A RTEMIS FOWL is a child prodigy from Ireland who has dedicated his brilliant mind to criminal activities. When Artemis discovers that there is a fairy civilization below ground, he sees it as a golden opportunity. Now there is a whole new species to exploit with his ingenious schemes. But Artemis doesn’t know as much as he thinks about the fairy People. And what he doesn’t know could hurt him . . . 323AA_pre.indd 1 11/05/2012 11:59 Books by Eoin Colfer ARTEMIS FOWL ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE ARCTIC INCIDENT ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE ETERNITY CODE ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE OPAL DECEPTION ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE LOST COLONY ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE TIME PARADOX ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE ATLANTIS COMPLEX ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE LAST GUARDIAN AIRMAN BENNY AND BABE BENNY AND OMAR HALF MOON INVESTIGATIONS THE SUPERNATURALIST THE WISH LIST Graphic novels ARTEMIS FOWL: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL ARTEMIS FOWL AND THE ARCTIC INCIDENT: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL And for younger readers THE LEGEND OF SPUD MURPHY THE LEGEND OF CAPTAIN CROW’S TEETH THE LEGEND OF THE WORST BOY IN THE WORLD Hack into the wicked world of Artemis Fowl www.artemisfowl.co.uk 323AA_pre.indd 2 11/05/2012 11:59 NEVER HAS A CRIMINAL MASTERMIND RECEIVED SUCH PRAISE ‘Wickedly brilliant’ – Independent ‘Superb’ – The Times ‘Fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek, with some laugh-out-loud jokes’ – Independent ‘Folklore, fantasy and high-tech wizardry . . . Hugely entertaining’– Observer ‘Page-turning stuff’ – Sunday Express ‘Pacy, playful and very funny, an inventive mix of myth and modernity, magic and crime’ – Time ‘Colfer has the ability to make you laugh twice over: first in sheer subversive joy at the inventiveness of the writing, and again at the energy of the humour’ – Sunday Times ‘Full of action, weaponry, farting dwarves and Chandleresque one-liners’ – Evening Standard ‘A hectic fusion of real, imaginary and fairy gadgetry. From laser guns to mind-wipers, through battery-powered craft and anti-radiation suits, they make the world of James Bond’s Q look like child’s play’ – Guardian ‘Funny, fast cinematic adventure’ – Financial Times 323AA_pre.indd 3 11/05/2012 11:59 323AA_pre.indd 4 11/05/2012 11:59 9372830A1A4_1p3re4.0in8d1d4 _ A5rtemisLastGuardian_PRE.indd 1 1141//0035//22001122 1151::3509 PUFFIN BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, Block D, Rosebank Office Park, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parktown North, Gauteng 2193, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England puffinbooks.com First published 2012 001 – 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Text copyright © Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl Ltd, 2012 All rights reserved The moral right of the author has been asserted Set in Perpetua by Palimpsest Book Production Ltd, Falkirk, Stirlingshire Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library hardback ISBN: 978–0–141–34081–4 trade paperback ISBN: 978–0–141–34433–1 www.greenpenguin.co.uk Penguin Books is committed to a sustainable future for our business, our readers and our planet. This book is made from Forest Stewardship CouncilTM certified paper. 323AA_pre.indd 6 11/05/2012 11:59 For all the Fowl fans who journeyed to the Lower Elements with me. Thank you. 323AA_pre.indd 7 11/05/2012 11:59 323AA_pre.indd 8 11/05/2012 11:59 Contents Prologue 1 Chapter 1: A Complex Situation 3 Chapter 2: Killing the Past 35 Chapter 3: Fire and Brimstone 48 Chapter 4: Engineer Ozkopy Has the Last Word 65 Chapter 5: Harma-Geddon 71 Chapter 6: Rise, My Beauties 79 Chapter 7: Lickety-Spit 112 Chapter 8: Motley Crew 130 Chapter 9: Spewing the Bitter Poison 133 Chapter 10: Sibling Rivalry 148 323AA_pre.indd 9 11/05/2012 11:59 Chapter 11: Death by Bunny 163 Chapter 12: The Dork Posse 172 Chapter 13: Lucky Dip 191 Chapter 14: Nine Sticks 203 Chapter 15: Cricket Alert 217 Chapter 16: A Warning Shot 230 Chapter 17: Last Light 259 Chapter 18: Soul Survivor 267 Chapter 19: The Roses 294 323AA_pre.indd 10 11/05/2012 11:59