories back before Artemis, for the first time he has significantly more knowledge about their situation.

[*]In TEC, we see Holly and Butler go from Ireland to Heathrow in less than thirty two minutes. Here it takes 90 minutes to go from essentially Paris to Germany. Dunno. Seems like it should’ve taken shorter, but she did have to go up through the chute.

So Paris to Munich is 684km, Wexford to Heathrow is 423km as the crow flies. So yeah I agree, you'd expect Paris to Munich to be a bit shorter than 90 minutes, particularly as they wouldn't have to worry about the turbulence over the Irish Sea! (This feels like it could somehow be a maths exam question )

The open trust between Butler and Holly is so pure. Definitely not something easily won from either, especially Butler.

- Holly's intuition is buzzing like a swarm of bees? Interesting. In the past books Eoin usually used analogies like that for Butlet's soldier sense.
- Would you look at that, Holly's soldier sense is buzzing too a few pages later! They are so alike. No wonder they get along.

Maybe this is why they have that mutual trust!

Lol, good point. I think my headcanon will be that Mulch messed with them by using a stereotypical and over the top Irish accent. "TOP'O'TA MORNING LADDIES. Fine day ta be acting the maggot and drinking a pint o' the black stuff!"

I'm accepting that as canon, it is so on brand for Mulch Diggums.

[*]Holly is used to predicting Artemis, so she correctly expects something is up with Koboi's plan. But Koboi =/= Artemis, so she can't place what.

This is so true, and I love it.

Folks with non-US editions, does Angeline ask Arty to call her "mom" or "mum?"

It's mum in my edition!

This is the first book so far where it's felt like Artemis is the supporting character in Holly's plot rather than vice versa. It's very cool to read things the other way around!

Yesss! And I honestly think this is why this book is my favourite.

Respect to Arty and Affie for being so on top of things.

Ahahahah it didn't last!

- Touching upon the fairies paranoia once again, Foaly is far too powerful. Being the only one who can operate the system? That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. And I'm not even talking about the scenario where he's corrupt, what if he gets a heart-attack and dies? Does the entire LEP just go down, tech-wise? How do the People who do DNA swaps four times a day and who have the sense to have a backup generator for electricity not have a backup centaur?

Really good point! It is crazy that the whole thing is reliant on one person!

Wait!!! This is the context for "don't you point that thing at me, I've seen the damage it can do" from Call Me Artemis Fowl?!!

I had completely forgotten about that song!! I'm listening to it now, the nostalgia!!

Butler and Mulch both dismissing out of hand the possibility of Holly having murdered Root is making me smile so much

I love that they have complete faith and trust in her.

Another what if, what if Opal went to track Artemis down to plot revenge and on learning of his mind wipe status and seeing his turn to darkness decided to offer to cut him in on her revenge scheme. Currently, his loyalty is for sale. Opal could stroll in and offer gold and Artemis would happily assist her Future /\rty here, yeah, she could offer him gold and bribe…but as she herself says, she doesn’t want competition. Especially after the fiasco with Cudgeon. She's a strong, independent woman that doesn't need no man to win her battles!

I totally agree on the strong independent woman thing, but also, imagine the angst when the fairies find out that their mindwipe led to Artemis working with his old enemy against his old friends. They'd either have to fight him or try to get his memories back so that he remembers them and (hopefully) changes allegiances. It could be very interesting.

Artemis also gives zero consideration to alerting his mother and father. Now yes, we could go with the "he’s not an ordinary kid/teenager" bit…or perhaps no one wants to interrupt the Fowls’ spa day.

A thought occurred, that doctored message Artemis sent to Guiney, he’d’ve gotten it by now. I know “Angeline” said not to call her…buuuut I can’t see the school respecting that. They’d totally call her anyway. Unless they got the “spa day” memo as well. Let’s say Guiney calls and alerts Angeline and she in turn tries to call Artemis, what then? If he ignores, she’d try Fowl Manor, as that’s apparently The Plan in nonstandard circumstances of danger. And then she’d get the fairy message. Variables to consider. If we didn’t already know how it ends.

I think there's just a joint agreement that the Fowls should be spared that stress, they've been through too much already

Again, consistency with having a Phonetix mention is cool.

I didn't notice that, good catch!!

[*]You reckon Artemis is aware Butler knows his password? How would he feel about that? Or perhaps Artemis uses a “common” password and a “personal/private” password? That’s sort of how I operate with my work/personal accounts.
[*]Actually, this password thing speaks on a few different levels. This disk was created by “post” fairy Artemis of the Past in anticipation of being received by “pre” fairy Artemis of the Future/Present. (If that makes sense at all.) Did Past Artemis expect to turn back to being selfish and greedy, inherently loyal to the family motto? Or has and will Aurum est postestas forever be his password?

Hmmm interesting. I feel like it is quite likely that Butler knows Artemis' passwords as it could come in handy in the situations they tend to get themselves into.
Yes, and I also wonder if past Artemis chose that password knowing that Butler would be able to guess it if he needed to.

Only two other people known Butler’s name. Juliet and Madame Ko? Maybe not even her. Maybe that’s why she was not wowed by Artemis's call in TEC. More to the point, if it is only Madame Ko and Juliet who know Butler's name: Does this imply/verify Butler's parents are deceased?

I've always assumed Butler's parents are dead. I don't really know why, but yeah that's what I take from this.

Butler's excuse about managing to grab the mattress on the way down, lol

Can we start a pool to get Amy to make an animated gif of this? Butler falling and "managing to grab a mattress"

Ahahaaha please!! That would be hilarious.

AU Plottwist: Holly and Artemis end up befriending the trolls and the abandoned Eleven Wonders park becomes the safest place for when the human invasion commences.

Please, I love this! There must be some nice trolls somewhere, they can't all be bad!

I could be off on this, I’ve gotten the impression that real estate is a hot commodity, as in, there’s not a lot of space underground. Cramped and no fresh air. So it seems strange the fairies would go to all the trouble to build this fairly expansive two third model park and abandon it for so long.

Very good point. Maybe they're struggling to get planning permission?

Curious to think though, how “progressive” we’ve become in even the last ten years. No joke or slight meant.

Interestingly, I find it jarring when Eoin uses the word female as a noun to refer to a woman, I've noticed it quite a few times in this book. I think it is because I now associate using the word female in that way with sexist twitter users , it is definitely something I'd never noticed before this reading. It is really interesting how things change over time.

If Artemis wasn’t wiped, how do you think that version may have handled the situation? Can’t say I’d have high expectations, but it might be interesting if there’d be some scrap of data he’d’ve been able to put to use. Come to think of it, aside from TAI, he hasn’t exactly seen a lot of “field action”

I reckon he'd have come up with the plans quicker and would not have been quite so panicked, as he would remember that he had been in life threatening situations before and would have had all of his knowledge, but I still reckon Holly would have taken charge, it is her area of expertise.

[*]So far, Mulch’s go-to strategy has been “Spit at problem until it goes away” and I kinda dig it. I think it’s worth a shot anyway.
[*]At least you could say he gives a spit about his friends.
[*]soznotsoz

I love it

[*] “haunted by human meat” Are we to infer to infer this troll is the very same one from the first book? In that case, can you imagine it seeing Butler and having Vietnam flashbacks and running away in terror?

I'm slightly disappointed we don't get a rematch scene between Butler and the troll,, if that was the same one anyway, but alas. Maybe another time.

That's what I thought! But yeah I don't reckon we'd have got a re-match, I think the troll would have seen Butler and ran!

Phew it's done. This is the longest post I have done in a while

[artymon I\/]

Hello all! I know I am supremely late...I have the 8-9 notes from last week, currently still working on the notes that were due yesterday. Please, have mercy!





Chapter 8: Some Intelligent Conversation

• Mulch using first gear is equivalent to those memes of Shaggy only using 5% of his power.
• Thing is, Artemis, you never really “had” the gold to start with….nor was it explicitly offered to you.
• I’m kinda with Mulch here. He’s done a lot of heavy lifting and everyone’s giving the poor guy flak.
• What would father do?
  I thought I had a Big Brain observation on this one, but I really don’t. I appreciate that Artemis thinks it over before plugging in the mystery disk the hairy creature gave him a la Terminator “come with me if you want to live”
• Now here’s an interesting bit. It only took Butler one word to have his memories unlocked, with limited stimulus. Artemis had multiple stimuli (am I using those words correctly?), spending several hours in fairy company and even then needed at least an hour of convincing from himself before his memories resurfaced. And it doesn’t quite sound like Butler’s memory restoration where it hit him all at once. It sounds like “Past Artemis” rehashed the whole fairy story yet again and only then did “Present” Artemis accept the facts as he heard them.
  What’s our takeaway from this? Butler has a weaker mind? Artemis is more apprehensive to the supernatural? Unlikely as Memory Wiped Artemis was very open to the idea of fairies existing.
• We go from Holly (and the People in general) being terrified at the prospect of Artemis being aware of the People to him being their only hope.
• Mulch sitting on the loo watching telly is about as Murican as you can get.
• How incredibly convenient Zito just happened to have all that iron in his backyard.
• Down and in. [snickers uncontrollably]
• And don’t think that Versace shirt escaped my notice, Giovanni! Have to keep us those appearances after all, right?
• In earlier books, Holly has been shown to massage her ears to get her magic flowing. Artemis massages his temples to begin brainstorming.

Chapter 9: Daddy’s Girl

• And it’s hereabouts the series takes a vury green stride. There always had been the environmentalist tone, but it came off more as an undertone, hints and snarky jabs at the mudmen and their industrious way.
• Gee, what a brat, Gio. Maybe you ought to put her back up for adoption, let someone else have her. Someone that could use her, put her to work in some vineyard fields.
• “Under the wind farm” As in, tear down the green energy producing mills? In the name of science! And vengeance!
• Opal says she doesn’t want a partner, but she’s ironically been more reliant on multiple people this time round, from trusting her enemies to act accordingly, to trusting the Brills to support her, and now bringing on Zito….though he’s not exactly a willing participant. Then again, neither were Holly and Julius.
• “Un-melt”
• For those wondering (or who were ignorant, like me), David Stevenson is a real person – and we get a mention in his wiki!
• That’s the rub??? *Googles* Apparently it’s a Shakespeare thing. What a Philistine I am.

I'm sorry I've been MIA, the newest (and last :'( ) book of the Percy Jackson series came out and I got super into it and ignored AF but I'm only a week behind now, so I thought I'd post.

Oh my fangathering, that is unacceptable! How could you?? *gets lost in Spider-Man comics*

Maybe if you hadn't mind wiped him he'd still be a friend and you wouldn't have to pay him?!? I know it's not Holly's fault but she should recognise that the reason Arty isn't a friend anymore is because the fairies literally took away his memories, which, in all honesty, isn't the friendliest thing to do.

THIS. RIGHT?!!!! Aye, definitely not Holly’s fault at all, I suppose if you want to delve further, it’s really Artemis’s own fault for acting as foolishly as he did in TEC…
Aside from general frustrations of the situation, I might suspect Holly is just a tiny bit hurt that Artemis didn’t remember her.

Also blaming Arty for his lack of growth? He lost his memories, what do you expect?!? I can't remember the time span previous 3 books but that growth took a while and without the fairies as a catalyst it will be super slow, if not non-existent.

I always found it funny, at the end of the second book the fairies are talking about wiping Artemis but ultimately opt not to as wiping that much (a little over a year’s worth at that point) would be psychologically damaging. Then in the third book they just say to heck with it and wipe him anyway.

Opal really does her entrances well, credit for that. I do wish she wasn't evil, I really like how she pushed to become an inventor and break gender stereotypes rather than follow her father's wishes. She could be a really good role model if she just stopped killing people.

Y’know, I’m so used to Opal being the big bad, when we reread TAI and went over Opal’s history and introduction, I kind of nodded and said I kinda want to be on her side. And then she killed Root.
Honestly, up til then, I think she could have had a chance to “Artemis” herself, go through a character arc and redeem herself in a future title. But not anymore.

Sir E. Brum, cerebrum, amazing. Genius level pun, well done Mr Fowl

Big brain puns

It is interesting that Butler gets his memories back before Artemis, for the first time he has significantly more knowledge about their situation.

Duuuude.

Huh, could you imagine, like what if the disk got destroyed after Butler got his memories and Artemis never got the memories back?

Hmmm interesting. I feel like it is quite likely that Butler knows Artemis' passwords as it could come in handy in the situations they tend to get themselves into.
Yes, and I also wonder if past Artemis chose that password knowing that Butler would be able to guess it if he needed to.

Ooooh!! Good point!! Based on the message Artemis left for Butler, I would suspect yes.

Only two other people known Butler’s name. Juliet and Madame Ko? Maybe not even her. Maybe that’s why she was not wowed by Artemis's call in TEC. More to the point, if it is only Madame Ko and Juliet who know Butler's name: Does this imply/verify Butler's parents are deceased?

I've always assumed Butler's parents are dead. I don't really know why, but yeah that's what I take from this.

I never gave his and Juliet’s parents much thought before this read through…rather sad to think though.

I could be off on this, I’ve gotten the impression that real estate is a hot commodity, as in, there’s not a lot of space underground. Cramped and no fresh air. So it seems strange the fairies would go to all the trouble to build this fairly expansive two third model park and abandon it for so long.

Very good point. Maybe they're struggling to get planning permission?

Or in the middle of a bidding war for the property, haha.

Curious to think though, how “progressive” we’ve become in even the last ten years. No joke or slight meant.

Interestingly, I find it jarring when Eoin uses the word female as a noun to refer to a woman, I've noticed it quite a few times in this book. I think it is because I now associate using the word female in that way with sexist twitter users , it is definitely something I'd never noticed before this reading. It is really interesting how things change over time.

I agree, on both fronts. I’m not a very prolific Twitterer (Tweeter?) but the female usage does strike me as coming off strange. It makes me think of male/female in
context of creatures, like a dog or a cat. Not the way you’d refer to a sentient person.
Could be Eoin does this either to avoid a "woman-girl" thing or to showcase that the People are indeed another species entirely, as I've mainly seen him do this with interactions between fairies. He at least is equal opportunity about it and uses the "male" pronoun. xD

[Iris]

Hello all! I know I am supremely late...I have the 8-9 notes from last week, currently still working on the notes that were due yesterday. Please, have mercy!

I think we can safely establish we're all behind. Personally, the further I get behind, the harder it is to plan time to write notes, because there are so many at this point! And I feel like we're all too dedicated to ask for a break, so I'll take one for the team and be the one to request a break Those that are mostly caught up can rest in satisfaction and the rest of us has a chance to catch up.

[Battery]

^ I think that's a good plan Thanks for bringing it up, Iris. Do you guys think another week would be enough, or shall we take a couple? I know this last section was a bit of a long one I'm still not through chapter 7 even, but I'm up for whatever everyone would like

[Iris]

^I'm cool with either. The more the merrier, so I think it's important everyone has a chance to catch up. I got chapter 7 done today I will aim to get 8&9 done before next week too, but no promises.

Chapter 7
- Ooh, Opal seems to be selfaware for a moment, realizing that revenge takes away from her real goal. It only lasts a moment, however.
- Opal decides she can spare five hours. Considering all the effort that went into fixing the bounds of the entire theme park, installing a new filter and sending a little tv after them to gloat, that's a gross understatement of the time she has invested in this.
- I like how Artemis stops in his tracks when he realizes how fairies view humans. It could be a sign he cares.
- Sarcasm is the first piece of Artemis' wit to return after fight-flight-freeze panic.
- Chix is a lot more decent and chivalrous than I remember him from the previous books. I like him better now. Kudos to him for choosing to help despite legit reasons to doubt Mulch.
- Arty, didn't you have a job related to planes? Can you confirm or deny Mulch's theory about driving?
- I am of the opinion that the average screen doesn't have a brightness setting low enough and that the highest brightness is always far too bright. Clearly, fairy screens are the same.
- Is human meat sweeter than that of fairies? I'd expect fairy meat to be tastier to a troll, actually. Considering they drink non-polluted water and stuff. They're the equivalent of expensive, all-organic luxury meat.
- And they're friends! It seems trolls unite everyone. In HP, Harry, Ron and Hermione were also bonded by trauma after interacting with a troll.

How does a wanted criminal get a government grant for a covert stealth shuttle? She must have obtained it before the events of TAI. Wouldn’t the government have mandated the shuttle to be tagged/tracked? Easily able to write off as having been disabled. But wouldn’t the LEP have impounded it or reneged the grant and confiscated the asset?

I imagine it was a similar scheme to when Opal updated all LEP weaponry, including the secret option to turn it all off, and then had the LEP itself pay for the upgrade. Opal developed prototypes for the LEP, after all. What's one more prototype not registered in the books?

Again, what is going on with these travel times? I would think wings on fairy are equivalent of a human on a bike and a shuttle to be about “equivalent” of a car; a bike is faster than being on foot, but not faster than a car, except in rare circumstances.

I admire your attention to detail. I just accept it at face value. Something similar to the van in the last book, I suppose, where I imagined the inside and outside separately without noticing it can't be bigger on the inside.

I could be off on this, I’ve gotten the impression that real estate is a hot commodity, as in, there’s not a lot of space underground. Cramped and no fresh air. So it seems strange the fairies would go to all the trouble to build this fairly expansive two third model park and abandon it for so long.

I wonder if the trolls had something to do with it. In the book it's clear that there's no food source, the trolls are picking off each other and their numbers dwindling. Would the fairies be so cruel to wait until the problem has solved itself and then demolish the park?

Holly taking charge, like a boss!
If Artemis wasn’t wiped, how do you think that version may have handled the situation? Can’t say I’d have high expectations, but it might be interesting if there’d be some scrap of data he’d’ve been able to put to use. Come to think of it, aside from TAI, he hasn’t exactly seen a lot of “field action”

Before the mindwipe, Artemis surrendered control to Holly without hesitation when it came to stuff that required 'soldier skills', the same as that he doesn't argue with Butler when they're in immediate danger. He recognizes other people's talents. I think it'd go relatively the same during the first part, Holly getting them out of danger and then it's his turn. Artemis just doesn't remember that's how they solve problems.

We’re including Holly as one of the boys, just so we’re clear. She’s cool like that.

She is.

[Iris]

Alright, it wasn't before this week, but I'm caught up. A double post for chapter 8 and 9! And I've finished the book after, but got too caught up in the story and forgot my notes again. But I'm cool with continuing if the rest is too. What do you guys prefer? I feel like this thread shouldn't just be for notes, but for discussing things like that too.

Chapter 8 and 9
- Knowing what will come later on, it's interesting that Artemis fears plunging deeper into a psychotic episode. Does he suspect he might be susceptible to such a thing?
- I agree with Arty, Mulch deserves a little more respect. He's doing an awful lot without getting anything in return.
- I'm happy we got our caring Artemis back. I missed him and I'm happy to see him care that Holly is sad.
- I wonder how much of this has been set in motion by Opal and how much Zito truly did come up with.
- Ah, Eoin does explain that.
- I feel sorry for Zito. He seems like a genuinely good guy, the kind fairies would get along with great.
- There are comic books, Artemis, so you're not far off there.

Now here’s an interesting bit. It only took Butler one word to have his memories unlocked, with limited stimulus. Artemis had multiple stimuli (am I using those words correctly?), spending several hours in fairy company and even then needed at least an hour of convincing from himself before his memories resurfaced. And it doesn’t quite sound like Butler’s memory restoration where it hit him all at once. It sounds like “Past Artemis” rehashed the whole fairy story yet again and only then did “Present” Artemis accept the facts as he heard them.
What’s our takeaway from this? Butler has a weaker mind? Artemis is more apprehensive to the supernatural? Unlikely as Memory Wiped Artemis was very open to the idea of fairies existing.

Well, Artemis suggests the memories won't return as long as the brain can provide another explanation. Since he's smart, he should be able to come up with more alternative explanations than Butler, hence making it more difficult to restore his memories.

For those wondering (or who were ignorant, like me), David Stevenson is a real person – and we get a mention in his wiki!

How interesting! I like it.

Sir E. Brum, cerebrum, amazing. Genius level pun, well done Mr Fowl

Good pun

Curious to think though, how “progressive” we’ve become in even the last ten years. No joke or slight meant.

Interestingly, I find it jarring when Eoin uses the word female as a noun to refer to a woman, I've noticed it quite a few times in this book. I think it is because I now associate using the word female in that way with sexist twitter users , it is definitely something I'd never noticed before this reading. It is really interesting how things change over time.

I agree, on both fronts. I’m not a very prolific Twitterer (Tweeter?) but the female usage does strike me as coming off strange. It makes me think of male/female in
context of creatures, like a dog or a cat. Not the way you’d refer to a sentient person.
Could be Eoin does this either to avoid a "woman-girl" thing or to showcase that the People are indeed another species entirely, as I've mainly seen him do this with interactions between fairies. He at least is equal opportunity about it and uses the "male" pronoun. xD

I actually like it. It might be because I'm not on Twitter much, so I don't associate it with something negative. I am used to it being used in the context of creatures and for me, it gives the description something exotic. Fitting for fairies.

[artymon I\/]

Alrighty!!! I sort of took a break from the read through, but I finished 10 here. I'm totally open to waiting, I know we're all starting to get a lil busy again. So no pressure for anyone!!

Honestly, I feel if maybe those who haven't had a chance to do the reading want to just jump in on what they remember or if they have insight on a note made or something...by all means, jump in!

Chapter 10: Horse Sense

• As Chix and Foaly were having their chat, I sort of realized…as far as I remember, we don’t get a last name for Foaly. Unless that is his last name and we just don’t know his first name? Come to think of it, I don’t think we get a second name from Caballine either. Do centaurs only get one name, like McLovin? Or do they do a “Foaly of Haven” type of deal?
• Yeah, Foaly, science!

(Soz, couldn't resist)

• Am I getting some Sapphic signals from Opal?
• #Le’sb’honest
• I will side with Opal on the disk thing, Merv, but yeah. She's cuckoo for coco puffs, bag of cats cray cray
• I feel you, Mulch. I'll sign the petition to get you your medal and reward, Captain Solo...I mean Mulch
• "...Then within hours of this a probe is sent down a decade ahead of schedule." Opal Deception came out in 2005, that means we should have had this earth probe back in 2015….which is incidentally the same year Marty McFly goes to the future. Hm. I notice we also have a suspicious lack of hoverboards.
• Are we certain Sool isn't covertly working with Opal? Can we punch him anyway? He's our equivalent of Umbridge
• So let me get this straight: Tunneling is an ethnic sport and gets no TV coverage. But they'll cover pixie twins and goblin court trials, along with bootleg human media. What've the other fairies got against dwarves??! Rude.
• I meant to add this into the previous chapter section where they actually mentioned it, but I love how casually the violin mention in Zito's compound is written. As though it implies someone just happened to have a violin on them, like that guy at the bonfire who “just happens” to have a guitar.
• Technically, dwarves could be the most environmentally friendly creatures of this series. Anywhere can be home for them. They don’t need a large palace or cushy mood-hover lazy boys. Just some dirt in the earth.
  Emphasis on could be.
• I guess now’s a time as any to ask: How do you guys picture Mulch tunneling? We know the basic mechanics, in one end out the other, etc….but do you guys imagine him crawling through the earth like a Michael Phelps swim champion or maybe something more like Pac-Man? Waka waka
• Mulch roleplaying with items intended for illicitly acquiring is utterly adorable.
• A latter book Koboi would have a living ship with organic battery seals that would’ve regrown. And been chock full of acid.
• 64% chance of success. That’s better than the bank's 40%. Especially considering this is quite literally an “on the fly” plan.
• Unless this is just another TEC scenario with a “backup” plan.
• “Opal was in charge of giving orders and general ranting.” Uh, excuse you! No, the role of ranting clearly belongs to /\rtymon.
• Another dark thought: Instead of placing the charges in the booty box and tipping their hand, Mulch could have just left the charges tucked under a seat or inside a drawer and let Opal blow herself up without a warning.
• Let's say Opal and the Brills didn’t make it to their escape pods in time, would you consider that murder? Technically, Artemis and Co didn’t push the button…but they also didn’t make an effort to warn against pushing the button.
• Oh man, that would have been a fun bit of dialogue to throw in. “Miss Koboi, morality dictates that I must advise against pressing that destruct button, unless you desire to awaken in a cell.” “Don’t tell me what to do! I’ll push the button if I want to!!!”
• The plan does hinge a bit on luck. What if Opal had been holding the detonator or if it had been Merv that found the charges?
• Despite all the abuse and aggressive displays, Opal provided Brills with escape gel things.
• Actually, I’m surprised she didn’t demand they kamikaze the shuttle as far down as they could. I don’t think it’d work though…They’re at 75 miles down and the target depth was 106 miles to punch through the chute wall with less than 20 seconds to cover the distance. We all know how squirrely those travel times can be.
• Of course Opal would include a luxury escape pod. Of bloody course. After all, we know the importance of keeping up those appearances and putting more faith into the backup plan.
• This was the part I mentioned waaay back at the beginning of this read through. I think I might have found it more satisfying to put Chix in the supersonic shuttle, give him a chance to grow and develop into a better character.
  Course…..piloting a supersonic shuttle potentially sounds a tad advanced. But he is a sprite, aren't the naturally adept at flying?
• Oh Artemis xD
• “She wanted the personal pleasure of tossing the poisonous pixie….” *wipes away tear* A near perfect alliteration.
• "For once she decided to follow orders." And it was the worst decision she felt she ever made
  (teasing)

~~

- Opal decides she can spare five hours. Considering all the effort that went into fixing the bounds of the entire theme park, installing a new filter and sending a little tv after them to gloat, that's a gross understatement of the time she has invested in this.

Biggest understatement ever
Prolly what she meant was that she had assumed Holly and Artemis would be dead by now and she was investing an additional five hours and since she had already gone through all that effort to prepare the Eleven Wonders exhibit for Foaly…might as well get some more mileage out of it. xD

- I like how Artemis stops in his tracks when he realizes how fairies view humans. It could be a sign he cares.

It forces him to conduct an evaluation on himself and his fellow species….likely with uncomfortable conclusions.

- Chix is a lot more decent and chivalrous than I remember him from the previous books. I like him better now. Kudos to him for choosing to help despite legit reasons to doubt Mulch.

Right??? I’m kind of disappointed we don’t get to see more of him, watch him grow further. Heck, maybe even become one of "the boys."

- Arty, didn't you have a job related to planes? Can you confirm or deny Mulch's theory about driving?

I can’t speak for fairy shuttles, buuut on airplanes you’d also have a set of throttle/fuel mixture levers that control your speed. The wheel and rudder essentially controls the plane’s steering.

…Although I feel relatively confident in Mulch’s ability to figure it out anyway.

- Is human meat sweeter than that of fairies? I'd expect fairy meat to be tastier to a troll, actually. Considering they drink non-polluted water and stuff. They're the equivalent of expensive, all-organic luxury meat.

You raise an excellent point! Perhaps we’re the equivalent of fast food in that we’re not exactly good for you, but satisfying in the sense of a “once in a while” dining affair, relishing that naughty pleasure of salty and greasy goodness?

(This is my second fast food comparison for this book. Good lord, I’m such an American, haha)

Again, what is going on with these travel times? I would think wings on fairy are equivalent of a human on a bike and a shuttle to be about “equivalent” of a car; a bike is faster than being on foot, but not faster than a car, except in rare circumstances.

I admire your attention to detail. I just accept it at face value. Something similar to the van in the last book, I suppose, where I imagined the inside and outside separately without noticing it can't be bigger on the inside.

This totally gave me Doctor Who vibes, heh.

I could be off on this, I’ve gotten the impression that real estate is a hot commodity, as in, there’s not a lot of space underground. Cramped and no fresh air. So it seems strange the fairies would go to all the trouble to build this fairly expansive two third model park and abandon it for so long.

I wonder if the trolls had something to do with it. In the book it's clear that there's no food source, the trolls are picking off each other and their numbers dwindling. Would the fairies be so cruel to wait until the problem has solved itself and then demolish the park?

Headcanon accepted for government fairy parties purposely drawing out their plans for coming up with a proper solution to quietly allow this to happen.

That's exactly the kind of balivernes they'd try to pull. Especially with creeps like Sool at the helm.

“Oh gee, well, we were just about to come to an agreement on how to handle this, but looks like they’re all gone.”

Alright, it wasn't before this week, but I'm caught up. A double post for chapter 8 and 9! And I've finished the book after, but got too caught up in the story and forgot my notes again. But I'm cool with continuing if the rest is too. What do you guys prefer? I feel like this thread shouldn't just be for notes, but for discussing things like that too.

That’s totally cool with me! I kind of love digging in and passing our ideas back and forth.

- Knowing what will come later on, it's interesting that Artemis fears plunging deeper into a psychotic episode. Does he suspect he might be susceptible to such a thing?

Ah yeah, you’re referring to the Atlantis thing? Hm, wandering down that route, one could wonder if there’s a history of mental illness in his family somewhere?

Omg, headcanon on a crazy Fowl somewhere, “Butler’s not here to protect me….He’s here to protect YOU!”

- I feel sorry for Zito. He seems like a genuinely good guy, the kind fairies would get along with great.

And he’s genuinely trying to acquire clean energy, isn’t that the biggest beef fairies have with humans….aside from the whole land grab/hogging situation.

Well, Artemis suggests the memories won't return as long as the brain can provide another explanation. Since he's smart, he should be able to come up with more alternative explanations than Butler, hence making it more difficult to restore his memories.

*nods* Makes sense.
He knows how the mind works whereas if he didn’t, he’d be more open.

Sir E. Brum, cerebrum, amazing. Genius level pun, well done Mr Fowl

Good pun

Ahhh yeah, him and his aliases!

[Iris]

Alright, a week late again, but I'm here!

Chapter 10
- It's about time that paranoia pays off. If I were Foaly, I'd believe Chix. Hope is a powerful thing.
- Eoin sure likes fart jokes.
- Considering she's starting to look human, I'm surprised Opal still loves her face so much. Nah, who am I kidding. It's not surprising at all.
- The twins have a lot of faith in Opal keeping her promises.
- I don't remember if Mulch gets a medal, but he sure deserves one. He had more than made up for his criminal activities.
- Although the challenge might make up for it too. Mulch grumbles about it, but secretly he loves that he gets to outsmart Opal. An easy break-in will bore him.
- Soot, you can't fire Foaly. Apparently, he's the only one who can work certain LEP systems with no backup plan. Not a great idea, clearly.
- Its' nice of Opal to save the twins, lack of comfort or not.
- Trouble is a good guy. Julius would be proud of him too.

As Chix and Foaly were having their chat, I sort of realized…as far as I remember, we don’t get a last name for Foaly. Unless that is his last name and we just don’t know his first name? Come to think of it, I don’t think we get a second name from Caballine either. Do centaurs only get one name, like McLovin? Or do they do a “Foaly of Haven” type of deal?

As far as we can tell, there aren't many centaurs left. Hence, I imagine they don't need a last name. Just "Foaly the centaur" might be enough.

"...Then within hours of this a probe is sent down a decade ahead of schedule." Opal Deception came out in 2005, that means we should have had this earth probe back in 2015….which is incidentally the same year Marty McFly goes to the future. Hm. I notice we also have a suspicious lack of hoverboards.

Very true and always great fun to realize when reading old science fiction.

So let me get this straight: Tunneling is an ethnic sport and gets no TV coverage. But they'll cover pixie twins and goblin court trials, along with bootleg human media. What've the other fairies got against dwarves??! Rude.

I imagine it gets no TV coverage for the same reason sports like underwater-swimming never hit off at the Olympics. It's just not very interesting to watch from the surface.

I guess now’s a time as any to ask: How do you guys picture Mulch tunneling? We know the basic mechanics, in one end out the other, etc….but do you guys imagine him crawling through the earth like a Michael Phelps swim champion or maybe something more like Pac-Man? Waka waka

I hadn't really pictured it, but now that you ask, it's more Pac-Man style, I suppose.

Mulch roleplaying with items intended for illicitly acquiring is utterly adorable.
[...]
Oh man, that would have been a fun bit of dialogue to throw in. “Miss Koboi, morality dictates that I must advise against pressing that destruct button, unless you desire to awaken in a cell.” “Don’t tell me what to do! I’ll push the button if I want to!!!”
[...]
Of course Opal would include a luxury escape pod. Of bloody course. After all, we know the importance of keeping up those appearances and putting more faith into the backup plan.

All very accurate comments, I agree!

[artymon I\/]

Hello hello!!!

So...I finished the reading (actually, I had finished it a little while ago and was being lazy...)

I know I say this and then post a tower, but I don't have (as) many notes. Kinda just go involved with the story and let myself enjoy it.

Chapter 11: A Last Goodbye

• *snickers* I like this vineyard lady. She's got some gall. A UFO crashes in her backyard and she's read to throw fists and go to town with the pilot. Ain't nobody got time for dem cropcircles!
• Actually, a part of me would be more satisfied if Opal was just stuck there, forced to do chores for Vineyard Lady. Penance through manual labor. No cushy jail cell for her. Except it would only be a matter of time before Opal murders Vineyard Lady....or just outlives her.
• Hm. With the pituitary gland, does this mean Opal's longevity/life expectancy is now decreased? It stripped away her magic...and I'd assume that's a large part of where fairies get their increased lifespan. But then Foaly and Mulch do not have magic and both are centuries old. Technology could play a factor in it, but I don't think so. Do all creatures just have magic anyway? Even species that claim not to or have otherwise forfeit their magic? Is magic just a "tangible" extension of a creature's soul?
• Dangit. I'm ranting again.
• And ironically using the bullet point.
• Is it ironic or just illogical?
• Full confession, I have used that Potato threat so many times with effective results
• Since Artemis (and Butler) technically isn't a suspect for Root's death, would he have been allowed to attend the recycling ceremony? Probably not because Sool is a jerk, but headcanon that even if Artemis was allowed, he refused to stay with Holly.
• Again, Butler's loyalty is shown to be in favor of Artemis 2 and the fairies over Angeline and Artemis Senior....his "technical" employers.

EDIT:/

Btw, here's my summary of the Epilogue in five words or less:



(Sorry, couldn't resist)

[AFrules12]

Hi! I finished the book a while ago but then kept on being busy so my notes may not make sense to me anymore, we'll see! Lets go!

Chapter 8

• Butler teasing Mulch about the takeoff - I just love the four of them being friends and having banter, that's the content I want to see
• I always find myself surprised at how perceptive Mulch is
• Holly is willing to turn herself in, I love her so much, she's such a brilliant character.

Chapters 9 and 10

• 15 years later and I haven't seen any solar panels on mills yet, what are we doing as a society.
• I'm a bit confused because I thought Opal had given up her magic but then she uses the mesmer - I guess she just has some left but once it runs out it runs out forever?
• Also where are the water powered cars? We really are sleeping on this stuff
• "Some people justed needed to be stolen from"
• I love reading them all planning together.
• Opal is a difficult boss. Wow.
• Of course Butler has a bag of tricks
• Urg I don't like Sool at all.
• Wing Commander Vinyaya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Those LEP suits are a bit intrusive, ngl.
• Ooooh I think I've spotted a mistake, my book says "murder suspect Holly Short is in a stolen chute next to the zito probe," I assume its meant to say shuttle rather than chute?
• Sool really has it out for poor Holly.
• I really do feel sorry for Foaly, that must be horrible for him to go through, he is a good friend.
• I don't quite understand how the battery rod harvests energy, but I guess its not really that important
• "Spent a lot of time on his own and he needed someone to talk to" ahaha poor Mulch.
• I like how vague it is, like I didn't realise the first time, like for "the charges were no longer on the chair", when I first read that I didn't really think about it and just assumed that Mulch had stolen them.
• "Imbecilic excuse for a sentient being" and "don't you have any frontal lobes?" Opal's plans may not always be the best, but her insults are brilliant
• How does Artemis work out these percentage chances of success, like 64% is very specific. I reckon he's just bluffing.
• Truffles!!
• I think this is the best and funniest chapter in the whole series, I love it so so much.
• "There was only time to hand on to something and keep your last meal inside your body" they've all been stuffing themselves with truffles, I'd hate to see the mess that would make

Chapter 11 and Epilogue

• Ahaha Opal getting her just desserts (i wrote it like that in my notes and i have no idea if it was a pun that i was trying to make or just a typo ahaha)
• I hate Sool, how dare he.
• Yes Holly.
• I love that she is breaking free and doing what is best for her.
• Yes Arty, you tell Sool.
• Hurry up, you're costing Holly money, she's still on the call!
• That is such a lovely ending, and stealing art to give to the public is such an Arty way of doing good, I love it.

Maybe if you hadn't mind wiped him he'd still be a friend and you wouldn't have to pay him?!? I know it's not Holly's fault but she should recognise that the reason Arty isn't a friend anymore is because the fairies literally took away his memories, which, in all honesty, isn't the friendliest thing to do.

THIS. RIGHT?!!!! Aye, definitely not Holly’s fault at all, I suppose if you want to delve further, it’s really Artemis’s own fault for acting as foolishly as he did in TEC…
Aside from general frustrations of the situation, I might suspect Holly is just a tiny bit hurt that Artemis didn’t remember her.

Yes! I didn't think of that, that totally makes sense, if Holly is feeling hurt, and taking it out on Arty a bit!

I always found it funny, at the end of the second book the fairies are talking about wiping Artemis but ultimately opt not to as wiping that much (a little over a year’s worth at that point) would be psychologically damaging. Then in the third book they just say to heck with it and wipe him anyway.

Lmao, they're that fed up with him, they dont care anymore

- I am of the opinion that the average screen doesn't have a brightness setting low enough and that the highest brightness is always far too bright. Clearly, fairy screens are the same.

I am also of this opinion!!! and it does seem to be a problem the more technologically advanced fairies also have, sort it out foaly

- And they're friends! It seems trolls unite everyone. In HP, Harry, Ron and Hermione were also bonded by trauma after interacting with a troll.

I really love this connection, that's so funny!

[*]As Chix and Foaly were having their chat, I sort of realized…as far as I remember, we don’t get a last name for Foaly. Unless that is his last name and we just don’t know his first name? Come to think of it, I don’t think we get a second name from Caballine either. Do centaurs only get one name, like McLovin? Or do they do a “Foaly of Haven” type of deal?

I have always assumed it is a last name. But I honestly have no idea why I assumed that. Maybe they do just only have one name. I had forgotten that Caballine was a character in AF, I thought you were talking about our Cabby, I was very confused for a second

[*]Are we certain Sool isn't covertly working with Opal? Can we punch him anyway? He's our equivalent of Umbridge

This is so accurate.

[*]I guess now’s a time as any to ask: How do you guys picture Mulch tunneling? We know the basic mechanics, in one end out the other, etc….but do you guys imagine him crawling through the earth like a Michael Phelps swim champion or maybe something more like Pac-Man? Waka waka

I think I imagine something more pac-man like. like his arms are by his side, streamlined.

[*]Of course Opal would include a luxury escape pod. Of bloody course. After all, we know the importance of keeping up those appearances and putting more faith into the backup plan.

good to see the same themes coming through

- Eoin sure likes fart jokes.

you can say that again

So let me get this straight: Tunneling is an ethnic sport and gets no TV coverage. But they'll cover pixie twins and goblin court trials, along with bootleg human media. What've the other fairies got against dwarves??! Rude.

I imagine it gets no TV coverage for the same reason sports like underwater-swimming never hit off at the Olympics. It's just not very interesting to watch from the surface.

ahaha this is a very very good point

[*]Hm. With the pituitary gland, does this mean Opal's longevity/life expectancy is now decreased? It stripped away her magic...and I'd assume that's a large part of where fairies get their increased lifespan. But then Foaly and Mulch do not have magic and both are centuries old. Technology could play a factor in it, but I don't think so. Do all creatures just have magic anyway? Even species that claim not to or have otherwise forfeit their magic? Is magic just a "tangible" extension of a creature's soul?

I wonder if it is a combination of different species and magic that leads to longevity. So for example, centaurs and dwarves dont have magic but just naturally have longer life expectancies, like how tortoises live longer than hamsters, but for species with magic, it may play a role in their life expectancy, I dont know if I explained that well ahaha.

EDIT:/

Btw, here's my summary of the Epilogue in five words or less:



(Sorry, couldn't resist)

this is just so funny

Well that's The Opal Deception over! It's been lovely reading with yous!! I think it is still my favourite AF book, I really do love it. And I'm totally up for a read along of The Lost Colony if people want to!