Artemis Fowl reading order
Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl novels in publication order through The Last Guardian, then the Fowl Twins books — labeled so the brothers are not book one.
Start here
Artemis Fowl
It is book one (2001). The later novels assume that first bargain. Do not start with The Last Guardian. Do not start with The Fowl Twins. Do not start with the Disney+ film.
Eight novels make Artemis’s run. They are a character ladder. The boy in book one is not the boy in book eight, and that is the point of reading them in order.
The Fowl Twins books are a later generation in the same shop. They are not Artemis 9–11, and they are not a cleaner on-ramp.
The eight novels
| # | Title | Year | Notes | Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Artemis Fowl | 2001 | Start here. | Amazon |
| 2 |  The Arctic Incident | 2002 | Amazon | |
| 3 |  The Eternity Code | 2003 | Amazon | |
| 4 |  The Opal Deception | 2005 | Amazon | |
| 5 |  The Lost Colony | 2006 | Amazon | |
| 6 |  The Time Paradox | 2008 | Time tangle; still sixth. | Amazon |
| 7 |  The Atlantis Complex | 2010 | Amazon | |
| 8 |  The Last Guardian | 2012 | Ends Artemis’s eight. | Amazon |
Read them in this order. There is no honest “start at book five” door. Graphic-novel adaptations of early books are the same cases in another script. They are not a shortcut around novel one.
Some editions number the titles (Artemis Fowl 3: The Eternity Code). Same books.
The Fowl Twins — later, optional
| Title | Year | Notes | Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|
 The Fowl Twins | 2019 | Myles and Beckett. After the eight if you want more of the firm. | Amazon |
 The Fowl Twins Deny All Charges | 2020 | Amazon | |
| The Fowl Twins Get What They Deserve | 2021 | Closes the twins’ three. | Amazon |
House rule: read the eight. If you want the younger brothers, read the Twins after The Last Guardian. Do not open The Fowl Twins because the cover looks like a fresh book one of the whole firm.
Colfer’s site keeps Artemis and the Twins on neighboring shelves. That is correct. Neighboring is not interchangeable.
Common mistakes
- Starting with the Disney+ film and calling it the novel.
- Starting with The Time Paradox because time travel sounds like an origin.
- Treating the graphic novels as the reading order.
- Opening a Twins book because Artemis is “finished” and the new hardcover is in the window.
What to read next
- Percy Jackson / Camp Half-Blood (Rick Riordan) — If you want another long children’s spine with later cycles that look like book one.
- Harry Potter (J. K. Rowling) — If you want the other school-and-hidden-world ladder, with extras that look like novels.
- Hitchhiker’s Guide (Douglas Adams) — If the dry crime-and-gadget voice was the hook, in an older comic register. Colfer later wrote a sixth Hitchhiker novel; that is a different shop.
- Discworld — Rincewind (Terry Pratchett) — If you want another coward-and-luggage travel comedy that is a real sequence.
- Stop at The Last Guardian. The eight are a complete visit.
FAQ
Do I need the Twins books?
No. Artemis’s eight end.
Graphic novels first?
No. Optional reread of early cases.
Is the film a decent on-ramp?
It is a cousin. It is not the book order.
Which cover says Artemis Fowl versus Artemis Fowl 1?
Same book. Search either.
Sources
- Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl — author hub for Artemis and the Fowl Twins. Opened 2026-09-13.
- Penguin Random House, Artemis Fowl — publisher series page for the eight. Opened 2026-09-13.
Same shelf
