What Is The First Novel In The "Artemis Fowl" Seres?

The first novel in the "Artemis Fowl" series is "Artemis Fowl". Written by Eoin Colfer, the novel was published in 2001 and was a success.

The story centres around a twelve year old boy named Artemis Fowl. In this first instalment, Artemis seeks The Book of the People, a fairy book that is written in Gnommish. He travels to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to obtain the book from a fairy, who is disguised as a healer.

The story switches from Artemis’s point of view to Holly Short’s, a fairy who is a captain for the Lower Elements Police. Holly has been set the mission of tracking down a troll. She is helped by a centaur named Foaly, but the mission does not go too well and Holly finds herself being warned by LEPrecon Commander, Julius Root, who is furious that Holly has not replenished her magic.

Meanwhile, Artemis attempts to translate The Book of the People using translating software on his computer. He manages to do so and learns about the process that fairies go through in order to replenish their magic. Together, Artemis and his bodyguard, Butler, attempt to seek out the location where fairies replenish their magic. Eventually they manage to find the location, which has been chosen by Holly. Holly is in the process of the magic replenishment ritual, which involves taking an acorn from an ancient oak tree under a full moon and planting the acorn in a different location.

Whilst she is in the process of the ritual, she senses that someone is around and attempts to use her mesmer in defence. However, Artemis, who has done much research on fairies, knows what is coming and Holly ends being tranquillised by Butler, who is carrying a hypodermic syringe. Artemis removes Holly’s helmet and is a little surprised to see that she is female. He takes Holly back to his home, Fowl Manor, in Dublin.

The LEP soon realise that Holly is missing and immediately take action to rescue her. Commander Root is sent to help her and he uses Holly’s tracker to help him seek out her location, which appears to be an abandoned ship in Dublin. However, Holly is still being held in Fowl Manor and Artemis, who communicates with Root via an audio/visual device, tell Root that Holly is being held for ransom. Artemis then destroys the ship.

The LEP send in a retrieval team to Fowl Manor rescue Holly. The team use special shields that allow them to move around extremely quickly so that human eyes cannot capture their movements. However, Artemis is aware of this ability and uses a camera that allows him to capture the movements of the team by freezing their movements. Butler gets red of the team and Root remains at Fowl Manor, where he plans to use a time-stop. Artemis reveals that he knows how to escape the time stop and tells Root that the ransom demand is a metric ton of 24-carat gold.

Meanwhile, Mulch Diggums, a kleptomaniac dwarf, is asked to break into Fowl Manor. He uses his tunnelling ability to reach the manor, where Foaly has linked up to the manor surveillance system. Whilst in the manor, Mulch locates a safe, which is where The Book of the People is being hidden. The Fairy Council promote a fairy named Briar Cudgeon to Acting Commander. He sends a troll into Fowl Manor.

Holly, who is extremely weak from her lack of magic and still being kept as a prisoner, is in the process of trying to crack through the concrete after remembering that she stored the acorn inside her boot. She manages to locate a patch of earth, and plants the acorn. Her magic is replenished, giving her more strength and allowing her to escape into the main part of the mansion.

Meanwhile, Butler confronts the troll and gets badly injured in the process. Using her powers, Holly heals him and he is able to defeat the troll. Artemis is given the gold. Throughout the story, it becomes clear that Artemis’s mother has lost her mind, which is a result of the death of Artemis’s father. Artemis asks Holly if she can cure his mother’s insanity. She agrees, but asks for half of the gold in return.

The LEP send in a "Blue Rinse", which is a bomb that will destroy Artemis and all organic life. This will allow the LEP to retrieve the gold. However, Artemis manages to escape the time-stop by using sleeping pills on himself and Butler.