The Power of 5:
Raven's Gate
Raven's Gate is the first book in The Power of Five series, written by Anthony Horowitz. It was published and released in the UK on 1 August 2005, by Walker Books Ltd and in theUnited States (1 June 2005) by Scholastic Press under the adjusted series title The Gatekeepers. It is followed by Evil Star, released in 2006, Nightrise in 2007, andNecropolis in 2008, with the final book Oblivion due October 2012.
A graphic novel adaptation, written for Walker Books by UK writer Tony Lee and drawn by artist Dom Reardon was released on 3 August 2010.
Plot summary
Written by: Kalvin Meyer
Matt Freeman is a fourteen year old boy who lives in Ipswich with his aunt, Gwenda Davis, who turns out to be an antagonist in Evil Star . He lives with her because his parents died in a car crash when he was eight years old. While living with his aunt, he breaks into awarehouse filled with electronic equipment with his friend, Kelvin Johnson. After they get caught, Matt is sent to Yorkshire on the L.E.A.F. (Liberty and Education Achieved throughFostering) Project, which involves sending troubled children into the countryside to get away from city temptations. Matt's foster parent is a woman named Jayne Deverill, who lives on a farm with a strange farmhand named Noah, who doesn't talk much.
When Matt goes down to the nearby village of Lesser Malling on an errand for Mrs. Deverill he receives a warning from a strange man. The man warns him to get away from Lesser Malling before it is too late. So Matt tries to escape, and while trying to find some money he goes into Mrs. Deverill's bedroom and finds a copy of the police report detailing his parents' deaths and his clairvoyant powers. Matt tries to escape Hive Hall by stealing the bike of Mrs. Deverill's missing husband. He tries to ride away, but finds it impossible to escape, because which ever way he goes, he always ends up back at the same intersection in the forest he started at. He hears strange whispers and sees a light in the trees.
After a while, He discovers Omega One, an abandoned nuclear power station, in the woods and meets the man from Lesser Malling again. The man introduces himself as Tom Burgess, gives Matt a charm that prevents him from going in circles like before, and tells Matt to meet him at his house. Matt visits his house the next day and finds Tom Burgess murdered, with the words "Raven's Gate" painted on the wall in green. Matt runs away as fast as possible, then finds the police and tells them what he saw. They go back to the house where a woman named Miss Creevy says that Tom Burgess has gone to tend to his sheep and visit someone far away. He shows the police officers the scene where he saw Tom Burgess's body, but finds nothing. The words painted on the wall have been painted over.
To get information about Raven's Gate, he finds a book by someone called Elizabeth Ashwood, but the chapter on Raven's Gate is ripped out. When he searches on the Internet, an instant-mail box appears, and a man called Professor Sanjay Dravid talks to him, asking Matt who he is. Matt tells him his name, then the pop-up window disappears. The librarian tells Matt to go to the Greater Malling Gazette to find articles on Raven's Gate, and there he meets Richard Cole, a young journalist working there. Matt tells his story to him, but Cole doesn't believe him. And oddly, when he leaves the Gazette he finds Mrs. Deverill waiting for him with Noah. They forcefully take Matt back to Hive Hall.
Later that night, Matt wakes up to see another light coming from Omega One, even though he found out from the gazette that it hadn't been used in 20 years. Matt knows something is going on and explores the woods. Near the power station he finds an old witchcraft ceremony going on with all the inhabitants of Lesser Malling involved. The power station lights are coming on and men are carrying materials into the building. Matt is noticed and Mrs Deverill summons some gruesome hounds from a fire to kill Matt. While Matt is being chased, he accidentally falls into a bog and begins to sink. Richard Cole arrives and rescues him, as Matt had used his power to call for help. The dogs arrive and Richard kills them by getting a can of gasoline stuffed with a handkerchief, lights it on fire, then throws it at the dogs setting them on fire. They then go back to Richard's house in York.
Richard now believes Matt's story because he remembers Omega One and says there were sections of the story he "couldn't get out of his head". Since Matt suspects that there is something odd about Omega One, they meet with the engineer who designed and built it, Sir Michael Marsh, but find out nothing except for how a nuclear power plant works. Matt and Richard then go to visit Elizabeth Ashwood, the author of the book in the library. Elizabeth Ashwood is revealed to have died, but her daughter Susan is there. She advises them to go meet Professor Sanjay Dravid in London after Matt demands to know about Raven's Gate. She also tells them that she and Dravid are part of an organization known as the Nexus.
Richard and Matt travel to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. Dravid tells Matt about the Old Ones. They were dark creatures who survived on human misery many years ago, and once wanted to rule the world, but were transported to another dimension by five children with supernatural powers. The Five, or the Gatekeepers, as they are also known, then built Raven's Gate to hold the evil creatures away. According to Dravid, Mrs Deverill and the villagers of Lesser Malling are part of a group of witches who seek the return of the Old Ones by opening Raven's Gate using witchcraft. Dravid tells Matt that he is a part of one of the five children who defeated the Old Ones, and has inherited their powers while Mrs Deverill and the citizens of Lesser Malling, who are all descendants of witches and warlocks, want to sacrifice him on the night of Roodmas, the day black magic is most powerful. Richard doesn't believe Dravid and begins to leave with Matt. But as Professor Dravid returns to his office to contact the Nexus and get his keys, he is attacked and walks out of his office with a cut in his neck and dies. Richard quickly takes his keys, but then is also attacked bydinosaur skeletons in the museum and at that moment dozens of skeleton dinosaurs turn to life and attempt to kill Matt and Richard. Richard is trapped by a diplodocus's rib cage and then crushed by a girder. Matt is recaptured by Mrs Deverill, who animated the dinosaurs to kill them.
Matt wakes in the barn at Hive Hall, and to escape he slowly removes the floorboards in his room with a makeshift chisel. When Noah enters the room to take Matt to Mrs. Deverill, he falls through the hole made by Matt, which was covered by a rug, and dies because he fell on his sickle. Matt runs away to the road, and a car comes towards him. It is the nuclear scientist who built Omega One, Sir Michael Marsh. But then Matt realises that Sir Michael is a traitor, working with the inhabitants of Lesser Malling, and Sir Michael explains that he was the one who bought the power station's uranium in the first place. Matt is taken inside Omega One, and realizes that it was built where Raven's Gate once stood. Richard Cole survived the ordeal at the museum and has been recaptured by the witches. They are taken to the inner sanctum, where Matt and the villagers are held in a magical protective circle, but Richard is left outside it to die in the heat.
Sir Michael Marsh reveals that he needs Matt's blood to complete the black magic ritual that will open Raven's Gate. Marsh is about to stab the knife into Matt when Matt focuses on his powers and surprisingly stops the knife. He defeats Marsh and frees himself and Richard. They escape to the lower levels of the power station but are followed by Mrs Deverill. She knocks out Richard and is about to kill Matt when Richard recovers and shoves Deverill into a pool of radioactive acid. Then they escape from Omega One by jumping into an underground river under the building. Back in the inner sanctum, the station's levels are at critical mass. The villagers panic and run out of the protective circle, killing them all and leaving Sir Michael Marsh alone. Marsh then realises there is a tiny drop of Matt's blood on the knife and stabs down with the knife, causing Raven's Gate to break and explode open. The King of the Old Ones climbs out of the portal and crushes Sir Michael to death. The power station then overloads and explodes, but all the heat and radiation is sucked into the gate, taking the Old Ones with it. The portal and the Gate are sealed and the Old Ones are once again trapped in their separate dimension.
Matt ends up living with Richard in York. They get a visit from Fabian, a member of The Nexus, who has come to talk to him about a second gate in Peru. Richard doesn't want to go through all this again, but Matt explains he has no choice because he is a Gatekeeper and, as the Old Ones will break out again, it is his destiny to stop them.
A graphic novel adaptation, written for Walker Books by UK writer Tony Lee and drawn by artist Dom Reardon was released on 3 August 2010.
Plot summary
Written by: Kalvin Meyer
Matt Freeman is a fourteen year old boy who lives in Ipswich with his aunt, Gwenda Davis, who turns out to be an antagonist in Evil Star . He lives with her because his parents died in a car crash when he was eight years old. While living with his aunt, he breaks into awarehouse filled with electronic equipment with his friend, Kelvin Johnson. After they get caught, Matt is sent to Yorkshire on the L.E.A.F. (Liberty and Education Achieved throughFostering) Project, which involves sending troubled children into the countryside to get away from city temptations. Matt's foster parent is a woman named Jayne Deverill, who lives on a farm with a strange farmhand named Noah, who doesn't talk much.
When Matt goes down to the nearby village of Lesser Malling on an errand for Mrs. Deverill he receives a warning from a strange man. The man warns him to get away from Lesser Malling before it is too late. So Matt tries to escape, and while trying to find some money he goes into Mrs. Deverill's bedroom and finds a copy of the police report detailing his parents' deaths and his clairvoyant powers. Matt tries to escape Hive Hall by stealing the bike of Mrs. Deverill's missing husband. He tries to ride away, but finds it impossible to escape, because which ever way he goes, he always ends up back at the same intersection in the forest he started at. He hears strange whispers and sees a light in the trees.
After a while, He discovers Omega One, an abandoned nuclear power station, in the woods and meets the man from Lesser Malling again. The man introduces himself as Tom Burgess, gives Matt a charm that prevents him from going in circles like before, and tells Matt to meet him at his house. Matt visits his house the next day and finds Tom Burgess murdered, with the words "Raven's Gate" painted on the wall in green. Matt runs away as fast as possible, then finds the police and tells them what he saw. They go back to the house where a woman named Miss Creevy says that Tom Burgess has gone to tend to his sheep and visit someone far away. He shows the police officers the scene where he saw Tom Burgess's body, but finds nothing. The words painted on the wall have been painted over.
To get information about Raven's Gate, he finds a book by someone called Elizabeth Ashwood, but the chapter on Raven's Gate is ripped out. When he searches on the Internet, an instant-mail box appears, and a man called Professor Sanjay Dravid talks to him, asking Matt who he is. Matt tells him his name, then the pop-up window disappears. The librarian tells Matt to go to the Greater Malling Gazette to find articles on Raven's Gate, and there he meets Richard Cole, a young journalist working there. Matt tells his story to him, but Cole doesn't believe him. And oddly, when he leaves the Gazette he finds Mrs. Deverill waiting for him with Noah. They forcefully take Matt back to Hive Hall.
Later that night, Matt wakes up to see another light coming from Omega One, even though he found out from the gazette that it hadn't been used in 20 years. Matt knows something is going on and explores the woods. Near the power station he finds an old witchcraft ceremony going on with all the inhabitants of Lesser Malling involved. The power station lights are coming on and men are carrying materials into the building. Matt is noticed and Mrs Deverill summons some gruesome hounds from a fire to kill Matt. While Matt is being chased, he accidentally falls into a bog and begins to sink. Richard Cole arrives and rescues him, as Matt had used his power to call for help. The dogs arrive and Richard kills them by getting a can of gasoline stuffed with a handkerchief, lights it on fire, then throws it at the dogs setting them on fire. They then go back to Richard's house in York.
Richard now believes Matt's story because he remembers Omega One and says there were sections of the story he "couldn't get out of his head". Since Matt suspects that there is something odd about Omega One, they meet with the engineer who designed and built it, Sir Michael Marsh, but find out nothing except for how a nuclear power plant works. Matt and Richard then go to visit Elizabeth Ashwood, the author of the book in the library. Elizabeth Ashwood is revealed to have died, but her daughter Susan is there. She advises them to go meet Professor Sanjay Dravid in London after Matt demands to know about Raven's Gate. She also tells them that she and Dravid are part of an organization known as the Nexus.
Richard and Matt travel to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. Dravid tells Matt about the Old Ones. They were dark creatures who survived on human misery many years ago, and once wanted to rule the world, but were transported to another dimension by five children with supernatural powers. The Five, or the Gatekeepers, as they are also known, then built Raven's Gate to hold the evil creatures away. According to Dravid, Mrs Deverill and the villagers of Lesser Malling are part of a group of witches who seek the return of the Old Ones by opening Raven's Gate using witchcraft. Dravid tells Matt that he is a part of one of the five children who defeated the Old Ones, and has inherited their powers while Mrs Deverill and the citizens of Lesser Malling, who are all descendants of witches and warlocks, want to sacrifice him on the night of Roodmas, the day black magic is most powerful. Richard doesn't believe Dravid and begins to leave with Matt. But as Professor Dravid returns to his office to contact the Nexus and get his keys, he is attacked and walks out of his office with a cut in his neck and dies. Richard quickly takes his keys, but then is also attacked bydinosaur skeletons in the museum and at that moment dozens of skeleton dinosaurs turn to life and attempt to kill Matt and Richard. Richard is trapped by a diplodocus's rib cage and then crushed by a girder. Matt is recaptured by Mrs Deverill, who animated the dinosaurs to kill them.
Matt wakes in the barn at Hive Hall, and to escape he slowly removes the floorboards in his room with a makeshift chisel. When Noah enters the room to take Matt to Mrs. Deverill, he falls through the hole made by Matt, which was covered by a rug, and dies because he fell on his sickle. Matt runs away to the road, and a car comes towards him. It is the nuclear scientist who built Omega One, Sir Michael Marsh. But then Matt realises that Sir Michael is a traitor, working with the inhabitants of Lesser Malling, and Sir Michael explains that he was the one who bought the power station's uranium in the first place. Matt is taken inside Omega One, and realizes that it was built where Raven's Gate once stood. Richard Cole survived the ordeal at the museum and has been recaptured by the witches. They are taken to the inner sanctum, where Matt and the villagers are held in a magical protective circle, but Richard is left outside it to die in the heat.
Sir Michael Marsh reveals that he needs Matt's blood to complete the black magic ritual that will open Raven's Gate. Marsh is about to stab the knife into Matt when Matt focuses on his powers and surprisingly stops the knife. He defeats Marsh and frees himself and Richard. They escape to the lower levels of the power station but are followed by Mrs Deverill. She knocks out Richard and is about to kill Matt when Richard recovers and shoves Deverill into a pool of radioactive acid. Then they escape from Omega One by jumping into an underground river under the building. Back in the inner sanctum, the station's levels are at critical mass. The villagers panic and run out of the protective circle, killing them all and leaving Sir Michael Marsh alone. Marsh then realises there is a tiny drop of Matt's blood on the knife and stabs down with the knife, causing Raven's Gate to break and explode open. The King of the Old Ones climbs out of the portal and crushes Sir Michael to death. The power station then overloads and explodes, but all the heat and radiation is sucked into the gate, taking the Old Ones with it. The portal and the Gate are sealed and the Old Ones are once again trapped in their separate dimension.
Matt ends up living with Richard in York. They get a visit from Fabian, a member of The Nexus, who has come to talk to him about a second gate in Peru. Richard doesn't want to go through all this again, but Matt explains he has no choice because he is a Gatekeeper and, as the Old Ones will break out again, it is his destiny to stop them.
The Power of 5:
Evil Star
Evil Star is the second book in The Power of Five series by British author Anthony Horowitz. It was published and released in the UK on April 1, 2006 by Walker Books Ltd and in the United States on June 1, 2006 by Scholastic Press under the adjusted series title, The Gatekeepers. It is preceded by Raven's Gate, released in 2005, and followed byNightrise, released in 2007.
Plot summaryAfter the events of Raven's Gate, Matt goes to a new school which the Nexus are paying for, but is left friendless because of a bully named Gavin Taylor, causing Matt to injure Taylor by using his powers. Susan Ashwood and Fabian, members of the Nexus, ask him to help them acquire an old diary which could enable them to stop a second gate being opened. He refuses. Meanwhile, Gwendolyn, his aunt, has fallen under the influence of dark forces. She kills her spouse Brian, steals a petrol tanker, and drives it into Matt's new school in a desperate attempt to kill him. Fortunately, he uses his clairvoyance powers and manages to evacuate the whole school before it happens. Matt realizes that he must stop the gate from being opened and agrees to meet the bookseller, Morton, at St Meredithe's Church after a meeting with the Nexus. Morton affirms him to be one of the Five, but he is killed in the process and the diary is stolen by Diego Salamanda, another bidder who wants to use the diary to open the second gate. The Nexus persuade Matt and his carer, Richard Cole, to fly to Peru, find the second gate, and stay at a house belonging to Fabian. However, on their way to the planned rendezvous, the Hotel Europa, the car is ambushed and Richard is kidnapped but Matt manages to escape.
With the help of a local Peruvian, Pedro, Matt manages to get to the meeting place but is captured by the Peruvian police at the hotel, led by the sadistic Captain Rodriguez, and brutally beaten. Pedro saves him. Then, they escape to the Poison Town, where Pedro lives. Strangely, while all the town is affected by diseases, the street where Pedro lives on seems unaffected. Here, they meet the man Sebastian (who can speak English, unlike Pedro), who agrees to help Matt. As night passes, Matt meets Pedro in a dream, revealing that he is one of the Five. Matt finds the markings of his previous beatings have all gone. Thinking Salamanda had Richard kidnapped, Matt and Pedro travel to his hacienda in Inca, but they are discovered. Salamanda reveals that he does not have Richard. An Inca, Micos, one of Richard's kidnappers, helps them escape, and he is killed in the process. He tells them to travel to Cuzco before he dies, and there, Matt manages to contact Fabian and the Nexus on their whereabouts. However, Rodriguez and the police arrive but Matt and Pedro escape with the help of several Incas, led by Atoc, Micos' brother. Then they are taken to the Mountain of the Sleeping God Mandingo. From there, they descend into the town of the last Incas, Vilcabamba, where Richard, having been staying there after being separated, is waiting for them. There, Richard reveals that the kidnapping was conducted to prevent Matt from reaching the Hotel Europa. Based on the Salamanda's knowledge of their movements, Matt and Richard deduce that there is a traitor in the Nexus tipping him off. At the village, it is learned that the gate is located somewhere in the Nazca Desert. They travel to the Nazca Desert with Professor Chambers, an expert on everything Peruvian, and Matt realizes that the Nazca lines are the second gate. The gate will only open once all the stars align with each of the drawings, however, the gate has been constructed such that the stars will never all align at once, and in this case, the star Cygnus is not in its proper position. However, Salamanda has sent a satellite as a substitute star, an evil star, to open the gate. Matt and Pedro break into Salamanda's headquarters with some help of the Incas in an attempt to stop his plan by destroying the radio mast controlling the satellite. At the control center, it is revealed that Fabian is the traitor in the Nexus, having believed it was pointless to try and stop the opening of the gate. Rodriguez then bursts into the room and shoots Fabian when he tries to stop Matt and Richard from being killed. The radio mast is destroyed and falls into the building, flattening Rodriguez. In his dying moments, Fabian reveals that Salamanda had taken control of the satellite once it was in range, using a different satellite dish out in the desert. Atoc takes Matt and Pedro on a helicopter to the dish, but the helicopter crashes, killing Atoc and breaking Pedro's ankle. Matt has no choice but to stop the gate from being opened alone. He manages to trigger his power, destroying the dish and trailer Salamanda is using, and kills Salamanda when he shoots at Matt by deflecting two bullets back to him. However, the satellite is revealed to still be continuing on its trajectory, opening the gate. The Nazca lines crack open and an army of demons arise, before the King of the Old Ones himself appears, and challenges Matt. Matt uses his powers to wound them but he over-exerts himself and falls into a coma. The Old Ones, biding their time, temporarily hide from the world.
Matt is taken to Professor Chambers' house and a doctor examines Matt but does not think he will survive. But Pedro comes back from hospital early and insists on being alone with Matt. At this point, Pedro's power is revealed to be the power to heal. This explains the reason why the street Pedro lived in was the only place in in Poison Town that was unaffected by disease. Matt awakes from his coma thanks to Pedro and decides that the only way they can defeat the Old Ones is to find the other three Gatekeepers.
Trivia
The Power of Five series is based on ideas from a series written by Anthony Horowitz in 1983-1989, Pentagram. Pentagram was meant to have five books, but only four were ever published. The second was The Night of the Scorpion, on which Evil Star was based.
Plot summaryAfter the events of Raven's Gate, Matt goes to a new school which the Nexus are paying for, but is left friendless because of a bully named Gavin Taylor, causing Matt to injure Taylor by using his powers. Susan Ashwood and Fabian, members of the Nexus, ask him to help them acquire an old diary which could enable them to stop a second gate being opened. He refuses. Meanwhile, Gwendolyn, his aunt, has fallen under the influence of dark forces. She kills her spouse Brian, steals a petrol tanker, and drives it into Matt's new school in a desperate attempt to kill him. Fortunately, he uses his clairvoyance powers and manages to evacuate the whole school before it happens. Matt realizes that he must stop the gate from being opened and agrees to meet the bookseller, Morton, at St Meredithe's Church after a meeting with the Nexus. Morton affirms him to be one of the Five, but he is killed in the process and the diary is stolen by Diego Salamanda, another bidder who wants to use the diary to open the second gate. The Nexus persuade Matt and his carer, Richard Cole, to fly to Peru, find the second gate, and stay at a house belonging to Fabian. However, on their way to the planned rendezvous, the Hotel Europa, the car is ambushed and Richard is kidnapped but Matt manages to escape.
With the help of a local Peruvian, Pedro, Matt manages to get to the meeting place but is captured by the Peruvian police at the hotel, led by the sadistic Captain Rodriguez, and brutally beaten. Pedro saves him. Then, they escape to the Poison Town, where Pedro lives. Strangely, while all the town is affected by diseases, the street where Pedro lives on seems unaffected. Here, they meet the man Sebastian (who can speak English, unlike Pedro), who agrees to help Matt. As night passes, Matt meets Pedro in a dream, revealing that he is one of the Five. Matt finds the markings of his previous beatings have all gone. Thinking Salamanda had Richard kidnapped, Matt and Pedro travel to his hacienda in Inca, but they are discovered. Salamanda reveals that he does not have Richard. An Inca, Micos, one of Richard's kidnappers, helps them escape, and he is killed in the process. He tells them to travel to Cuzco before he dies, and there, Matt manages to contact Fabian and the Nexus on their whereabouts. However, Rodriguez and the police arrive but Matt and Pedro escape with the help of several Incas, led by Atoc, Micos' brother. Then they are taken to the Mountain of the Sleeping God Mandingo. From there, they descend into the town of the last Incas, Vilcabamba, where Richard, having been staying there after being separated, is waiting for them. There, Richard reveals that the kidnapping was conducted to prevent Matt from reaching the Hotel Europa. Based on the Salamanda's knowledge of their movements, Matt and Richard deduce that there is a traitor in the Nexus tipping him off. At the village, it is learned that the gate is located somewhere in the Nazca Desert. They travel to the Nazca Desert with Professor Chambers, an expert on everything Peruvian, and Matt realizes that the Nazca lines are the second gate. The gate will only open once all the stars align with each of the drawings, however, the gate has been constructed such that the stars will never all align at once, and in this case, the star Cygnus is not in its proper position. However, Salamanda has sent a satellite as a substitute star, an evil star, to open the gate. Matt and Pedro break into Salamanda's headquarters with some help of the Incas in an attempt to stop his plan by destroying the radio mast controlling the satellite. At the control center, it is revealed that Fabian is the traitor in the Nexus, having believed it was pointless to try and stop the opening of the gate. Rodriguez then bursts into the room and shoots Fabian when he tries to stop Matt and Richard from being killed. The radio mast is destroyed and falls into the building, flattening Rodriguez. In his dying moments, Fabian reveals that Salamanda had taken control of the satellite once it was in range, using a different satellite dish out in the desert. Atoc takes Matt and Pedro on a helicopter to the dish, but the helicopter crashes, killing Atoc and breaking Pedro's ankle. Matt has no choice but to stop the gate from being opened alone. He manages to trigger his power, destroying the dish and trailer Salamanda is using, and kills Salamanda when he shoots at Matt by deflecting two bullets back to him. However, the satellite is revealed to still be continuing on its trajectory, opening the gate. The Nazca lines crack open and an army of demons arise, before the King of the Old Ones himself appears, and challenges Matt. Matt uses his powers to wound them but he over-exerts himself and falls into a coma. The Old Ones, biding their time, temporarily hide from the world.
Matt is taken to Professor Chambers' house and a doctor examines Matt but does not think he will survive. But Pedro comes back from hospital early and insists on being alone with Matt. At this point, Pedro's power is revealed to be the power to heal. This explains the reason why the street Pedro lived in was the only place in in Poison Town that was unaffected by disease. Matt awakes from his coma thanks to Pedro and decides that the only way they can defeat the Old Ones is to find the other three Gatekeepers.
Trivia
- In the first book, Raven's Gate, the character Fabian says he is married and has two children, but in Evil Star he says he is not married and does not have any children (this may have been a lie to set an example to Matt that no one must know about the Nexus or it is merely just an error).
- In Evil Star, the remaining Gatekeepers (Scott, Jamie and Scarlett) are described as being white and fair-haired; however, none of the Gatekeepers are fair, and the three remaining Gatekeepers are all dark-haired and non-pure white (Jamie and Scott are Native Americans, and Scarlett is Chinese).
- The title reversed is Live rats. This can refer to the Old Ones being as foul as rats. In their prison, they were kinda dead. Now that they're free, they're alive and kicking.
The Power of Five series is based on ideas from a series written by Anthony Horowitz in 1983-1989, Pentagram. Pentagram was meant to have five books, but only four were ever published. The second was The Night of the Scorpion, on which Evil Star was based.
Naruto (ナルト)
Naruto (ナルト, NARUTO) is a manga by Masashi Kishimoto with an anime TV series adaptation. Its main character, Naruto Uzumaki, is a loud, hyperactive, adolescent ninja who constantly searches for approval and recognition, as well as to become Hokage, who is acknowledged as the leader and strongest of all ninja in the village.
The manga was first published by Shueisha in 1999 in the 43rd issue of Japan's Shōnen Jump magazine. VIZ Mediapublishes a translated version in the American Shonen Jump, and is currently within a few volumes of the Japanese publication. Naruto has become VIZ Media's best-selling manga series.[1]
The anime series, produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex, premiered across Japan on the terrestrial TV Tokyonetwork and the anime satellite television network Animax on October 3, 2002, and is still being aired. Viz also licensed the anime for North American production. Naruto debuted in the United States on Cartoon Network'sToonami programming block on September 10, 2005, and in Canada on YTV's Bionix on September 16, 2005. Naruto began showing in the UK on Jetix on July 22, 2006. It began showing on Toasted TV on January 12, 2007 in Australia, although it could be watched on Cartoon Network in 2006. The first series lasted nine seasons, while the second began its first on February 15, 2007.
Contents [show]
Naruto MangaSee also: List of VolumesThe Naruto manga currently has 60 volumes and 589 chapters (as of May 6, 2012).
Naruto Manga PilotNaruto Geography.Main article: Naruto Manga PilotIn 1997 Masashi Kishimoto created the first published incarnation of the Naruto Series. Debuting in Akamaru Jump, the Naruto one-shot would be Kishimoto's first incarnation of the Naruto universe. Though the plot of the one-shot bears little resemblance to the later shōnen manga, many of the same character and ninja themes would be displayed for the first time.
Growth and PopularityThe series' length and popularity is comparable to that of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball, another popular action/martial arts-oriented shōnen manga, and one that was said to have greatly influenced Kishimoto's manga, Naruto. Since its creation, Naruto has spawned a large number of fansites that contain detailed information, guides, and active forums. Some of the first and most popular sites targeted at English speaking audiences were established shortly after the first English manga volume was released in August of 2003. And Like many other manga and anime titles, Naruto has also spawned its own collectible card game.
Prior to the anime's North American debut in 2005, several scanlation and fansub groups translated the series and made it available for free download on the internet. Despite North American companies' perceived tendency to prosecute fansubbing groups more frequently than Japanese companies,[2] there are some that have continued to translate new Naruto episodes due to the extremely large gap between the English and Japanese versions.
Volume 7 of the manga has won a Quill Award for best graphic novel in North America.[3] In TV Asahi's latest top 100 Anime Ranking, Naruto ranked 17th on the list.[4]
Anime DetailsSee also: List of Episodes and Anime-Manga DifferencesEven though it debuted some time after the manga, the anime quickly caught up, since one anime episode usually covers one or two manga chapters. To prevent overlapping, the anime's producers tend to organise content from the manga chapters into long, uneventful sections followed by short bursts of action, sometimes adding filler content in between. By the time the Sasuke Retrieval Arc ended in the anime (episode 135), the series was at a point where it was quickly gaining on the manga. At the conclusion of this arc, the anime immediately switched to anime-only episodes to allow the manga to broaden the gap once more. Most of these episodes are stand-alone stories, with a few being part of arcs that were several episodes long, and lasted for a total of 85 episodes in the first series.
After the series moved back into manga-adapted episodes, it was renamed Naruto: Shippūden (ナルト 疾風伝,Naruto Shippūden; Literally meaning "Naruto Hurricane Chronicles"). The new series premiered on February 15, 2007.
The anime generally remains true to the manga, usually changing only minor details (causes of death, loss of limbs, and other injuries have been lessened in the anime) or expanding on parts skipped by the manga, such as the fight between Tenten and Temari. The anime-only arcs, though unreferenced in the manga (save for a few scant scenes), deal with the breaks between manga volumes, which covers a short period before the Sasuke Retrieval Arc and several months before the time skip. The anime-only arcs tend to cover the supporting characters, occasionally giving insight into an otherwise rarely seen character.
New episodes, animated by Studio Pierrot, air weekly on TV Tokyo in Japan during the Golden Time slot (Japan's equivalent of prime time in the US). As of October 5, 2006, it shows on Thursday nights. The series has also spawned eight movies, Naruto the Movie, Naruto the Movie 2, Naruto the Movie 3, Naruto: Shippūden the Movie,Naruto Shippūden the Movie 2, Naruto Shippūden the Movie 3, Naruto Shippūden 4: The Lost Tower and Naruto 5: Blood Prison.
English-Language BroadcastOn September 10, 2005, Naruto had its hour-long premiere in the U.S. on Cartoon Network's Toonami. The first episode of Naruto premiered in Canada on YTV on September 16, 2005. In the United Kingdom, Naruto premiered on Jetix on July 22, 2006. In Australia and New Zealand it premiered on Cartoon Network on September 27, 2006. On October 28, 2009, Disney XD began airing English dubbed episodes of Naruto: Shippūden.
In its English anime release, Naruto was aired with a TV-PG rating in the US and a PG rating in Canada. More explicit episodes, such as Jiraiya's debut and the battle with Zabuza, have been given a TV-PG-DS or a TV-PG-V rating. References to alcoholism, Japanese cultural differences, mild language, mild sexual situations, and even blood and death remain in the English version, though reduced.[5] Other networks make additional content edits apart from the edits done by Cartoon Network, such as Jetix's more strict censoring of blood, language, and the like.
Plot OverviewFurther information: Plot of Naruto, Plot of Naruto: ShippūdenTwelve years before the events at the focus of the series, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konohagakure. It was a powerful demon; a single swing of one of its nine tails would raise tsunamis and flatten mountains. It raised chaos and caused the deaths of many, until the leader of Konoha, the Fourth Hokage, defeated it by sacrificing his own life to seal the demon inside a newly-born child. That child's name was Naruto Uzumaki.
The Fourth Hokage was celebrated as a hero for sealing the Nine-Tails away. He wanted Naruto to be respected in a similar light by being the containment vessel for the Nine-Tails. The village he grew up in, however, mostly shunned Naruto; they regarded him as if he were the Nine-Tails itself and mistreated him throughout most of his childhood.
A decree made by the Third Hokage made it so that the other villagers were forbidden to mention the event to anyone, even to their own children. However, this did not stop them from treating Naruto like an outcast. Although their children did not specifically know why their parents treated Naruto the way they did, they learned through example to despise the boy. As a result, Naruto grew up as an orphan in a lonesome atmosphere without friends, family, or acknowledgment. He could not force people to befriend him, so he sought acknowledgment and attention the only way he knew – through pranks and mischief. However, that soon changed after Naruto graduated from theAcademy by using his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to save his teacher, Iruka Umino, from the renegade ninjaMizuki. That encounter gave Naruto two insights: that he was the container of the Nine-Tails, and that there was someone besides the Third Hokage who actually cared about him. His graduation from the academy opened a gateway to the events and people that would change and define his world, including his way of the ninja for the rest of his life.
Naruto maintains a balance between drama and comedy, with plenty of action interspersed. It follows Naruto and his friends' personal growth and development as ninja, and emphasises their interactions with each other and the influence of their backgrounds on their personalities. Naruto finds two friends and comrades in Sasuke Uchiha andSakura Haruno, two fellow young ninja who are assigned with him to form a three-person team under a very experienced sensei named Kakashi Hatake. Naruto also confides in other characters as well that he has met through the Chūnin Exam. They learn new abilities, get to know each other and other villagers better, and experience a coming-of-age journey as Naruto dreams of becoming the Hokage of Konoha.
Naruto places strong emphasis on character development. Almost all outcomes are a result of decisions, character, and personality; very few things happen just because of chance. At first, emphasis is placed on Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, who are the members of Team 7. However, other characters are developed, such as Kakashi, Guy, and Jiraiya, as well as Naruto's peers in the other Genin teams and other villages.
Several major villains came into play as well, the first being Zabuza Momochi, a missing-nin from the Kirigakure, and his partner, Haku. Later, in the Chūnin Exam Arc, Orochimaru is introduced as an S-Class missing-nin at the top of Konoha's most wanted list. Later, a mysterious organisation called Akatsuki begins to pursue Naruto in order to take the Nine-Tails inside him and harness its power.
CharactersSee also: CharactersNaruto has a large and colourful cast of characters, running a gamut of detailed histories and complex personalities, and allowing many of them their fair share in the spotlight; they are also seen to grow and mature with the series, as it spans several years. As fitting for a coming-of-age saga, Naruto's world constantly expands and thickens, and his social relations are no exception – during his introduction he has only his teacher and the village's leader for sympathetic figures, but as the story progresses, more and more people become a part of his story.
The students at the Academy, where the story begins, are split up into teams of three after their graduation and become Genin. Each team is assigned an experienced sensei. These core teams form a basis for the characters' interactions later in the series, where characters are chosen for missions for their team's strength and complementary skills; Naruto's Team 7 becomes the social frame where Naruto is acquainted with Sasuke Uchihaand Sakura Haruno, and their sensei Kakashi Hatake, also called the "copy ninja" for copying thousands of ninja techniques with his Sharingan, forming the core of his world-in-the-making. The other three-man teams of his former classmates form another such layer, as Naruto connects with them to various degrees, learning of their motives, vulnerabilities, and aspirations, often relating them to his own. The groups of three are not limited to the comrades Naruto's age – groups in the story in general come in threes and multiples of three with very few exceptions.
Sensei-student relationships play a significant role in the series; Naruto has a number of mentors with whom he trains and learns, most notably Kakashi Hatake and Jiraiya, and there are often running threads of tradition and tutelage binding together several generations. These role models provide guidance for their students not only in the ninja arts but also in a number of Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideals. Techniques, ideals, and mentalities noticeably run in families, Naruto often being exposed to the abilities and traditions of generation-old clans in his village when friends from his own age group demonstrate them, or even achieve improvements of their own; it is poignantly noted that Naruto's generation is particularly talented.
Many of the greater lingering mysteries of the series are questions of character motives and identity. The legacy of Naruto's parents, the goals that guide Kabuto Yakushi, the identity of the mysterious Akatsuki leader – these are only a few of the fundamental unanswered questions of "who" and, by proxy, "why" currently at the core of the series. The story is remarkably character-driven; the theme of causality runs inherently throughout the series as characters reciprocate for their past actions and relationships. In this respect, characters' respective destinies are very much intertwined, and large emphasis is placed on comradeship and 'bonds' between the community or individual.
Character names often borrow from Japanese mythology, folklore and literature (such as the names borrowed from the folk-tale Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari), or are otherwise elaborate puns; often there is a noticeable influence of the story behind the name shouldered by the character.
The manga was first published by Shueisha in 1999 in the 43rd issue of Japan's Shōnen Jump magazine. VIZ Mediapublishes a translated version in the American Shonen Jump, and is currently within a few volumes of the Japanese publication. Naruto has become VIZ Media's best-selling manga series.[1]
The anime series, produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex, premiered across Japan on the terrestrial TV Tokyonetwork and the anime satellite television network Animax on October 3, 2002, and is still being aired. Viz also licensed the anime for North American production. Naruto debuted in the United States on Cartoon Network'sToonami programming block on September 10, 2005, and in Canada on YTV's Bionix on September 16, 2005. Naruto began showing in the UK on Jetix on July 22, 2006. It began showing on Toasted TV on January 12, 2007 in Australia, although it could be watched on Cartoon Network in 2006. The first series lasted nine seasons, while the second began its first on February 15, 2007.
Contents [show]
Naruto MangaSee also: List of VolumesThe Naruto manga currently has 60 volumes and 589 chapters (as of May 6, 2012).
Naruto Manga PilotNaruto Geography.Main article: Naruto Manga PilotIn 1997 Masashi Kishimoto created the first published incarnation of the Naruto Series. Debuting in Akamaru Jump, the Naruto one-shot would be Kishimoto's first incarnation of the Naruto universe. Though the plot of the one-shot bears little resemblance to the later shōnen manga, many of the same character and ninja themes would be displayed for the first time.
Growth and PopularityThe series' length and popularity is comparable to that of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball, another popular action/martial arts-oriented shōnen manga, and one that was said to have greatly influenced Kishimoto's manga, Naruto. Since its creation, Naruto has spawned a large number of fansites that contain detailed information, guides, and active forums. Some of the first and most popular sites targeted at English speaking audiences were established shortly after the first English manga volume was released in August of 2003. And Like many other manga and anime titles, Naruto has also spawned its own collectible card game.
Prior to the anime's North American debut in 2005, several scanlation and fansub groups translated the series and made it available for free download on the internet. Despite North American companies' perceived tendency to prosecute fansubbing groups more frequently than Japanese companies,[2] there are some that have continued to translate new Naruto episodes due to the extremely large gap between the English and Japanese versions.
Volume 7 of the manga has won a Quill Award for best graphic novel in North America.[3] In TV Asahi's latest top 100 Anime Ranking, Naruto ranked 17th on the list.[4]
Anime DetailsSee also: List of Episodes and Anime-Manga DifferencesEven though it debuted some time after the manga, the anime quickly caught up, since one anime episode usually covers one or two manga chapters. To prevent overlapping, the anime's producers tend to organise content from the manga chapters into long, uneventful sections followed by short bursts of action, sometimes adding filler content in between. By the time the Sasuke Retrieval Arc ended in the anime (episode 135), the series was at a point where it was quickly gaining on the manga. At the conclusion of this arc, the anime immediately switched to anime-only episodes to allow the manga to broaden the gap once more. Most of these episodes are stand-alone stories, with a few being part of arcs that were several episodes long, and lasted for a total of 85 episodes in the first series.
After the series moved back into manga-adapted episodes, it was renamed Naruto: Shippūden (ナルト 疾風伝,Naruto Shippūden; Literally meaning "Naruto Hurricane Chronicles"). The new series premiered on February 15, 2007.
The anime generally remains true to the manga, usually changing only minor details (causes of death, loss of limbs, and other injuries have been lessened in the anime) or expanding on parts skipped by the manga, such as the fight between Tenten and Temari. The anime-only arcs, though unreferenced in the manga (save for a few scant scenes), deal with the breaks between manga volumes, which covers a short period before the Sasuke Retrieval Arc and several months before the time skip. The anime-only arcs tend to cover the supporting characters, occasionally giving insight into an otherwise rarely seen character.
New episodes, animated by Studio Pierrot, air weekly on TV Tokyo in Japan during the Golden Time slot (Japan's equivalent of prime time in the US). As of October 5, 2006, it shows on Thursday nights. The series has also spawned eight movies, Naruto the Movie, Naruto the Movie 2, Naruto the Movie 3, Naruto: Shippūden the Movie,Naruto Shippūden the Movie 2, Naruto Shippūden the Movie 3, Naruto Shippūden 4: The Lost Tower and Naruto 5: Blood Prison.
English-Language BroadcastOn September 10, 2005, Naruto had its hour-long premiere in the U.S. on Cartoon Network's Toonami. The first episode of Naruto premiered in Canada on YTV on September 16, 2005. In the United Kingdom, Naruto premiered on Jetix on July 22, 2006. In Australia and New Zealand it premiered on Cartoon Network on September 27, 2006. On October 28, 2009, Disney XD began airing English dubbed episodes of Naruto: Shippūden.
In its English anime release, Naruto was aired with a TV-PG rating in the US and a PG rating in Canada. More explicit episodes, such as Jiraiya's debut and the battle with Zabuza, have been given a TV-PG-DS or a TV-PG-V rating. References to alcoholism, Japanese cultural differences, mild language, mild sexual situations, and even blood and death remain in the English version, though reduced.[5] Other networks make additional content edits apart from the edits done by Cartoon Network, such as Jetix's more strict censoring of blood, language, and the like.
Plot OverviewFurther information: Plot of Naruto, Plot of Naruto: ShippūdenTwelve years before the events at the focus of the series, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konohagakure. It was a powerful demon; a single swing of one of its nine tails would raise tsunamis and flatten mountains. It raised chaos and caused the deaths of many, until the leader of Konoha, the Fourth Hokage, defeated it by sacrificing his own life to seal the demon inside a newly-born child. That child's name was Naruto Uzumaki.
The Fourth Hokage was celebrated as a hero for sealing the Nine-Tails away. He wanted Naruto to be respected in a similar light by being the containment vessel for the Nine-Tails. The village he grew up in, however, mostly shunned Naruto; they regarded him as if he were the Nine-Tails itself and mistreated him throughout most of his childhood.
A decree made by the Third Hokage made it so that the other villagers were forbidden to mention the event to anyone, even to their own children. However, this did not stop them from treating Naruto like an outcast. Although their children did not specifically know why their parents treated Naruto the way they did, they learned through example to despise the boy. As a result, Naruto grew up as an orphan in a lonesome atmosphere without friends, family, or acknowledgment. He could not force people to befriend him, so he sought acknowledgment and attention the only way he knew – through pranks and mischief. However, that soon changed after Naruto graduated from theAcademy by using his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to save his teacher, Iruka Umino, from the renegade ninjaMizuki. That encounter gave Naruto two insights: that he was the container of the Nine-Tails, and that there was someone besides the Third Hokage who actually cared about him. His graduation from the academy opened a gateway to the events and people that would change and define his world, including his way of the ninja for the rest of his life.
Naruto maintains a balance between drama and comedy, with plenty of action interspersed. It follows Naruto and his friends' personal growth and development as ninja, and emphasises their interactions with each other and the influence of their backgrounds on their personalities. Naruto finds two friends and comrades in Sasuke Uchiha andSakura Haruno, two fellow young ninja who are assigned with him to form a three-person team under a very experienced sensei named Kakashi Hatake. Naruto also confides in other characters as well that he has met through the Chūnin Exam. They learn new abilities, get to know each other and other villagers better, and experience a coming-of-age journey as Naruto dreams of becoming the Hokage of Konoha.
Naruto places strong emphasis on character development. Almost all outcomes are a result of decisions, character, and personality; very few things happen just because of chance. At first, emphasis is placed on Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, who are the members of Team 7. However, other characters are developed, such as Kakashi, Guy, and Jiraiya, as well as Naruto's peers in the other Genin teams and other villages.
Several major villains came into play as well, the first being Zabuza Momochi, a missing-nin from the Kirigakure, and his partner, Haku. Later, in the Chūnin Exam Arc, Orochimaru is introduced as an S-Class missing-nin at the top of Konoha's most wanted list. Later, a mysterious organisation called Akatsuki begins to pursue Naruto in order to take the Nine-Tails inside him and harness its power.
CharactersSee also: CharactersNaruto has a large and colourful cast of characters, running a gamut of detailed histories and complex personalities, and allowing many of them their fair share in the spotlight; they are also seen to grow and mature with the series, as it spans several years. As fitting for a coming-of-age saga, Naruto's world constantly expands and thickens, and his social relations are no exception – during his introduction he has only his teacher and the village's leader for sympathetic figures, but as the story progresses, more and more people become a part of his story.
The students at the Academy, where the story begins, are split up into teams of three after their graduation and become Genin. Each team is assigned an experienced sensei. These core teams form a basis for the characters' interactions later in the series, where characters are chosen for missions for their team's strength and complementary skills; Naruto's Team 7 becomes the social frame where Naruto is acquainted with Sasuke Uchihaand Sakura Haruno, and their sensei Kakashi Hatake, also called the "copy ninja" for copying thousands of ninja techniques with his Sharingan, forming the core of his world-in-the-making. The other three-man teams of his former classmates form another such layer, as Naruto connects with them to various degrees, learning of their motives, vulnerabilities, and aspirations, often relating them to his own. The groups of three are not limited to the comrades Naruto's age – groups in the story in general come in threes and multiples of three with very few exceptions.
Sensei-student relationships play a significant role in the series; Naruto has a number of mentors with whom he trains and learns, most notably Kakashi Hatake and Jiraiya, and there are often running threads of tradition and tutelage binding together several generations. These role models provide guidance for their students not only in the ninja arts but also in a number of Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideals. Techniques, ideals, and mentalities noticeably run in families, Naruto often being exposed to the abilities and traditions of generation-old clans in his village when friends from his own age group demonstrate them, or even achieve improvements of their own; it is poignantly noted that Naruto's generation is particularly talented.
Many of the greater lingering mysteries of the series are questions of character motives and identity. The legacy of Naruto's parents, the goals that guide Kabuto Yakushi, the identity of the mysterious Akatsuki leader – these are only a few of the fundamental unanswered questions of "who" and, by proxy, "why" currently at the core of the series. The story is remarkably character-driven; the theme of causality runs inherently throughout the series as characters reciprocate for their past actions and relationships. In this respect, characters' respective destinies are very much intertwined, and large emphasis is placed on comradeship and 'bonds' between the community or individual.
Character names often borrow from Japanese mythology, folklore and literature (such as the names borrowed from the folk-tale Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari), or are otherwise elaborate puns; often there is a noticeable influence of the story behind the name shouldered by the character.
Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl is a series of eight science fiction fantasy novels written by Irish author Eoin Colfer, featuring the titular character,Artemis Fowl II. A teenage criminal mastermind, Artemis captures a Fairy, Holly Short, in the first book and holds her for ransom to exploit the magical Fairy People and restore his family's fortune. In the sequel, Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident, he allies with the Fairies to rescue his father from the Russian Mafia. The series introduces Artemis as an anti-hero and the fairies' enemy, but as the series progresses, he assists the Fairies in resolving conflicts with worldwide ramifications; Artemis develops a strong sense of morals, and by the final book, he is willing to sacrifice his life for his friends. The series concluded with Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian, released July 2012.
The series has received positive critical reception and generated huge sales. It has also originated graphic novel adaptations and a film adaptation, which is currently in the writing process.
Series Overview
Main Series Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl is the first book in the series. Artemis Fowl, the main character and anti-hero, and his bodyguard, Butler, kidnap LEPrecon Captain Holly Short, a fairy elf, and demand a ransom from the People- the various fairies who have moved their entire civilisation underground to hide from humans - for one ton of twenty-four carat gold
A graphic novel adaptation was released in 2007. A film adaptation was reported to be in the writing stage in mid-2008, with Jim Sheridan directing.
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident is the second book of the series. It follows the rescue of Artemis Fowl I from the Russian Mafia, alongside the battle against the goblin rebellion led by the pixie Opal Koboi and elf Briar Cudgeon. A graphic novel adaptation was released in 2009.
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code covers the theft of the fictional C Cube by Jon Spiro and its eventual recovery. Butler is shot in the chest, and Holly Short heals him but he becomes several years older in the process. In the end, the Lower Elements Police mind-wipe Butler and Artemis. They regain their memories in the next book. The graphic novel adaptation is scheduled for release around the end of 2012.
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception
The fourth book, Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception, covers pixie Opal Koboi's second attempt at world domination, after her first unfruitful attempt in the second novel. Koboi convinces Giovanni Zito, a fictional environmentalist, to send a probe into the ground. The probe would have revealed the existence of fairies to the humans, but Artemis and Holly stop it. However, Koboi kills LEP Commander Julius Root, framing Captain Holly Short. Short is eventually acquitted but does not return to the LEP. Without Root, Short leaves the LEP and joins Mulch Diggums to form a private investigation firm.
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony involves bringing the demon island Hybras back from "Limbo," with the help of N°1, a powerful demon warlock. The demons regroup in Limbo, hoping for enough warriors to overthrow the human race so fairies could live on the surface once more. The time spell goes wrong, trapping the demons in Limbo without a warlock to bring them back. After Artemis predicts where a demon will show up, he meets Minerva, another child prodigy. Once N°1 revives the remaining warlock, Qwan, the group saves Hybras after defeating Abbot, a traitor demon. While they are in the time stream, almost three years pass in the human world, and Artemis returns to find that he has twin brothers.
Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox
The sixth book of the series, Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, was released in the United States 15 July 2008 and in the United Kingdom 7 August 2008. Artemis' mother, Angeline Fowl, becomes ill with Spelltropy, and the only cure lies in the brain fluids of the silky sifaka lemur, the last of which Artemis killed when he was ten. N°1 takes Artemis and Holly to the past, where Artemis must battle his former self to recover the last silky sifaka lemur before the younger Artemis kills it in a business transaction with Damon Kronski, the leader of the Extinctionists.
Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex
In Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex, Artemis contracts Atlantis Complex, a psychological disease which is the fairy equivalent of a combination of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, extreme paranoia, and Multiple Personality Disorder. His alter ego, Orion, becomes dominant and wreaks havoc, proclaiming Holly to be his true love and calling Foaly his "noble steed." Meanwhile, Turnball Root, Julius Root's older brother, is doing all he can to break out of prison and restore youth to his elderly human wife, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Artemis fights his crippling paranoia and does all he can to save the fairies.
Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian
In the final book in the series, Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian, released July 10, 2012. Opal Koboi opens The Berserker's Gate, a portal located on the Fowl estate, behind which dwell the spirits of Fairy soldiers who were killed in a war long ago. The spirits rise and possess the bodies of Artemis' family and friends. Artemis and Holly return the spirits to the portal before they rampage across the world, but the spirits kill Artemis. Foaly clones Artemis, and Artemis's soul inhabits the clone. The clone comes to life, and Holly explains how she met the original Artemis, starting the opening line of the first book in the series.
Other works
Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel is a graphic novel adaptation of the first book, published in October 2007. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident: The Graphic Novel, an adaptation of the second book was released in 2009. An adaptation of the third book is to be released in 2012.
The Artemis Fowl Files is a companion book to the series, published in October 2004.
"Artemis Fowl: The Seventh Dwarf" is a story written for World Book Day and is set between the first and second books.
Nathaniel Parker narrates the audiobooks. Adrian Dunbar and Enn Reitel narrate certain versions from different audiobook companies.
Major characters
Artemis Fowl
An Irish child prodigy and a ruthless master criminal, Artemis Fowl II uses his intelligence to build his family fortune through crime. This stems from his family, who have been criminals for generations. At first, Artemis is cold, cynical, and distant even from his closest friend, Butler. Throughout the series, his moral character improves, and he begins to show remorse for his actions and love for his family. Under the influence of Holly and his family, he steals only from those who deserve it and shares his loot with the public. In the first book, he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the fairy LEP to obtain massive amounts of gold. He later works with fairies to defeat villains and save the human and fairy worlds.
Domovoi Butler
Domovoi Butler is the Fowl's loyal manservant and Artemis' bodyguard. He is also Artemis' closest friend and accomplice. His comprehensive knowledge of weapons and extensive training in martial arts have allowed him to become the only human to defeat a troll. Butler follows Artemis around the world on his adventures and possesses a wide variety of contacts that he can use to aid Artemis.
Foaly
Foaly is a centaur, a technical genius and a computer geek. He works for the LEP (Lower Elements Police), the fairy authorities, and prevents humans from finding out about the fairy civilization. He also designs weaponry, wings, and other technical gadgets the LEP needs. He is not polite to others except Captain Holly Short.
Holly Short
Holly is a determined, forthright elf and the only female member of LEPrecon, the recon division of the LEP. Holly is three feet tall and slender. She has dark skin and crew-cut style auburn hair. She has one hazel eye and one blue eye, the latter of which she received when she switched eyes with Artemis in the fifth book. Compassionate and caring, she goes as far as healing Butler from fatal wounds sustained fighting a troll, even though he has been integral in the plan to hold her hostage—this act goes some way to changing both Artemis' and Butler's views on fairies. Since then, she has often helped Artemis and Butler save the human and fairy worlds. Her relationship with Artemis has changed dramatically since the beginning of the series, morphing from hostility to grudging respect to friendship.
Opal Koboi
Opal is a deranged pixie whose dream is world-domination and the destruction of the LEP. A prodigy, she built Koboi Laboratories, a technology company, which she used to crush her father's company. Featured in several of the Artemis Fowl books as the main antagonist, she attempts to take over Haven with a goblin army, alert humans to the existence of fairy people, and control time. In the fourth book, Opal kills Commander Root using a bomb and frames Holly for the murder. She detests Foaly, a technology-loving centaur who works for the LEP, because he once bested her in a contest.
Themes
Colfer has said in interviews that the series is about Artemis growing up. Themes of greed, trust, and the difference between good and evil are also present in the books.
Critical receptionColfer summed up the series as "Die Hard with fairies."Critics call the series "the new Harry Potter", although Colfer does not agree.[14] Kate Kellaway of The Observer called the first book "a smart, amusing one-off. It flashes with hi-tech invention – as if Colfer were as much an inspired boffin as a writer".[14] Time.com said, "Artemis Fowl is pacy, playful, and very funny, an inventive mix of myth and modernity, magic and crime",[15] while The New York Times Book Review said that "Colfer has done enormously, explosively well".
The series has received positive critical reception and generated huge sales. It has also originated graphic novel adaptations and a film adaptation, which is currently in the writing process.
Series Overview
Main Series Artemis Fowl
Artemis Fowl is the first book in the series. Artemis Fowl, the main character and anti-hero, and his bodyguard, Butler, kidnap LEPrecon Captain Holly Short, a fairy elf, and demand a ransom from the People- the various fairies who have moved their entire civilisation underground to hide from humans - for one ton of twenty-four carat gold
A graphic novel adaptation was released in 2007. A film adaptation was reported to be in the writing stage in mid-2008, with Jim Sheridan directing.
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident is the second book of the series. It follows the rescue of Artemis Fowl I from the Russian Mafia, alongside the battle against the goblin rebellion led by the pixie Opal Koboi and elf Briar Cudgeon. A graphic novel adaptation was released in 2009.
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code covers the theft of the fictional C Cube by Jon Spiro and its eventual recovery. Butler is shot in the chest, and Holly Short heals him but he becomes several years older in the process. In the end, the Lower Elements Police mind-wipe Butler and Artemis. They regain their memories in the next book. The graphic novel adaptation is scheduled for release around the end of 2012.
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception
The fourth book, Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception, covers pixie Opal Koboi's second attempt at world domination, after her first unfruitful attempt in the second novel. Koboi convinces Giovanni Zito, a fictional environmentalist, to send a probe into the ground. The probe would have revealed the existence of fairies to the humans, but Artemis and Holly stop it. However, Koboi kills LEP Commander Julius Root, framing Captain Holly Short. Short is eventually acquitted but does not return to the LEP. Without Root, Short leaves the LEP and joins Mulch Diggums to form a private investigation firm.
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony involves bringing the demon island Hybras back from "Limbo," with the help of N°1, a powerful demon warlock. The demons regroup in Limbo, hoping for enough warriors to overthrow the human race so fairies could live on the surface once more. The time spell goes wrong, trapping the demons in Limbo without a warlock to bring them back. After Artemis predicts where a demon will show up, he meets Minerva, another child prodigy. Once N°1 revives the remaining warlock, Qwan, the group saves Hybras after defeating Abbot, a traitor demon. While they are in the time stream, almost three years pass in the human world, and Artemis returns to find that he has twin brothers.
Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox
The sixth book of the series, Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox, was released in the United States 15 July 2008 and in the United Kingdom 7 August 2008. Artemis' mother, Angeline Fowl, becomes ill with Spelltropy, and the only cure lies in the brain fluids of the silky sifaka lemur, the last of which Artemis killed when he was ten. N°1 takes Artemis and Holly to the past, where Artemis must battle his former self to recover the last silky sifaka lemur before the younger Artemis kills it in a business transaction with Damon Kronski, the leader of the Extinctionists.
Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex
In Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex, Artemis contracts Atlantis Complex, a psychological disease which is the fairy equivalent of a combination of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, extreme paranoia, and Multiple Personality Disorder. His alter ego, Orion, becomes dominant and wreaks havoc, proclaiming Holly to be his true love and calling Foaly his "noble steed." Meanwhile, Turnball Root, Julius Root's older brother, is doing all he can to break out of prison and restore youth to his elderly human wife, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Artemis fights his crippling paranoia and does all he can to save the fairies.
Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian
In the final book in the series, Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian, released July 10, 2012. Opal Koboi opens The Berserker's Gate, a portal located on the Fowl estate, behind which dwell the spirits of Fairy soldiers who were killed in a war long ago. The spirits rise and possess the bodies of Artemis' family and friends. Artemis and Holly return the spirits to the portal before they rampage across the world, but the spirits kill Artemis. Foaly clones Artemis, and Artemis's soul inhabits the clone. The clone comes to life, and Holly explains how she met the original Artemis, starting the opening line of the first book in the series.
Other works
Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel is a graphic novel adaptation of the first book, published in October 2007. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident: The Graphic Novel, an adaptation of the second book was released in 2009. An adaptation of the third book is to be released in 2012.
The Artemis Fowl Files is a companion book to the series, published in October 2004.
"Artemis Fowl: The Seventh Dwarf" is a story written for World Book Day and is set between the first and second books.
Nathaniel Parker narrates the audiobooks. Adrian Dunbar and Enn Reitel narrate certain versions from different audiobook companies.
Major characters
Artemis Fowl
An Irish child prodigy and a ruthless master criminal, Artemis Fowl II uses his intelligence to build his family fortune through crime. This stems from his family, who have been criminals for generations. At first, Artemis is cold, cynical, and distant even from his closest friend, Butler. Throughout the series, his moral character improves, and he begins to show remorse for his actions and love for his family. Under the influence of Holly and his family, he steals only from those who deserve it and shares his loot with the public. In the first book, he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the fairy LEP to obtain massive amounts of gold. He later works with fairies to defeat villains and save the human and fairy worlds.
Domovoi Butler
Domovoi Butler is the Fowl's loyal manservant and Artemis' bodyguard. He is also Artemis' closest friend and accomplice. His comprehensive knowledge of weapons and extensive training in martial arts have allowed him to become the only human to defeat a troll. Butler follows Artemis around the world on his adventures and possesses a wide variety of contacts that he can use to aid Artemis.
Foaly
Foaly is a centaur, a technical genius and a computer geek. He works for the LEP (Lower Elements Police), the fairy authorities, and prevents humans from finding out about the fairy civilization. He also designs weaponry, wings, and other technical gadgets the LEP needs. He is not polite to others except Captain Holly Short.
Holly Short
Holly is a determined, forthright elf and the only female member of LEPrecon, the recon division of the LEP. Holly is three feet tall and slender. She has dark skin and crew-cut style auburn hair. She has one hazel eye and one blue eye, the latter of which she received when she switched eyes with Artemis in the fifth book. Compassionate and caring, she goes as far as healing Butler from fatal wounds sustained fighting a troll, even though he has been integral in the plan to hold her hostage—this act goes some way to changing both Artemis' and Butler's views on fairies. Since then, she has often helped Artemis and Butler save the human and fairy worlds. Her relationship with Artemis has changed dramatically since the beginning of the series, morphing from hostility to grudging respect to friendship.
Opal Koboi
Opal is a deranged pixie whose dream is world-domination and the destruction of the LEP. A prodigy, she built Koboi Laboratories, a technology company, which she used to crush her father's company. Featured in several of the Artemis Fowl books as the main antagonist, she attempts to take over Haven with a goblin army, alert humans to the existence of fairy people, and control time. In the fourth book, Opal kills Commander Root using a bomb and frames Holly for the murder. She detests Foaly, a technology-loving centaur who works for the LEP, because he once bested her in a contest.
Themes
Colfer has said in interviews that the series is about Artemis growing up. Themes of greed, trust, and the difference between good and evil are also present in the books.
Critical receptionColfer summed up the series as "Die Hard with fairies."Critics call the series "the new Harry Potter", although Colfer does not agree.[14] Kate Kellaway of The Observer called the first book "a smart, amusing one-off. It flashes with hi-tech invention – as if Colfer were as much an inspired boffin as a writer".[14] Time.com said, "Artemis Fowl is pacy, playful, and very funny, an inventive mix of myth and modernity, magic and crime",[15] while The New York Times Book Review said that "Colfer has done enormously, explosively well".