(Cover picture courtesy of Tower Books.)

After his last run-in with the fairies, Artemis Fowl had his mind wiped of his memories of the world belowground.  Any goodness he had grudgingly learned is now gone, and the young genius has reverted to his criminal lifestyle.

Artemis is in Berlin preparing to steal a famously well-guarded painting from a German bank.  Little does he know that his every move is being watched by his old rival, Opal Koboi.  The evil pixie has spent the last year in a self-induced coma, plotting her revenge on all those who foiled her attempt to destroy the LEPrecon fairy police.  And Artemis is at the top of her list.

Once again, it’s up to Artemis Fowl to stop the human and fairy worlds from colliding—only this time, Artemis faces an enemy who may have finally outsmarted him…

As I’ve mentioned before, I was a victim of moderate bullying for about five years and the memories of those incidents haunt me to this day.  If you had offered to wipe all those painful memories from my mind only a year ago, I would have said yes without a second thought.  Now, however, I’m not so sure because as a human, I am nothing more than the sum of my memories.  Like it or not, those memories are a part of who I am today and I would be a much worse person without them.  So with that in mind, consider what wiping all of Artemis’ fairy memories would do to him.

Well, in The Opal Deception, we find out and it isn’t pretty.  Without even the scraps of goodness Holly Short and the other fairies taught him, Artemis has reverted to his default setting: evil criminal mastermind.  Did this actually come as a surprise to anyone but the LEP?  Probably not.  And thanks to their brilliant idea to wipe Artemis’ memory, they are in even worse trouble when Opal Koboi escapes, bent on revenge.

Unfortunately, one of my favourite characters is killed off in this book in a very touching death scene.  The plus side is that we get to see more of the eccentric centaur, Foaly, and the kleptomaniac dwarf, Mulch Diggums.  Both Artemis and Holly go through significant character development as they join forces once again to stop Opal Koboi, becoming friends again along the way.  With a well-paced plot and a satisfying end to the novel, fans will love this fourth installment of the Artemis Fowl series.

I give this book 4.5/5 stars.

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