Artemis has been mind wiped, and left with no fairy memories. It’s ironic that now he is the one being hunted instead, and he can’t even remember it! Opal has been lying in wait to get her revenge. Can Artemis and Holly escape?
Artemis has reverted back to the calculating individual he was before his contact with Holly. This doesn’t really let him fit in with his newly reunited family. He’s on the hunt for a particular fairy artwork, but doesn’t know why he’s attracted to it, and where those strange memories are coming from.
Meanwhile, Holly is shooting Commander Root, and Foaly is seeing his friends all killed off one by one. But who is behind this deception? Is it little Belinda, or someone else?
The Opal Deception is well crafted. It is plot driven, which is a good thing as the main characters seem to be being killed off very quickly. Colfer skillfully references things in other novels, yet still keeps a freshness in the interesting gadgets. He must have a very inventive mind to keep thinking of things for Foaly to design…
Another thing that hit me about its structure, and those of the other book in the series was that they all seem to open in a different way. This one has an excerpt from a new diary that Artemis has begun to keep. Others have a psychologist’s analysis and fake scientific expose type addresses.
I remember lining up to get this book, pouncing on its release date. Imagine my dismay when I discovered that the front cover is very different to the first three – it actually has holes in it! The story inside lived up to my expectations however.
I think I’m going to take a break from reading these now (there are 3 more on my shelf waiting to be read) and read something with more depth. I found that as I was about to launch into this one, I felt a strange sense of being tired of reading them. It’s likely just having read all of the same author for a while, I feel like a change. It is the same thing I felt when rereading the Alex Rider series.
