Publishers Weekly
This highly anticipated sequel to Farmer’s National Book Award–winning The House of the Scorpion (2002) begins soon after the funeral of the drug lord El Patrón and the murder of nearly everyone who attended the event. Fourteen-year-old Matt, the dead drug lord’s clone, was originally created to provide spare parts for El Patrón, but is now the Lord of Opium. Surrounded by people who have been surgically conditioned to satisfy his every whim, many of them mindless and virtually helpless eejits, Matt must come to terms with the deep immorality upon which his wealth is based, while fending off another drug lord, the rapacious Glass Eye Dabengwa, and a fanatical U.N. representative, Esperanza Mendoza. Complicating matters further are Matt’s involvement with the beautiful eejit Waitress; his lifelong relationship with Mendoza’s strong-willed daughter María; and the machinations of the mad physician, Dr. Rivas, who created Matt. Once again, Farmer’s near-future world offers an electric blend of horrors and beauty. Lyrically written and filled with well-rounded, sometimes thorny characters, this superb novel is well worth the wait. Ages 12–up. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
* "Farmer’s near-future world offers an electric blend of horrors and beauty. Lyrically written and filled with well-rounded, sometimes thorny characters. . . . [a] superb novel." - Publishers Weekly, starred review
* "A stellar sequel worth the wait.” - Booklist, starred review
starred review Booklist
* "A stellar sequel worth the wait.
Booklist
* "Most young readers who loved The House of the Scorpion (2002) when it was first released are now adults, and today’s teen audience will need to read the first title in order to fully understand Farmer’s brilliantly realized world…. A stellar sequel worth the wait.
Booklist
* "Most young readers who loved The House of the Scorpion (2002) when it was first released are now adults, and today’s teen audience will need to read the first title in order to fully understand Farmer’s brilliantly realized world.... A stellar sequel worth the wait.
School Library Journal - Audio
02/01/2014
Gr 7 Up—This long-awaited sequel (2013) to The House of the Scorpion (2002, both S & S) begins with Matt becoming El Patrón and no longer a clone. With El Patrón's death and the death of all his relatives, Matt is the new Lord of Opium and his plan is to cure the eejits, the microchipped workers of Opium, and prevent a takeover of the country. He must learn to be a tough drug lord and deal with his new status as a person, not a dispensable clone. Dangers surround the boy, and he must learn who to trust in order to save the eejits and the lives of his friends. Matt must also struggle for his own soul as he assumes power. Addressing many ethical issues such as cloning, the drug trade, human rights, and ecological concerns, Farmer shines a light on issues facing our society today and provides a fascinating look at how people deal with these concerns in Opium. Raúl Esparza shows Matt's internal struggles and brings to life the emotions and personalities of all the characters. They are well created and complex, from the jefe Cienfuegos, who destroyed people's lives while wanting to save the environment, to Listen, who struggles with emotions, religion, and friendship when she only knows science, abandonment, and terror. Farmer's novel is a reminder to stay vigilant to the problems of the world and not become indifferent. This is a well-written work with an important message for teens.—Sarah Flood, Breckinridge County Public Library, Hardinsburg, KY
DECEMBER 2013 - AudioFile
Narrator Raúl Esparza performs this sequel to HOUSE OF THE SCORPION. He gives life to the story of Matt, a clone in an imagined near future. Here, Matt’s “original,” a powerful drug lord, has died, and the teenaged Matt has inherited his empire. Esparza moves fluidly between English and Spanish, as Matt does, and he creates distinct, appropriately accented voices for the multicultural cast of characters who help and oppose Matt as he tries to change his country from a slave economy based on the production of opium to one filled with free people producing crops and goods that sustain life. Ethical dilemmas, action, science, and even romance combine for riveting listening. A.F. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
In the much-anticipated sequel to The House of the Scorpion (2002), 14-year-old Matteo Alacrán returns home as the new Lord of Opium. Matt was a clone of El Patrón, drug lord of Opium, but with El Patrón dead, Matt is now considered by international law to be fully human and El Patrón's rightful heir. But it's a corrupt land, now part of a larger Dope Confederacy carved out of the southeastern United States and northern Mexico, ruled over by drug lords and worked by armies of Illegals turned into "eejits," or zombies. Matt wants to bring reform: cure the eejits, disband the evil Farm Patrol, uproot the opium, shut down the drug distribution network, plant new crops and, if that's not enough, heal the planet, since the outside world is in the midst of an ecological disaster. But how can an innocent 14-year-old do all of this and keep warring drug lords at bay? If this volume lacks the mystery and deft plotting of its predecessor (and sometimes feels like an extended epilogue to it), it has an imagined world that will keep readers marveling at the sheer weirdness of it all--the zombies and clones, drug lord Glass Eye Dabengwa, a ghost army, the Mushroom Master, biospheres and a space station. A vividly imagined tale of a future world full of fascinating characters and moral themes--a tremendous backdrop for one young man's search for identity. (cast of characters, map, chronology, appendix) (Science fiction. 12 & up)