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Matteo Alacran #2
The Lord of Opium
As the teenage ruler of his own country, Matt must cope with clones and cartels in this “electric blend of horrors and beauty” ( Publishers Weekly ), the riveting sequel to the modern classic House of the Scorpion , winner of the National Book Award, a Newbery Honor, and a Printz Honor.
Matt has always been nothing but a clone—grown from a strip of old El Patron’s skin. Now, at age fourteen, he finds himself suddenly thrust into the position of ruling over his own country. The Land of Opium is the largest territory of the Dope Confederacy, which ranges on the map like an intestine from the ruins of San Diego to the ruins of Matamoros. But while Opium thrives, the rest of the world has been devastated by ecological disaster—and hidden in Opium is the cure.
And that isn’t all that awaits within the depths of Opium. Matt is haunted by the ubiquitous army of eejits, zombielike workers harnessed to the old El Patron’s sinister system of drug growing—people stripped of the very qualities that once made them human.
Matt wants to use his newfound power to help, to stop the suffering, but he can’t even find a way to smuggle his childhood love, Maria, across the border and into Opium. Instead, his every move hits a roadblock, some from the enemies that surround him…and some from a voice within himself. For who is Matt really, but the clone of an evil, murderous dictator? Is his true destiny already predetermined by his genes?
Matt has always been nothing but a clone—grown from a strip of old El Patron’s skin. Now, at age fourteen, he finds himself suddenly thrust into the position of ruling over his own country. The Land of Opium is the largest territory of the Dope Confederacy, which ranges on the map like an intestine from the ruins of San Diego to the ruins of Matamoros. But while Opium thrives, the rest of the world has been devastated by ecological disaster—and hidden in Opium is the cure.
And that isn’t all that awaits within the depths of Opium. Matt is haunted by the ubiquitous army of eejits, zombielike workers harnessed to the old El Patron’s sinister system of drug growing—people stripped of the very qualities that once made them human.
Matt wants to use his newfound power to help, to stop the suffering, but he can’t even find a way to smuggle his childhood love, Maria, across the border and into Opium. Instead, his every move hits a roadblock, some from the enemies that surround him…and some from a voice within himself. For who is Matt really, but the clone of an evil, murderous dictator? Is his true destiny already predetermined by his genes?
448 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 2013
569 people are currently reading
9477 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Farmer
55 books1,517 followersNancy was born in 1941 in Phoenix and grew up in a hotel on the Arizona-Mexico border where she worked the switchboard at the age of nine. She also found time to hang out in the old state prison and the hobo jungle along the banks of the Colorado River. She attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, earning her BA in 1963. Instead of taking a regular job, she joined the Peace Corps and was sent to India (1963-1965). When she returned, she moved into a commune in Berkeley, sold newspapers on the street for a while, then got a job in the Entomology department at UC Berkeley and also took courses in Chemistry there. Restless, again, she decided to visit Africa. She and a friend tried to hitchhike by boat but the ship they'd selected turned out to be stolen and was boarded by the Coast Guard just outside the Golden Gate Bridge. Nancy eventually got to Africa on a legal ship. She spent more than a year on Lake Cabora Bassa in Mozambique, monitoring water weeds. Next she was hired to help control tsetse fly in the dense bush on the banks of the Zambezi in Zimbabwe. Part of the time she spent in the capital, Harare, and was introduced to her soon-to-be husband by his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. He proposed a week later. Harold and Nancy now live in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona on a major drug route for the Sinaloa Cartel. This is the setting for The Lord of Opium. They have a son, Daniel, who is in the U.S. navy.
Nancy's honors include the National Book Award for The House of the Scorpion and Newbery Honors for The Ear, the Eye and The Arm, A Girl Named Disaster and The House of the Scorpion. She is the author of nine novels, three picture books and a number of short stories. Her books have been translated into 26 languages.
Nancy's honors include the National Book Award for The House of the Scorpion and Newbery Honors for The Ear, the Eye and The Arm, A Girl Named Disaster and The House of the Scorpion. She is the author of nine novels, three picture books and a number of short stories. Her books have been translated into 26 languages.
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June 27, 2014
I read
The House of the Scorpion
in fifth or sixth grade, and I loved it. I have a vivid memory of being excited for standardized testing because it meant I had time to read (I liked standardized testing when I was younger because I've always been a fast test-taker, which meant at least half an hour of reading time for me). I remember sitting in a desk that I'd shoved into a corner of the room, being absolutely enthralled by the book.
Now, I don't remember that much of it. I remember how it made me think, and I remember vague plot points, but other details escape me. Still, I've counted it as being among my favorite books for years. So, naturally, I assumed I would also love The Lord of Opium.
If I went and reread The House of the Scorpion now, I don't think I would be as impressed by it. The Lord of Opium won't leave the same impact on my mind. Yes, it's thought-provoking, but these ideas are never fully explored, and it's too weighed down by other plot and narration issues. My biggest problem was that the plot hardly goes anywhere. It has a clear focus--Matt wantes to re-humanize the eejits and eliminate the opium farms altogether. (Ambitious goals, but he's a socially isolated fourteen-year-old who has suddenly become a drug lord. I'll give him a break.) Still, things happen at an annoyingly slow rate. Matt goes to visit people, talks to scientists and Cienfuegos, tries to connect with Mirasol (an eejit), mopes around. Little of this is exciting, and it gets old pretty fast.
Even though Matt is fourteen years old, the narration reads like that of a twelve-year-old. It's overly simplistic. Sentences tend to be short, which makes everything seem choppy. It doesn't fit with the tone of the book or the intended audience. Again, I understand that Matt is socially and, in some ways, developmentally stunted, but his actions and words were more mature than the narration made him seem. If the narration had matched this, the entire book would have flowed better.
Matt himself is an interesting character--I could see the struggle between his own thoughts and what he felt were the intrusion of El Patrón's. He has a fascinating yet sad backstory, and it gave him an interesting personality. The side characters, however, weren't anywhere near as interesting. Some of the kids (like Listen) acted too old for their age, some too young (like María). None of them ever grabbed my attention, and sometimes it felt like there were too many characters for the story.
All that being said, this book has some truly thought-provoking ideas, and asks some difficult and relevant questions. What is the relationship of a clone to the original? How much of a clone is their own--their body, their thoughts, their personality, their instincts? When does a human being stop being a person, if ever? None of these things are easy to answer. Nancy Farmer explores them through Matt's complicated relationship with El Patrón (before and after his death), his attempted connection with Mirasol, and his new role as drug lord. Like I mentioned earlier, these things weren't discussed quite thoroughly enough for my liking, but they helped slightly redeem the book, for me.
Overall, I have mixed feelings about this. The premise and its ideas are fascinating, but the plot is slow. The narration is simplistic and choppy, and there are so many flat side characters. It's probably worth a read if you enjoyed The House of the Scorpion, but I'm a bit disappointed with it.
Similar Books: It deals with questions of personhood, for lack of a better term, like Unwind. It presents a bleak dystopian future like Ship Breaker, The Knife of Never Letting Go, and Blood Red Road.
Read more of my reviews at http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com.
Pre-review: There. Is. A. Sequel?
WHAT THE HOLY FREAKING I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE THIS HOLY MOTHER OF SLEIPNIR I CAN'T THINK RIGHT NOW ASD;LKFJA;LEFJ;ALKG
I have been waiting for this since fifth grade!
My brain right now:
Now I'm going to have to go reread The House of the Scorpion. Because, you know, haven't read that beauty since fifth grade.
Now, I don't remember that much of it. I remember how it made me think, and I remember vague plot points, but other details escape me. Still, I've counted it as being among my favorite books for years. So, naturally, I assumed I would also love The Lord of Opium.
If I went and reread The House of the Scorpion now, I don't think I would be as impressed by it. The Lord of Opium won't leave the same impact on my mind. Yes, it's thought-provoking, but these ideas are never fully explored, and it's too weighed down by other plot and narration issues. My biggest problem was that the plot hardly goes anywhere. It has a clear focus--Matt wantes to re-humanize the eejits and eliminate the opium farms altogether. (Ambitious goals, but he's a socially isolated fourteen-year-old who has suddenly become a drug lord. I'll give him a break.) Still, things happen at an annoyingly slow rate. Matt goes to visit people, talks to scientists and Cienfuegos, tries to connect with Mirasol (an eejit), mopes around. Little of this is exciting, and it gets old pretty fast.
Even though Matt is fourteen years old, the narration reads like that of a twelve-year-old. It's overly simplistic. Sentences tend to be short, which makes everything seem choppy. It doesn't fit with the tone of the book or the intended audience. Again, I understand that Matt is socially and, in some ways, developmentally stunted, but his actions and words were more mature than the narration made him seem. If the narration had matched this, the entire book would have flowed better.
Matt himself is an interesting character--I could see the struggle between his own thoughts and what he felt were the intrusion of El Patrón's. He has a fascinating yet sad backstory, and it gave him an interesting personality. The side characters, however, weren't anywhere near as interesting. Some of the kids (like Listen) acted too old for their age, some too young (like María). None of them ever grabbed my attention, and sometimes it felt like there were too many characters for the story.
All that being said, this book has some truly thought-provoking ideas, and asks some difficult and relevant questions. What is the relationship of a clone to the original? How much of a clone is their own--their body, their thoughts, their personality, their instincts? When does a human being stop being a person, if ever? None of these things are easy to answer. Nancy Farmer explores them through Matt's complicated relationship with El Patrón (before and after his death), his attempted connection with Mirasol, and his new role as drug lord. Like I mentioned earlier, these things weren't discussed quite thoroughly enough for my liking, but they helped slightly redeem the book, for me.
Overall, I have mixed feelings about this. The premise and its ideas are fascinating, but the plot is slow. The narration is simplistic and choppy, and there are so many flat side characters. It's probably worth a read if you enjoyed The House of the Scorpion, but I'm a bit disappointed with it.
Similar Books: It deals with questions of personhood, for lack of a better term, like Unwind. It presents a bleak dystopian future like Ship Breaker, The Knife of Never Letting Go, and Blood Red Road.
Read more of my reviews at http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com.
Pre-review: There. Is. A. Sequel?
WHAT THE HOLY FREAKING I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE THIS HOLY MOTHER OF SLEIPNIR I CAN'T THINK RIGHT NOW ASD;LKFJA;LEFJ;ALKG
I have been waiting for this since fifth grade!
My brain right now:
Now I'm going to have to go reread The House of the Scorpion. Because, you know, haven't read that beauty since fifth grade.
May 13, 2015
There's some pretty harsh reviews for Lord of Opium, but I don't understand why. This follow up to The House of the Scorpion was very, very good!
September 2, 2013
This is one of those cases where I think memory did me a disservice. See, The House of the Scorpion is praised as one of the best dystopian novels, and I do agree that might be true, as it does focus on world building (not a claim many YA dystopians can make). However, when I read it, The House of the Scorpion was in the 3-3.5 range for me. Despite that, I was convinced that younger me missed something and that I would enjoy the series more now. Sadly, this didn't turn out to be the case. From what I can recall, I think The Lord of Opium is a good sequel, but it was a bit slow for me.
Before launching into The Lord of Opium, I read a synopsis of The House of the Scorpion, because I remembered very little. Based on that refresher, The Lord of Opium is legit. Sometimes sequels ruin the original, especially when the sequel may not have initially been planned. The House of the Scorpion came to a nice conclusion, but it didn't wrap things up in a neat bow, and Farmer had lots of questions to really dig into with another book. If The House of the Scorpion was your jam, I don't think The Lord of Opium will taint your opinion of the previous book, except maybe the romance arc I'll talk about later.
The parts of the book I enjoyed were the political and psychological angles. Politically, Opium's a mess. El Patrón and his heirs died, leaving a power vacuum in one of the most powerful drug kingdoms. With El Patrón dead, Matt becomes the new Patrón and legally a human being, no longer a clone. Though legally accepted as human and ruler, others are not necessarily eager to show deference to a fifteen-year-old clone.
On top of that, Matt wants to make huge changes to Opium, namely stopping the production of opium and curing the eejits, microchipped workers. The whole economy of the country will have to be restructured to do this, not to mention the scientific work that will need to be done to remove the microchips from the workers. Plus, other countries will not be thrilled to hear that Matt doesn't wish to export opium anymore, most especially Africa, run by the super creepy Glass Eye Dabengwa, who's a lot like El Patrón was. Basically, all of the leaders of the world are super reminiscent of tyrants of the past and just yikes.
Another powerful element was Matt's internal struggle with El Patrón, who's sort of inhabiting his mind. There's really a question of whether some element of Patrón lives inside of him or if this is something he's imagining as he cracks under the pressure of his new position. Matt was very unlike El Patrón in the first book, but shades of the person he could become begin to appear now. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, as they say, and Farmer really delves into the way dark impulses can sneak through when you have complete control.
Though I liked all of those things, the book just went on forever, and I slogged through it. Farmer's more about the world building and plot, and the only truly well-developed characters are Matt and Cienfuegos. Without more powerful characters, I wasn't invested enough for all of those pages to not be a chore. Sometimes the length is necessary, but I feel like there was room for quite a bit of trimming. I'm also left with myriad questions about the world building, but the biggest issue for me personally was a lack of caring.
The straw that pushed The Lord of Opium from being a book about which I felt relatively ambivalent to one I didn't particularly care for was the romance, especially that very last page. Generally, I do not care for the portrayal of women, with most of them being entirely undeveloped and shunted into homemaker-y roles and the one powerful woman, María's mother, is depicted as entirely unfeeling. Like any woman in politics, Esperanza is judged more for her horrible parenting than her political stances, which, so far as I can tell, mostly involve trying to help the environment recover from what humans have done to it.
Warning: SPOILERS in this paragraph:
Oh, right, I was talking about the romance. Anyway, Matt has this thing with María, also fifteen. They're a little couple, but her mom doesn't approve and is keeping her apart. Meanwhile, he becomes obsessed with his waitress, an eejit he dubs Mirasol, even though she only responds to Waitress. María finds out about this and is jealous. He tells her not to worry, but continues spending a lot of time with Mirasol, trying to save her and the other eejits. He figures out he can wake her up a bit, bring out her personality from within in the mindless zombie persona, if he plays a certain song. She will dance and then pass out. While she's passed out, he kisses her. This is wrong and creepy on so many levels, since she can't consent because she's unconscious AND because she's brainwashed. Also, he's supposedly in a loving, committed relationship with María. But, hey, conveniently Mirasol dies, closing off that love triangle, and leaving Matt free to marry María at fifteen, because, hey, he's the Patrón and he can do whatever the fuck he wants. Romance, ladies and gentlemen!
Though I don't think The Lord of Opium is entirely without merit, it really is not a book for me. I suspect those who really loved The House of the Scorpion will enjoy this, but I make no promises since I do not remember that book well.
Before launching into The Lord of Opium, I read a synopsis of The House of the Scorpion, because I remembered very little. Based on that refresher, The Lord of Opium is legit. Sometimes sequels ruin the original, especially when the sequel may not have initially been planned. The House of the Scorpion came to a nice conclusion, but it didn't wrap things up in a neat bow, and Farmer had lots of questions to really dig into with another book. If The House of the Scorpion was your jam, I don't think The Lord of Opium will taint your opinion of the previous book, except maybe the romance arc I'll talk about later.
The parts of the book I enjoyed were the political and psychological angles. Politically, Opium's a mess. El Patrón and his heirs died, leaving a power vacuum in one of the most powerful drug kingdoms. With El Patrón dead, Matt becomes the new Patrón and legally a human being, no longer a clone. Though legally accepted as human and ruler, others are not necessarily eager to show deference to a fifteen-year-old clone.
On top of that, Matt wants to make huge changes to Opium, namely stopping the production of opium and curing the eejits, microchipped workers. The whole economy of the country will have to be restructured to do this, not to mention the scientific work that will need to be done to remove the microchips from the workers. Plus, other countries will not be thrilled to hear that Matt doesn't wish to export opium anymore, most especially Africa, run by the super creepy Glass Eye Dabengwa, who's a lot like El Patrón was. Basically, all of the leaders of the world are super reminiscent of tyrants of the past and just yikes.
Another powerful element was Matt's internal struggle with El Patrón, who's sort of inhabiting his mind. There's really a question of whether some element of Patrón lives inside of him or if this is something he's imagining as he cracks under the pressure of his new position. Matt was very unlike El Patrón in the first book, but shades of the person he could become begin to appear now. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, as they say, and Farmer really delves into the way dark impulses can sneak through when you have complete control.
Though I liked all of those things, the book just went on forever, and I slogged through it. Farmer's more about the world building and plot, and the only truly well-developed characters are Matt and Cienfuegos. Without more powerful characters, I wasn't invested enough for all of those pages to not be a chore. Sometimes the length is necessary, but I feel like there was room for quite a bit of trimming. I'm also left with myriad questions about the world building, but the biggest issue for me personally was a lack of caring.
The straw that pushed The Lord of Opium from being a book about which I felt relatively ambivalent to one I didn't particularly care for was the romance, especially that very last page. Generally, I do not care for the portrayal of women, with most of them being entirely undeveloped and shunted into homemaker-y roles and the one powerful woman, María's mother, is depicted as entirely unfeeling. Like any woman in politics, Esperanza is judged more for her horrible parenting than her political stances, which, so far as I can tell, mostly involve trying to help the environment recover from what humans have done to it.
Warning: SPOILERS in this paragraph:
Oh, right, I was talking about the romance. Anyway, Matt has this thing with María, also fifteen. They're a little couple, but her mom doesn't approve and is keeping her apart. Meanwhile, he becomes obsessed with his waitress, an eejit he dubs Mirasol, even though she only responds to Waitress. María finds out about this and is jealous. He tells her not to worry, but continues spending a lot of time with Mirasol, trying to save her and the other eejits. He figures out he can wake her up a bit, bring out her personality from within in the mindless zombie persona, if he plays a certain song. She will dance and then pass out. While she's passed out, he kisses her. This is wrong and creepy on so many levels, since she can't consent because she's unconscious AND because she's brainwashed. Also, he's supposedly in a loving, committed relationship with María. But, hey, conveniently Mirasol dies, closing off that love triangle, and leaving Matt free to marry María at fifteen, because, hey, he's the Patrón and he can do whatever the fuck he wants. Romance, ladies and gentlemen!
Though I don't think The Lord of Opium is entirely without merit, it really is not a book for me. I suspect those who really loved The House of the Scorpion will enjoy this, but I make no promises since I do not remember that book well.
January 24, 2013
I am so disappointed.
I was highly impressed by THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION and very excited to be able to read an ARC of the sequel. Alas, so much of what I admired in the first book is absent from the second. While reading SCORPION I was swept up into Matt's experiences, his gradual understanding of the dystopia he inhabits and his highly unsettling place within it. And, of course, there was considerable tension arising from his struggle to survive and keep his friends safe.
In reading OPIUM, I felt too distanced from Matt's experiences to be emotionally engaged. Farmer introduces some interesting ideas such as the possibility that poisoned soil can be healed with the use of fungi or her further explorations of the potential benefits and disasters associated with cloning, but it's overly cerebral. It feels like a rushed guided tour where the guide won't let you linger in the really interesting places to soak up the atmosphere.
It may be that Farmer set the bar so high with SCORPION that I couldn't help being let down by OPIUM. Sigh.
I was highly impressed by THE HOUSE OF THE SCORPION and very excited to be able to read an ARC of the sequel. Alas, so much of what I admired in the first book is absent from the second. While reading SCORPION I was swept up into Matt's experiences, his gradual understanding of the dystopia he inhabits and his highly unsettling place within it. And, of course, there was considerable tension arising from his struggle to survive and keep his friends safe.
In reading OPIUM, I felt too distanced from Matt's experiences to be emotionally engaged. Farmer introduces some interesting ideas such as the possibility that poisoned soil can be healed with the use of fungi or her further explorations of the potential benefits and disasters associated with cloning, but it's overly cerebral. It feels like a rushed guided tour where the guide won't let you linger in the really interesting places to soak up the atmosphere.
It may be that Farmer set the bar so high with SCORPION that I couldn't help being let down by OPIUM. Sigh.
October 27, 2013
I abandoned this about 2/3 of the way through, and should have done it sooner. I absolutely loved The House of the Scorpion and was so excited about this sequel. The problem:
Nothing happens. There are many opportunities for action and tense moments, all of which are ignored. Every other drug lord in the world should have been immediately moving in on the territory, but no, they just supposedly complain about their drug shipments, that's all. Far too much describing of stuff instead of showing or acting on it.
Matteo is totally wooden in this version; I was sympathetic to him in the earlier novel, but in this one, he is a very unlikeable kid, and I stopped reading because I stopped caring what happened to him. One minute he is totally concerned with the have nots, and the next he's screaming like a dictator. I took that as Farmer's way of showing that as a clone he could never be his own person, that he was just a younger El Patron. But I think there could have been a better way to show it.
It was so long since the first novel that a lot of recap had to occur and I think Farmer did a good job of weaving that in. But it didn't make up for all of the weaknesses.
House of the Scorpion was so much better, and Farmer should have stopped there.
Nothing happens. There are many opportunities for action and tense moments, all of which are ignored. Every other drug lord in the world should have been immediately moving in on the territory, but no, they just supposedly complain about their drug shipments, that's all. Far too much describing of stuff instead of showing or acting on it.
Matteo is totally wooden in this version; I was sympathetic to him in the earlier novel, but in this one, he is a very unlikeable kid, and I stopped reading because I stopped caring what happened to him. One minute he is totally concerned with the have nots, and the next he's screaming like a dictator. I took that as Farmer's way of showing that as a clone he could never be his own person, that he was just a younger El Patron. But I think there could have been a better way to show it.
It was so long since the first novel that a lot of recap had to occur and I think Farmer did a good job of weaving that in. But it didn't make up for all of the weaknesses.
House of the Scorpion was so much better, and Farmer should have stopped there.
February 7, 2022
This was terrific! My only complaint is the tidy ending.
After the dramatic events that ended The House of the Scorpion, we find 14yo Matteo suddenly thrust into the role of El Patron of Opium, the largest territory in the Dope Confederacy. It has to be Matt - he is the original's clone, and the entire organization is hardwired to respond to only him: everything from the slaves who are microchipped to mindlessly farm the drug, to the systems that control the compound, to the orbiting satellite called the Scorpion Star.
By the time THotS ended and Matteo discovered how ruthless El Patron could really be, his biggest fear is turning out just like the original. A few people care for him as the little boy who grew up at the compound, but there's also the Farm Patrol, whose evil reputation keeps Matteo cautious. Their leader, a dark-hearted man called Cienfuegos, asserts himself as Matt's right-hand man. Can he be trusted?
This was so good and I haven't even written anything about Marisol or Listen! The Lord of Opium is a surprisingly quiet book that invites you to ponder what constitutes being human vs. being property. I love books like this, where the author isn't shouting "YOU WILL UNDERSTAND MY MESSAGE BECAUSE I WILL SPELL IT OUT TO YOU," and instead tells a really good, multilayered story and trusts the reader.
And btw, Nancy Farmer - I love her. I love her clear, engrossing writing and her futureworld that's real enough to arrive tomorrow. Read this duology, and anything else Nancy Farmer has written.
After the dramatic events that ended The House of the Scorpion, we find 14yo Matteo suddenly thrust into the role of El Patron of Opium, the largest territory in the Dope Confederacy. It has to be Matt - he is the original's clone, and the entire organization is hardwired to respond to only him: everything from the slaves who are microchipped to mindlessly farm the drug, to the systems that control the compound, to the orbiting satellite called the Scorpion Star.
By the time THotS ended and Matteo discovered how ruthless El Patron could really be, his biggest fear is turning out just like the original. A few people care for him as the little boy who grew up at the compound, but there's also the Farm Patrol, whose evil reputation keeps Matteo cautious. Their leader, a dark-hearted man called Cienfuegos, asserts himself as Matt's right-hand man. Can he be trusted?
This was so good and I haven't even written anything about Marisol or Listen! The Lord of Opium is a surprisingly quiet book that invites you to ponder what constitutes being human vs. being property. I love books like this, where the author isn't shouting "YOU WILL UNDERSTAND MY MESSAGE BECAUSE I WILL SPELL IT OUT TO YOU," and instead tells a really good, multilayered story and trusts the reader.
And btw, Nancy Farmer - I love her. I love her clear, engrossing writing and her futureworld that's real enough to arrive tomorrow. Read this duology, and anything else Nancy Farmer has written.
October 10, 2013
Nancy Farmer’s The Lord of Opium was a joy to read. I quite enjoyed the first book, The House of the Scorpion, even though I found it relatively flat throughout. The dystopian content of Scorpion was enough to keep me interested until the very end. I enjoyed The Lord of Opium even more than the first book. Religion, agriculture, family, environment, are prominent themes in the book and presented with significance for Matteo’s life and the fate of the world. The reader is taken deeper into the country of Opium that encompasses the ruins of Tucson and is introduced to Paradise, El Patron’s gorgeous home that is even more equipped than the home in Ajo that readers are introduced to in book one.
The Lord of Opium is recommended for grades 9-12 and strong middle school readers. Spanish speaking students from Central America and Mexico will delight in the sporadic use of Spanish throughout the book. Overall, an excellent read that will engage students in new ideas about religion and solutions to environmental problems.
The Lord of Opium is recommended for grades 9-12 and strong middle school readers. Spanish speaking students from Central America and Mexico will delight in the sporadic use of Spanish throughout the book. Overall, an excellent read that will engage students in new ideas about religion and solutions to environmental problems.
January 18, 2014
Note: There are no spoilers for this book, but there will be spoilers for Book One.
More than ten years after the first book in this series, The House of The Scorpion, Farmer picks up where she left off - in fact, immediately after the end of Book One. The year is 2136, and the whole world has been divided into drug empires following ecological devastation. It has been three months since the death of El Patrón, the ruler of Opium, a dedicated drug-crop country between Mexico (now called Aztlán), and the United States.
The world is in political chaos, since, at the funeral of El Patrón, most of the other drug lords were killed by drinking poison wine. Their governments collapsed and their countries are engaged in vicious wars for control.
Matt, the fourteen-year-old clone of El Patrón, is now the new Lord of Opium. But finding his place in the world’s power structure is only one of his problems.
In addition, Matt is confronted with a number of serious moral dilemmas. He wants to stop the system of cloning, whereby human doubles are grown as “repositories” of organs to be harvested when the original needs something replaced. He longs to undo the damage to the “eejits” - the servants and laborers who had microchips put in their brains to make them more docile and willing to perform mind-numbing jobs. He would like to stop the drug trade, and help fix the environmental devastation. In theory, he has the power and money to work on all of these issues. But he is still only a boy, and the longer he tries to figure out what to do, the more he realizes that the line between good and evil is not so bright as he had supposed.
Discussion: There are a couple of new appealing characters in this sequel, including the farm chief, Cienfuegos, and a seven-year-old extremely precocious girl clone named “Listen.” I enjoyed those characters (although Listen was a little too smart, I thought, to be believable), but it was difficult for me to warm up to Matt. I think that is intentional however; he is, after all, the clone of “the vampire” El Patrón. Although Matt tries to call upon his better nature as instilled by his caregivers, he still has El Patrón inside him, in more ways than one. And he is, after all, pretty much just a kid, having had not much opportunity to learn how to interact with others.
There is a somewhat bizarre treatment of women in the series. Matt’s caretaker Celia is saintly and savvy, although we really don’t know much about her except for her love of Matt and of God. The other adult women - save for a very God-devoted nun, are all cardboard evil characters, including Rosa and Felicia in the first book, and Fiona and Esperanza in the second. There seems to be a message that you are either devoted to God or you are a raving witch.
As for the younger women, Matt’s friend and later girlfriend Maria acts bipolar, but nobody seems to notice or care. And then there is Marisol, the beautiful eejit waitress for whom Matt develops an attachment. He likes her in part because she is so much more subservient and devoted to him than the non-microchipped Maria. He feeds Marisol, dances with her, and kisses her when she passes out. It sounds kind of creepy, but it could have been worse: another odd aspect to this book is that there is no sex and practically no sexual innuendo at all. This might have been a calculation of the author’s to keep this book on the school assignment list, but it doesn’t quite fit with the situation of a globe full of people on drugs and docile women who will do whatever you tell them. [After Marisol is taken out of the picture, Matt experiences no enlightenment about his desire to have a meek and childlike female at his beck and call who makes him her “sun” instead of having her own mind or life. One can only be thankful the author decided to remove Marisol before the situation got even dicier.]
Evaluation: The focus of this book is on ethical quandaries and emotional growth. I got the perhaps unfair impression it was written with possible inclusion in a high school curriculum in mind. On a positive note, in spite of being a “sequel,” the author fills in the background right away, so you can read this book without having read the previous one.
Rating: 2.5/5
More than ten years after the first book in this series, The House of The Scorpion, Farmer picks up where she left off - in fact, immediately after the end of Book One. The year is 2136, and the whole world has been divided into drug empires following ecological devastation. It has been three months since the death of El Patrón, the ruler of Opium, a dedicated drug-crop country between Mexico (now called Aztlán), and the United States.
The world is in political chaos, since, at the funeral of El Patrón, most of the other drug lords were killed by drinking poison wine. Their governments collapsed and their countries are engaged in vicious wars for control.
Matt, the fourteen-year-old clone of El Patrón, is now the new Lord of Opium. But finding his place in the world’s power structure is only one of his problems.
In addition, Matt is confronted with a number of serious moral dilemmas. He wants to stop the system of cloning, whereby human doubles are grown as “repositories” of organs to be harvested when the original needs something replaced. He longs to undo the damage to the “eejits” - the servants and laborers who had microchips put in their brains to make them more docile and willing to perform mind-numbing jobs. He would like to stop the drug trade, and help fix the environmental devastation. In theory, he has the power and money to work on all of these issues. But he is still only a boy, and the longer he tries to figure out what to do, the more he realizes that the line between good and evil is not so bright as he had supposed.
Discussion: There are a couple of new appealing characters in this sequel, including the farm chief, Cienfuegos, and a seven-year-old extremely precocious girl clone named “Listen.” I enjoyed those characters (although Listen was a little too smart, I thought, to be believable), but it was difficult for me to warm up to Matt. I think that is intentional however; he is, after all, the clone of “the vampire” El Patrón. Although Matt tries to call upon his better nature as instilled by his caregivers, he still has El Patrón inside him, in more ways than one. And he is, after all, pretty much just a kid, having had not much opportunity to learn how to interact with others.
There is a somewhat bizarre treatment of women in the series. Matt’s caretaker Celia is saintly and savvy, although we really don’t know much about her except for her love of Matt and of God. The other adult women - save for a very God-devoted nun, are all cardboard evil characters, including Rosa and Felicia in the first book, and Fiona and Esperanza in the second. There seems to be a message that you are either devoted to God or you are a raving witch.
As for the younger women, Matt’s friend and later girlfriend Maria acts bipolar, but nobody seems to notice or care. And then there is Marisol, the beautiful eejit waitress for whom Matt develops an attachment. He likes her in part because she is so much more subservient and devoted to him than the non-microchipped Maria. He feeds Marisol, dances with her, and kisses her when she passes out. It sounds kind of creepy, but it could have been worse: another odd aspect to this book is that there is no sex and practically no sexual innuendo at all. This might have been a calculation of the author’s to keep this book on the school assignment list, but it doesn’t quite fit with the situation of a globe full of people on drugs and docile women who will do whatever you tell them. [After Marisol is taken out of the picture, Matt experiences no enlightenment about his desire to have a meek and childlike female at his beck and call who makes him her “sun” instead of having her own mind or life. One can only be thankful the author decided to remove Marisol before the situation got even dicier.]
Evaluation: The focus of this book is on ethical quandaries and emotional growth. I got the perhaps unfair impression it was written with possible inclusion in a high school curriculum in mind. On a positive note, in spite of being a “sequel,” the author fills in the background right away, so you can read this book without having read the previous one.
Rating: 2.5/5
August 27, 2016
To start, I gave this one 4 stars because, while this was a great book, I still liked the first one a lot more. Something about the development of Matt's character and his POV was more interesting in House of Scorpion.
This book picks up right where the other one left us. Due to the countries laws of clones, Matt is now a "human" and ruler of Opium. We follow his journey into this new role that comes with some serious danger. Especially when you put this responsibility and peril in the hands of a 15 year old. Will he end up ruling with fear and brutality like his original copy or will he try to make changes? Will he try to do right? As you can see this one is just as dark and heavy as part one but the focus shifts just like Matt's character shifts roles.
In my opinion, if you are in the education world in any way, you should read this series. The topics it covers should be discussed in every classroom: Can a ruler save people without having to kill others (yes this exact question is pretty much the premise in the second book) is it possible? When cloning any entity what treatment should be given? Humane. Should we harvest another being just to prolong our own life? Outside of physical appearance, what remains cloned? Are clones carbon copies down to our decision making and experiences? Or does nature vs nurture come into play just like it would with any other living being? It's a lot to digest. Luckily Farmer doesn't bombard you with all of this. By the end of each book, if you aren't at least thinking about these things then I would go back and reread.
"The secret of successful education ... Is finding out how a particular person learns." This quote reflects more of what happens in the second book. Education/ learning plays a bigger role as Matt wants to help his friends. He spends a good majority of the book figuring out how he can help each friend learn and fine-tune their interests/gifts. And I couldn't help but think, "Man, I wish a teacher had taken some time with me like that. Especially when it came to math and science." I realize teachers, in a perfect world, would love to have the capability to be one on one with every student. It's just not that easy. Our population is bigger and so are our classrooms. But I would have given anything to have just one teacher sit down and say, "You seem to be struggling with this subject, how can I help?" How do we reach those kids? That is the question I kept taking from this book among many others. What's the answer? I don't know if there is one.
Farmer is a master of writing this age group too. She doesn't dumb it down to simple thoughts. She creates a perfect balance of how 5-15 year olds think and responds to situations mixed with enough (in the writing) to make it intriguing for all age groups. That takes skill and she has it. But she takes that one step further in the second book. There is a character you will meet named Listen. She is quite possibly my favorite. Through her, Farmer is able to pose questions regarding nature vs. nurture. Then she couples those questions with a character aged 6. It was quite impressive, to me.
I highly recommend this book, especially if you have read the first one. However, if it has been more than 6-8 years since you have read the first one...Do yourself a favor and reread it or at least refresh your memory with a heavily spoiled review. It will make the world of difference. As always, happy reading!
This book picks up right where the other one left us. Due to the countries laws of clones, Matt is now a "human" and ruler of Opium. We follow his journey into this new role that comes with some serious danger. Especially when you put this responsibility and peril in the hands of a 15 year old. Will he end up ruling with fear and brutality like his original copy or will he try to make changes? Will he try to do right? As you can see this one is just as dark and heavy as part one but the focus shifts just like Matt's character shifts roles.
In my opinion, if you are in the education world in any way, you should read this series. The topics it covers should be discussed in every classroom: Can a ruler save people without having to kill others (yes this exact question is pretty much the premise in the second book) is it possible? When cloning any entity what treatment should be given? Humane. Should we harvest another being just to prolong our own life? Outside of physical appearance, what remains cloned? Are clones carbon copies down to our decision making and experiences? Or does nature vs nurture come into play just like it would with any other living being? It's a lot to digest. Luckily Farmer doesn't bombard you with all of this. By the end of each book, if you aren't at least thinking about these things then I would go back and reread.
"The secret of successful education ... Is finding out how a particular person learns." This quote reflects more of what happens in the second book. Education/ learning plays a bigger role as Matt wants to help his friends. He spends a good majority of the book figuring out how he can help each friend learn and fine-tune their interests/gifts. And I couldn't help but think, "Man, I wish a teacher had taken some time with me like that. Especially when it came to math and science." I realize teachers, in a perfect world, would love to have the capability to be one on one with every student. It's just not that easy. Our population is bigger and so are our classrooms. But I would have given anything to have just one teacher sit down and say, "You seem to be struggling with this subject, how can I help?" How do we reach those kids? That is the question I kept taking from this book among many others. What's the answer? I don't know if there is one.
Farmer is a master of writing this age group too. She doesn't dumb it down to simple thoughts. She creates a perfect balance of how 5-15 year olds think and responds to situations mixed with enough (in the writing) to make it intriguing for all age groups. That takes skill and she has it. But she takes that one step further in the second book. There is a character you will meet named Listen. She is quite possibly my favorite. Through her, Farmer is able to pose questions regarding nature vs. nurture. Then she couples those questions with a character aged 6. It was quite impressive, to me.
I highly recommend this book, especially if you have read the first one. However, if it has been more than 6-8 years since you have read the first one...Do yourself a favor and reread it or at least refresh your memory with a heavily spoiled review. It will make the world of difference. As always, happy reading!
June 29, 2021
I read Book 1, The House of the Scorpion, last semester for a college literature class. I loved Book 1, so I was curious enough to read Book 2. This book went in the total opposite direction I expected it would go. I wish I had read Book 2 sooner after Book 1, but I still understood this book enough.
There just didn't seem to be much of a plot. Matteo's purpose was to reanimate the eejits and get rid of opium farming, but Matteo just seemed to be going around Opium exploring Paradise and the Biosphere and back to El Patron's mansion.
Also, the ending just seemed a little anti-climatic. I seriously thought they were going to have to go up into space and blast the Scorpion star. The ending was also confusing and I totally understand other people in the reviews saying they had to reread it.
The whole concept of the eejits (humans microchipped so they're basically zombies) continued to fascinate me and I loved the little bits where Mirasol, the eejit also known as Waitress, would show some lucidity.
I am wondering why the author waited so long to write the sequel...
There just didn't seem to be much of a plot. Matteo's purpose was to reanimate the eejits and get rid of opium farming, but Matteo just seemed to be going around Opium exploring Paradise and the Biosphere and back to El Patron's mansion.
Also, the ending just seemed a little anti-climatic. I seriously thought they were going to have to go up into space and blast the Scorpion star. The ending was also confusing and I totally understand other people in the reviews saying they had to reread it.
The whole concept of the eejits (humans microchipped so they're basically zombies) continued to fascinate me and I loved the little bits where Mirasol, the eejit also known as Waitress, would show some lucidity.
I am wondering why the author waited so long to write the sequel...
May 24, 2014
I really loved this book as it was a great follow up to the house of scorpion. The plot was interesting. The only thing that I was disappointed with was that the initial 150 pages were slow and then the last 70 pages were amazingly intense and I wasn't really able to keep up and I had to re-read some pages to understand what was going on but it really helped as every time i re-read a page i would interpret it differently and that gave me a greater understanding of the book, characters and the plot.
I would really recommend this book to anyone that read and enjoyed the house of the scorpion.
I can't wait for the 3rd book!
I would really recommend this book to anyone that read and enjoyed the house of the scorpion.
I can't wait for the 3rd book!
December 18, 2015
So, looks like I'm finally mustering up the strength to review this miserable excuse for a sequel. Nancy, I'm so sorry (except for the fact that I'm not). House of the Scorpion was the best YA novel I've read (and I don't take a chance on that genre often).
Just, why? Why did this ungodly late (eleven years, REALLY?!) sequel have to ruin all of it? I finished this just a few months ago, and I literally gave it away the second I was finished with it. I don't want this travesty on my bookshelf. Let me tell you, there was many a time I slammed the book down in frustration.
This was, to date, the worst novel I've ever read.
Know what? I'll just make a list of what made me rage-quit all those times:
1.) Maria
Just...Maria. Maria (Matt's love interest) in the first book was a little stuck up and nagging, but she was tolerable. Why? Because she was a child. Here, in book #2, she's 14-15 and her personality has not changed one iota. I didn't think it was possible to make a secondary character as big of a Mary-Sue as she was here, but they pulled it off.
She is literally...literally running to be a Saint here. She bases her actions off the "What Would St. Francis Do?" school of thought, and yet she's a total bitch to Matt and anyone else who doesn't fit into her little bubble of "holiness". She's constantly wagging her finger at Matt for showing sympathy towards an eejit (oh, SO much more on that later) because eejits are "abominations" apparently.
The funny thing, I would applaud this aspect of the story; because I'm sure if eejits were real, some religion out there would call them demons. However, this doesn't work here for two reasons. One, Maria once thought Matt was unholy because he was a clone; but she got over that really quickly. So, this just seems very OOC. Two, we're not supposed to hate Maria. She's the love interest that We're supposed to like her. I'm sorry, but I hated her. With a burning passion.
2.) The Wasted Potential of Marisol
Okay, remember that eejit I mentioned that Matt gets to like? Well, her name is Marisol. Matt develops a bit of a crush on her and she serves as his motivation for wanting to cure the eejits. Mind you, Marisol is a mindless zombie for the most part, yet I ended up liking her more than Maria by leagues. Why? Because Marisol had this certain tragic charm to her. She's more aware than other eejits are, and appears to be able to taste a certain dessert. On top of that, Matt shows actual affection towards Marisol; feeding her, brushing her hair, bandaging her wounds, ect. It was genuinely heartwarming how he treated her. He just fawns over Maria's beauty through video chats.
At first, it looked like Nancy was going to kick Maria as Matt's love interest and replace her with Marisol (I'm down with that), especially when Maria started looking down on Matt for liking an eejit. Then.... This wouldn't be bad at all in good hands. Perhaps this could be the final push that Matt needs to free the eejits. But nope. She's given a hasty goodbye and completely forgotten about. The hell? Why would you give so much screen time and development to this really good character just to brush them away with no impact to the plot? Insert rage-quit number GodWho'sEvenCounting here.
3.) The Lazy Writing
After all the heart poured into the first book, this one was so poor in the writing department it physically hurt. Everything important happens "off-camera" when Matt is nowhere near the event. It's all tell, no show. Give me a break.
None of the new ideas presented are explored, nor are much of the old ones from #1. Those people living their lives in a bio dome? Who cares. The relationship between the drug nations? Let's not go into that. The possibility that Matt is turning into another El Patron? Nah, that's not important. El Patron's backstory? We can only hint at that. It's not like villains need to be complex or anything.
Oh yeah, you wanna hear how ALL this mess is resolved?
A button.
Yep, the deus ex machina button solves everything! Matt finds a random-ass button in some underground room that blows stuff up and BOOM: the eejits are all cured. Do we get to see any of the stuff blow up? Haha, you're funny. The villain conveniently dies for no reason (off-camera, I might add) and everything is suddenly sunshine and rainbows.
No engaging language is used at all, leaving what are supposed to be suspenseful scenes feeling dry.The scene where Maria jumps through the portal to be with Matt was the worst offender to this. Rage-quit here as well.
4.) This Could've Been Amazing!
This is what almost makes me want to cry. This book, had it gone deeper into the themes and interesting ideas presented in House of the Scorpion, could've been my favorite book of all time.
Instead, what we're given is a dead corpse that's been sitting there since the end of book #1, rotting away until only the bones and a few shreds of meat are left, and presented to us as if it's alive. I don't know if the space between the publishing dates has anything to do with it; but I see what this dead husk once was, what it could've been, and I weep.
Whoever murdered this beautiful creature needs to die.
Just, why? Why did this ungodly late (eleven years, REALLY?!) sequel have to ruin all of it? I finished this just a few months ago, and I literally gave it away the second I was finished with it. I don't want this travesty on my bookshelf. Let me tell you, there was many a time I slammed the book down in frustration.
This was, to date, the worst novel I've ever read.
Know what? I'll just make a list of what made me rage-quit all those times:
1.) Maria
Just...Maria. Maria (Matt's love interest) in the first book was a little stuck up and nagging, but she was tolerable. Why? Because she was a child. Here, in book #2, she's 14-15 and her personality has not changed one iota. I didn't think it was possible to make a secondary character as big of a Mary-Sue as she was here, but they pulled it off.
She is literally...literally running to be a Saint here. She bases her actions off the "What Would St. Francis Do?" school of thought, and yet she's a total bitch to Matt and anyone else who doesn't fit into her little bubble of "holiness". She's constantly wagging her finger at Matt for showing sympathy towards an eejit (oh, SO much more on that later) because eejits are "abominations" apparently.
The funny thing, I would applaud this aspect of the story; because I'm sure if eejits were real, some religion out there would call them demons. However, this doesn't work here for two reasons. One, Maria once thought Matt was unholy because he was a clone; but she got over that really quickly. So, this just seems very OOC. Two, we're not supposed to hate Maria. She's the love interest that We're supposed to like her. I'm sorry, but I hated her. With a burning passion.
2.) The Wasted Potential of Marisol
Okay, remember that eejit I mentioned that Matt gets to like? Well, her name is Marisol. Matt develops a bit of a crush on her and she serves as his motivation for wanting to cure the eejits. Mind you, Marisol is a mindless zombie for the most part, yet I ended up liking her more than Maria by leagues. Why? Because Marisol had this certain tragic charm to her. She's more aware than other eejits are, and appears to be able to taste a certain dessert. On top of that, Matt shows actual affection towards Marisol; feeding her, brushing her hair, bandaging her wounds, ect. It was genuinely heartwarming how he treated her. He just fawns over Maria's beauty through video chats.
At first, it looked like Nancy was going to kick Maria as Matt's love interest and replace her with Marisol (I'm down with that), especially when Maria started looking down on Matt for liking an eejit. Then.... This wouldn't be bad at all in good hands. Perhaps this could be the final push that Matt needs to free the eejits. But nope. She's given a hasty goodbye and completely forgotten about. The hell? Why would you give so much screen time and development to this really good character just to brush them away with no impact to the plot? Insert rage-quit number GodWho'sEvenCounting here.
3.) The Lazy Writing
After all the heart poured into the first book, this one was so poor in the writing department it physically hurt. Everything important happens "off-camera" when Matt is nowhere near the event. It's all tell, no show. Give me a break.
None of the new ideas presented are explored, nor are much of the old ones from #1. Those people living their lives in a bio dome? Who cares. The relationship between the drug nations? Let's not go into that. The possibility that Matt is turning into another El Patron? Nah, that's not important. El Patron's backstory? We can only hint at that. It's not like villains need to be complex or anything.
Oh yeah, you wanna hear how ALL this mess is resolved?
A button.
Yep, the deus ex machina button solves everything! Matt finds a random-ass button in some underground room that blows stuff up and BOOM: the eejits are all cured. Do we get to see any of the stuff blow up? Haha, you're funny. The villain conveniently dies for no reason (off-camera, I might add) and everything is suddenly sunshine and rainbows.
No engaging language is used at all, leaving what are supposed to be suspenseful scenes feeling dry.
4.) This Could've Been Amazing!
This is what almost makes me want to cry. This book, had it gone deeper into the themes and interesting ideas presented in House of the Scorpion, could've been my favorite book of all time.
Instead, what we're given is a dead corpse that's been sitting there since the end of book #1, rotting away until only the bones and a few shreds of meat are left, and presented to us as if it's alive. I don't know if the space between the publishing dates has anything to do with it; but I see what this dead husk once was, what it could've been, and I weep.
Whoever murdered this beautiful creature needs to die.
August 13, 2017
Very solid, and just as good as the original. Of course people won't get that same feeling when the major twist of the first book happened, but I definitely recommend it to anybody who loved the first. Delves more into the world of Gods Ashtray, and how different Opium is from the rest of the world.
October 14, 2023
“It means that you are reclassified as human. You are El Patron. You have his body, and his identity, his DNA. You own everything he owned and rule everything he ruled. It means you are the new Lord of Opium.”
I suppose sometimes when there is a great opening novel to a series, the subsequent second novel and sequels will be, fairly or unfairly, judged in accordance with the first’s expectations. It is with that thought that I give Nancy Farmer’s follow-up to her wonderful novel The House of Scorpion a mere three stars.
Matt (Matteo) Alacran has the difficult task of having to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor. However, early on we realize Matt wants nothing to do with El Patron’s legacy. He was a brute and a thug, Matt understands, and he will try to do all to escape the infamous footsteps and distance himself from El Patron.
This is not going to easy, though, because he is now Lord of Opium and there are many expectations from the people of what he will now do:
“It was very well to say he was going to end the drug empire, but where was he to begin?”
Farmer clearly sets up this world as she does in the first novel, but almost to a fault, as the world building gets excessive and bogs down quite a bit of the action. And, when we do finally arrive to the many problems and conflicts, the plot takes on a very convoluted path toward the latter portions of the second half as we head to the conclusion.
Not to say there are not so genuinely solid aspects to The Lord of Opium. I think that one of the more redeeming aspects to this novel is the author’s ability to delve into the moral issues Matt must fully encounter and embrace, one of these being the “humanness” of the eejits and his fight to save them. For example, in one moment of the novel, there is a symbolic gesture by Matt to change one of the eejits names from Waitress to Marisol to give her a more human quality. Matt equally must deal with his own youth (being only fourteen years old) and his naivety and inexperience in all these matters in their world.
But, as stated earlier, the problems overshadow quite a bit of the good. In the first novel, the characters felt drawn out and rich and meaningful to the core events, even some of the secondary ones. Here it seems like much less character development, as the secondary characters are lackluster, and this is a novel populated by too many “annoying brats.”
In the end, I’m of two minds about this novel, but I really like the writing itself and how the author delves into applicable deep issues and themes. It’s the unsubstantial plot, overly dark elements/violence, and lack of character development that left this novel more on the mediocre side.
Still, I look forward to checking out more works from this author.
I suppose sometimes when there is a great opening novel to a series, the subsequent second novel and sequels will be, fairly or unfairly, judged in accordance with the first’s expectations. It is with that thought that I give Nancy Farmer’s follow-up to her wonderful novel The House of Scorpion a mere three stars.
Matt (Matteo) Alacran has the difficult task of having to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor. However, early on we realize Matt wants nothing to do with El Patron’s legacy. He was a brute and a thug, Matt understands, and he will try to do all to escape the infamous footsteps and distance himself from El Patron.
This is not going to easy, though, because he is now Lord of Opium and there are many expectations from the people of what he will now do:
“It was very well to say he was going to end the drug empire, but where was he to begin?”
Farmer clearly sets up this world as she does in the first novel, but almost to a fault, as the world building gets excessive and bogs down quite a bit of the action. And, when we do finally arrive to the many problems and conflicts, the plot takes on a very convoluted path toward the latter portions of the second half as we head to the conclusion.
Not to say there are not so genuinely solid aspects to The Lord of Opium. I think that one of the more redeeming aspects to this novel is the author’s ability to delve into the moral issues Matt must fully encounter and embrace, one of these being the “humanness” of the eejits and his fight to save them. For example, in one moment of the novel, there is a symbolic gesture by Matt to change one of the eejits names from Waitress to Marisol to give her a more human quality. Matt equally must deal with his own youth (being only fourteen years old) and his naivety and inexperience in all these matters in their world.
But, as stated earlier, the problems overshadow quite a bit of the good. In the first novel, the characters felt drawn out and rich and meaningful to the core events, even some of the secondary ones. Here it seems like much less character development, as the secondary characters are lackluster, and this is a novel populated by too many “annoying brats.”
In the end, I’m of two minds about this novel, but I really like the writing itself and how the author delves into applicable deep issues and themes. It’s the unsubstantial plot, overly dark elements/violence, and lack of character development that left this novel more on the mediocre side.
Still, I look forward to checking out more works from this author.
May 18, 2025
this book man
Lokey it got to me
4.8 / 5 I wish it could have been longer
other than that it was amazing.
would recommend if you've already read the house of the scorpion
Lokey it got to me
4.8 / 5 I wish it could have been longer
other than that it was amazing.
would recommend if you've already read the house of the scorpion
April 5, 2023
Before I talk about this book, I want to be grateful for the fact that I had this with me to read the last few days, since I had just gotten back from vacation and I was very absorbed in this book the majority of the time my family and I were there, sort of not doing anything (as usual, the ✨bookworm stuff✨). it's always nice to have a book on hand, amirite 💙
_________________________________
This book disappointed me a bit ☹️, because the development of Matt's character and seeing more of his experiences in Opium was far more intriguing in the previous book, and the cliffhanger really changed circumstances up for him. I definitely had high expectations for this book, because I really wanted to see how far Matt would go with all the groundwork for change and the power he now holds laid out in front of him 🧐 This sequel sort of showed that & didn't show that, because I anticipated more action and tense moments between Matt and the other characters, particularly the other drug lords. There was only more of that towards the end of the book, which I was slightly astonished by, given the fact that Nancy Farmer has the ability to build up a lot of suspense, and didn't utilize it as much in this book.
Despite of its slow content and pacing, it addresses a lot of important political and ethical issues. It is obviously unrealistic that Matt is already considered a ''lord'' when he's only 14-15 years old, but in general, anyone who is supposed to be shown respect to, who has all this power that they have to do things with, they have a lot of pressure on them. These people have to really be good and fair leaders, consistently thinking about the sacrifices & compromises they have to make, and if the citizens of the respective areas they control will be benefitted or not. The overwhelming thoughts that Matt shows in this book are very realistic, because he's at war with how Opium functions and how he wants to destroy all of the evil El Patrón created in it and make positive changes. It is indeed all a complicated puzzle needed to be solved.
While the main point of this book was for Matt to actually free the eejits and change things up, he was going to a whole bunch of places accompanied with Cienfuegos, which was quite uninteresting, like Paradise, the Scorpion Star, the biosphere, etc. He did have to go to Paradise the first time because he got sick with scarlet fever, which, by the way, came out of nowhere. First, Matt develops asthma, then Celia fed him arsenic for a very courageous move against El Patrón, and now he has scarlet fever? How many times is he going to get sick in some way? I know it was because the holoport he used multiple times affected him negatively, but still, it's kind of odd how his body all of a sudden responds poorly, though I guess I can't necessarily blame the guy after everything he has already gone through 🤷🏼♀️ Anyways, all of these visits stalled the book quite a bit.
Since I'm already ranting quite a bit about Matt, I'll just keep talking about him. What I found interesting is how he kept hearing the voice of El Patrón and sometimes Tam Lin in his mind. These two people have really influenced Matt, and it was both sad and comforting for him to hear Tam Lin's voice sometimes, and remembering the one he considered a father to him. I can understand the pain Matt had to go through while thinking of the way Tam Lin decided to kill himself at El Patrón's funeral, even though he technically also had a choice. It really came as a shock to me when I found out, with Matt, that literally all of the bodyguards were microchipped, including Tam Lin, so it's becoming clear that he couldn't disobey a direct order that El Patrón gave him to do this sacrifice.
*takes a prolonged moment of silence for the loss of Tam Lin, especially since he was, and still is, my favorite character out of everyone*
The times when El Patrón was present in Matt's mind, however, was really quite convulted. Sometimes it was sinister, and towards the end of the book when Matt had to do something about Glass Eye, El Patrón's ''advice'' made a difference. It was really Matt's choice to follow in El Patrón's footsteps as a leader almost the entire book, and he even found himself experiencing emotions that the old man would've experienced, now that he has dictatorship. I feel sorry for Matt whenever he would think about El Patrón, and even try to emulate him because that's what everyone expected of him, to be tough and intimidating.
I appreciated seeing Matt show compassion and sympathy for his friends and Mirasol, because unlike who he was cloned for, El Patrón only expressed what was considered ''kindness'' to Matt because he saw Matt as someone on the same level as him, but even though Fidelito, Ton-Ton, Chacho, Mirasol, and even Listen didn't have a big share of Matt's wealth and power that he inherited, he expressed interests in their skills and well-being 😀 I loved seeing Ton-Ton being able to play around with technology, Chacho showing his artistic talents, and seeing Fidelito and Listen mature more and gain a better conceptual understanding of the complicated world they were living in, and how Mirasol was slowly starting to wake up, all because of Matt. If it weren't for him, all his friends and the people close to him would've went down a different path in this book.
I wanted to bring up Mirasol because she was extremely important to Matt. She was the first eejit Matt saw as someone who is an equal and who he knew had a soul deep down. Through her, he was starting to understand how this cruel system of eejits was making things worse. The love and earnest feelings he had for Mirasol, trying to get her to come back, and all starting from giving her a new name instead of ''Waitress'', was all very golden. It deeply saddened me when because of his well-meaning attempts, Mirasol died before Matt finally freed all the eejits 😭😭 I was really hoping that Mirasol would be freed, after the deep connection that she and Matt were starting to share that even confused María, because although she is Matt's soulmate, he shared a bond with Mirasol like nobody else. Even the symbolism of the name ''Mirasol'' that he renamed her, which means ''sunflower, looking at the sun'' was very deep, because Matt was the sun for her ❤️🤧
GEEZ THE ENDING!!!! 🤯 It was kind of anti-climatic and the way I wanted it to be, but it was absolutely agonizing to wait for all of that to happen. Thankfully, the eejits were all freed (hip hip hooray Matt for doing this 🥳), but WHY DID MATT PROPOSE TO MARíA WHEN THEY'RE BOTH ONLY FIFTEEN??? AND HE EVEN SLYLY SAID THAT SINCE HE WAS THE LORD OF OPIUM, THEY COULD MARRY BECAUSE HE WOULD ALLOW IT, LIKE WHAT??? AND HE EVEN PROPOSED TO HER WHEN THEY WERE LOOKING AT THE GHOST ARMY AT A WHOLE BUNCH OF BODIES OF ILLEGALS LYING IN THE GRASS, SOOOO ROMANTIC 😶😒😕😮 AND THEN MARíA EVEN ACCEPTED, LIKE WHATTTT 😱 That is NOT exactly an ideal romance to have, but whatevs, if they both love each other that much, it's their choice! (even though they're both totally bonkers for wanting to marry each other right away when they're both 15 and just dealt with a lot of crazy stuff in their world.....)
Also, shout-out to both the Mushroom Master and Sor Artemesia as characters 🙌🏻🙌🏻 They both were interesting to read about, and hopefully the Mushroom Master is still growing all of his mushrooms 🍄😉
_________________________________
This book disappointed me a bit ☹️, because the development of Matt's character and seeing more of his experiences in Opium was far more intriguing in the previous book, and the cliffhanger really changed circumstances up for him. I definitely had high expectations for this book, because I really wanted to see how far Matt would go with all the groundwork for change and the power he now holds laid out in front of him 🧐 This sequel sort of showed that & didn't show that, because I anticipated more action and tense moments between Matt and the other characters, particularly the other drug lords. There was only more of that towards the end of the book, which I was slightly astonished by, given the fact that Nancy Farmer has the ability to build up a lot of suspense, and didn't utilize it as much in this book.
Despite of its slow content and pacing, it addresses a lot of important political and ethical issues. It is obviously unrealistic that Matt is already considered a ''lord'' when he's only 14-15 years old, but in general, anyone who is supposed to be shown respect to, who has all this power that they have to do things with, they have a lot of pressure on them. These people have to really be good and fair leaders, consistently thinking about the sacrifices & compromises they have to make, and if the citizens of the respective areas they control will be benefitted or not. The overwhelming thoughts that Matt shows in this book are very realistic, because he's at war with how Opium functions and how he wants to destroy all of the evil El Patrón created in it and make positive changes. It is indeed all a complicated puzzle needed to be solved.
While the main point of this book was for Matt to actually free the eejits and change things up, he was going to a whole bunch of places accompanied with Cienfuegos, which was quite uninteresting, like Paradise, the Scorpion Star, the biosphere, etc. He did have to go to Paradise the first time because he got sick with scarlet fever, which, by the way, came out of nowhere. First, Matt develops asthma, then Celia fed him arsenic for a very courageous move against El Patrón, and now he has scarlet fever? How many times is he going to get sick in some way? I know it was because the holoport he used multiple times affected him negatively, but still, it's kind of odd how his body all of a sudden responds poorly, though I guess I can't necessarily blame the guy after everything he has already gone through 🤷🏼♀️ Anyways, all of these visits stalled the book quite a bit.
Since I'm already ranting quite a bit about Matt, I'll just keep talking about him. What I found interesting is how he kept hearing the voice of El Patrón and sometimes Tam Lin in his mind. These two people have really influenced Matt, and it was both sad and comforting for him to hear Tam Lin's voice sometimes, and remembering the one he considered a father to him. I can understand the pain Matt had to go through while thinking of the way Tam Lin decided to kill himself at El Patrón's funeral, even though he technically also had a choice. It really came as a shock to me when I found out, with Matt, that literally all of the bodyguards were microchipped, including Tam Lin, so it's becoming clear that he couldn't disobey a direct order that El Patrón gave him to do this sacrifice.
*takes a prolonged moment of silence for the loss of Tam Lin, especially since he was, and still is, my favorite character out of everyone*
The times when El Patrón was present in Matt's mind, however, was really quite convulted. Sometimes it was sinister, and towards the end of the book when Matt had to do something about Glass Eye, El Patrón's ''advice'' made a difference. It was really Matt's choice to follow in El Patrón's footsteps as a leader almost the entire book, and he even found himself experiencing emotions that the old man would've experienced, now that he has dictatorship. I feel sorry for Matt whenever he would think about El Patrón, and even try to emulate him because that's what everyone expected of him, to be tough and intimidating.
I appreciated seeing Matt show compassion and sympathy for his friends and Mirasol, because unlike who he was cloned for, El Patrón only expressed what was considered ''kindness'' to Matt because he saw Matt as someone on the same level as him, but even though Fidelito, Ton-Ton, Chacho, Mirasol, and even Listen didn't have a big share of Matt's wealth and power that he inherited, he expressed interests in their skills and well-being 😀 I loved seeing Ton-Ton being able to play around with technology, Chacho showing his artistic talents, and seeing Fidelito and Listen mature more and gain a better conceptual understanding of the complicated world they were living in, and how Mirasol was slowly starting to wake up, all because of Matt. If it weren't for him, all his friends and the people close to him would've went down a different path in this book.
I wanted to bring up Mirasol because she was extremely important to Matt. She was the first eejit Matt saw as someone who is an equal and who he knew had a soul deep down. Through her, he was starting to understand how this cruel system of eejits was making things worse. The love and earnest feelings he had for Mirasol, trying to get her to come back, and all starting from giving her a new name instead of ''Waitress'', was all very golden. It deeply saddened me when because of his well-meaning attempts, Mirasol died before Matt finally freed all the eejits 😭😭 I was really hoping that Mirasol would be freed, after the deep connection that she and Matt were starting to share that even confused María, because although she is Matt's soulmate, he shared a bond with Mirasol like nobody else. Even the symbolism of the name ''Mirasol'' that he renamed her, which means ''sunflower, looking at the sun'' was very deep, because Matt was the sun for her ❤️🤧
GEEZ THE ENDING!!!! 🤯 It was kind of anti-climatic and the way I wanted it to be, but it was absolutely agonizing to wait for all of that to happen. Thankfully, the eejits were all freed (hip hip hooray Matt for doing this 🥳), but WHY DID MATT PROPOSE TO MARíA WHEN THEY'RE BOTH ONLY FIFTEEN??? AND HE EVEN SLYLY SAID THAT SINCE HE WAS THE LORD OF OPIUM, THEY COULD MARRY BECAUSE HE WOULD ALLOW IT, LIKE WHAT??? AND HE EVEN PROPOSED TO HER WHEN THEY WERE LOOKING AT THE GHOST ARMY AT A WHOLE BUNCH OF BODIES OF ILLEGALS LYING IN THE GRASS, SOOOO ROMANTIC 😶😒😕😮 AND THEN MARíA EVEN ACCEPTED, LIKE WHATTTT 😱 That is NOT exactly an ideal romance to have, but whatevs, if they both love each other that much, it's their choice! (even though they're both totally bonkers for wanting to marry each other right away when they're both 15 and just dealt with a lot of crazy stuff in their world.....)
Also, shout-out to both the Mushroom Master and Sor Artemesia as characters 🙌🏻🙌🏻 They both were interesting to read about, and hopefully the Mushroom Master is still growing all of his mushrooms 🍄😉
January 9, 2014
I first met Matteo Alacran when he was still the clone of El Patron in The House of the Scorpion. I cheered when he escaped his fate and cried when he learned of the cruelty of El Patron that even reached out from beyond the grave. When I learned that Nancy Farmer had written a sequel, I wasn't sure what to think. Of course, I wanted to know what happened to Matt, but how could a second book live up to the mind-blowing experience of reading the first one?
I needn't have worried. The Lord of Opium is every bit as powerful as The House of the Scorpion. Now that El Patron is dead, Matt is the new drug lord for the country of Opium. He has grand plans for the future of Opium, but first he must convince his people and the outside world that a fourteen-year-old can lead a country besieged on all sides--and from within. He's not sure who he can trust. His beloved foster mother Celia now treats him differently. Cienfuegos, head of the Farm Patrol, is deadly and dangerous, but he is the only one left who knows how Opium is run. Maria's mother is determined to keep her away from Opium and Matt. Even his friends from the plankton factory--Chacho, Ton-Ton, and Fidelito--don't know how to react to this new, powerful Matt. Dr. Rivas has worked for years to find a way to reverse the eejit operation, but he has his own hidden agenda.
All Matt needs to do is find a way to reverse the eejit operation, find new crops to grow in Opium, negotiate with Esperanza Mendoza to end the drug trade, keep competing drug lords from invading, discover the many secrets of Opium, and hope that biometric security features recognize him as El Patron instead of disintegrating him on contact.
Just as in the first book, Matt holds the story together. He wants to do the right thing--if he can figure out what the right thing is when there are no easy answers. Is he any better than El Patron if he must sacrifice a few in order to save many more? How can he take on all the responsibilities and threats that come with being Lord of Opium when he doesn't even know the details of its daily operation? How can he free the eejits without destroying them?
This is another book that leaves me with plenty to think about.
First published on my blog at http://kaymcgriff.edublogs.org/2014/0...
I needn't have worried. The Lord of Opium is every bit as powerful as The House of the Scorpion. Now that El Patron is dead, Matt is the new drug lord for the country of Opium. He has grand plans for the future of Opium, but first he must convince his people and the outside world that a fourteen-year-old can lead a country besieged on all sides--and from within. He's not sure who he can trust. His beloved foster mother Celia now treats him differently. Cienfuegos, head of the Farm Patrol, is deadly and dangerous, but he is the only one left who knows how Opium is run. Maria's mother is determined to keep her away from Opium and Matt. Even his friends from the plankton factory--Chacho, Ton-Ton, and Fidelito--don't know how to react to this new, powerful Matt. Dr. Rivas has worked for years to find a way to reverse the eejit operation, but he has his own hidden agenda.
All Matt needs to do is find a way to reverse the eejit operation, find new crops to grow in Opium, negotiate with Esperanza Mendoza to end the drug trade, keep competing drug lords from invading, discover the many secrets of Opium, and hope that biometric security features recognize him as El Patron instead of disintegrating him on contact.
Just as in the first book, Matt holds the story together. He wants to do the right thing--if he can figure out what the right thing is when there are no easy answers. Is he any better than El Patron if he must sacrifice a few in order to save many more? How can he take on all the responsibilities and threats that come with being Lord of Opium when he doesn't even know the details of its daily operation? How can he free the eejits without destroying them?
This is another book that leaves me with plenty to think about.
First published on my blog at http://kaymcgriff.edublogs.org/2014/0...
September 30, 2014
In the book The Lord of Opium by Nancy Farmer, Matteo Alacran is a fourteen year old boy, has inherited the land of Opium. He is a clone of El Patron, the previous drug lord of Opium. Now he has a land filled with problems he has to deal with. Enemies close in around him, can he and his friends survive the harsh challenges Opium has to offer?
I very much enjoyed this book. The character development felt very organic and alive. The way the author writes is very clear, while also including more advanced words. I liked the way she described the world, as I understood it very well. Another nice touch is her incorporation of a few Spanish words. There are a lot of themes introduced by this book. Much of the book consists of Matt trying to solve many of the future problems that we have today. The author tells us how polluting the earth will affect us. She describes the areas outside of Opium “Gods ashtray” because of all the smoke and destroyed environments. She also covers the problems of slavery with the “eejits” They are micro chipped people who have their high brain functions cut off. They will work until they die, and will only eat and sleep if verbally told. If we continue down the path of over population and pollution, the author spells out a very bleak future for humanity. I have not read another book that is similar to this one. That is a good thing as it makes most of the book unpredictable, which leads to a better experience. One thing I didn’t like about the book is that the plot took a really long time to get going. Of course at the end, it was intense, but I wished it would have started sooner.
I would recommend this book, but be advised of a slow start. If you cannot stand a book that takes a little time to get going, then this book is not for you.
I very much enjoyed this book. The character development felt very organic and alive. The way the author writes is very clear, while also including more advanced words. I liked the way she described the world, as I understood it very well. Another nice touch is her incorporation of a few Spanish words. There are a lot of themes introduced by this book. Much of the book consists of Matt trying to solve many of the future problems that we have today. The author tells us how polluting the earth will affect us. She describes the areas outside of Opium “Gods ashtray” because of all the smoke and destroyed environments. She also covers the problems of slavery with the “eejits” They are micro chipped people who have their high brain functions cut off. They will work until they die, and will only eat and sleep if verbally told. If we continue down the path of over population and pollution, the author spells out a very bleak future for humanity. I have not read another book that is similar to this one. That is a good thing as it makes most of the book unpredictable, which leads to a better experience. One thing I didn’t like about the book is that the plot took a really long time to get going. Of course at the end, it was intense, but I wished it would have started sooner.
I would recommend this book, but be advised of a slow start. If you cannot stand a book that takes a little time to get going, then this book is not for you.
January 30, 2018
Now, The Lord of Opium may not have the same literary awards received by its predecessor – The House of the Scorpion but it’s still as strong, story-wise.
This book started a good few hours during the funeral of El Patron and from thereon, Matt’s young life is about to really change because he is technically The Lord of Opium (still no spoiler) thus becoming the most powerful man in the world (by default).
This one is as riveting as the first book. I loved the characters of the “Lost Boys” especially little Fidelito. He is my favorite character here aside from Matt. I really connected to his character because he kinda reminded me of my 6 year old nephew.
Then there’s Mirasol. The author really knows where to give us the feels. The ‘relationship’ between her and Matt was just heartbreaking. I dare you not to feel anything for her. You’d lose.
There are tons of things here that maybe a bit too much for some I think. I mean, I loved every single details of it although some readers may find it too crowded. Nevertheless, it’s good to imagine such things and wish for a possible third book.
The relationship of Matt and Maria was finally rekindled here and I loved that Matt was finding his own identity separate from El Patron. It’s odd that he is basically the same person but different at the same time.
I just want to dissect everything about this book, including the zombie-like eejits, the drug lords, the countries surrounding Opium and more importantly – how Mattero will run it as a totally grown man! Man’ I’d kill for a third book!
Again, my friends – I cannot recommend this high enough!
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
***
01/21/2018
'Finished this one today.
I am still wallowing in this incredible world created by this super incredible author.
Wow. As in UNBELIEVABLE.
Wow.
full review to follow.
This book started a good few hours during the funeral of El Patron and from thereon, Matt’s young life is about to really change because he is technically The Lord of Opium (still no spoiler) thus becoming the most powerful man in the world (by default).
This one is as riveting as the first book. I loved the characters of the “Lost Boys” especially little Fidelito. He is my favorite character here aside from Matt. I really connected to his character because he kinda reminded me of my 6 year old nephew.
Then there’s Mirasol. The author really knows where to give us the feels. The ‘relationship’ between her and Matt was just heartbreaking. I dare you not to feel anything for her. You’d lose.
There are tons of things here that maybe a bit too much for some I think. I mean, I loved every single details of it although some readers may find it too crowded. Nevertheless, it’s good to imagine such things and wish for a possible third book.
The relationship of Matt and Maria was finally rekindled here and I loved that Matt was finding his own identity separate from El Patron. It’s odd that he is basically the same person but different at the same time.
I just want to dissect everything about this book, including the zombie-like eejits, the drug lords, the countries surrounding Opium and more importantly – how Mattero will run it as a totally grown man! Man’ I’d kill for a third book!
Again, my friends – I cannot recommend this high enough!
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
***
01/21/2018
'Finished this one today.
I am still wallowing in this incredible world created by this super incredible author.
Wow. As in UNBELIEVABLE.
Wow.
full review to follow.
November 23, 2020
Just finished reading The Lord of Opium, the sequel to Nancy Farmer's The House of Scorpion.
I didn't really enjoy the first book, but I always try to give the next book a try before deciding whether or not to give up on the story. Boy, I'm glad I continued because The Lord of Opium was way good!
It was very interesting with different conflicts to resolve. I love that so many characters came into play. It was hard to really determine who was the bad guy. 😂 It kept me curious the whole time. I enjoyed watching Matt, our main character, grow and overcome his obstacles. The first book felt flat to me, but this one had many different layers to it. It had much more emotion and clarity, IMO. But, then again, without Book 1 I wouldn't be able to appreciate Book 2. Haha. 😁
So many scenes in the story were particularly insightful to me. It's not a perfect book, but I liked it enough to say it's worth the read.
To be honest, I never thought I'd be reading a story like this. Sci-fi isn't really my thing, and the cover and titles don't seem to catch my interest, but I'm grateful for my friends who recommended this to me!
I didn't really enjoy the first book, but I always try to give the next book a try before deciding whether or not to give up on the story. Boy, I'm glad I continued because The Lord of Opium was way good!
It was very interesting with different conflicts to resolve. I love that so many characters came into play. It was hard to really determine who was the bad guy. 😂 It kept me curious the whole time. I enjoyed watching Matt, our main character, grow and overcome his obstacles. The first book felt flat to me, but this one had many different layers to it. It had much more emotion and clarity, IMO. But, then again, without Book 1 I wouldn't be able to appreciate Book 2. Haha. 😁
So many scenes in the story were particularly insightful to me. It's not a perfect book, but I liked it enough to say it's worth the read.
To be honest, I never thought I'd be reading a story like this. Sci-fi isn't really my thing, and the cover and titles don't seem to catch my interest, but I'm grateful for my friends who recommended this to me!
February 15, 2016
In my opinion The Lord of Opium is a great sequel to the House of Scorpions. It has a a exciting conflict at every chapter that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I highly recommend this book for ages 13 and up.
November 19, 2021
Finally, the sequel! I love it almost as much as I built it up in my head.
August 6, 2023
This is one of the few works intended for younger audiences left on my to be read shelf that I committed to when I was but a handful of years away from those early days of mine. The past is a foreign country and all that jazz, but seeing as how folks such as McKinley and and Pullman survived the divide, when this book showed up on the shelves of my workplace, I figured better late than never. In terms of this work functioning as a sequel, it certainly ties up the loose ends, fills in the plot gaps, and even provides something in the way of credible character development and legitimate closure. In terms of this work functioning in my overall perspective, I liked certain aspects of the science fiction, and there was enough of the grey kind of morality to keep things engaging. However, I simply do not have time for uwu scawy drugs used as any sort of all powerful enemy to excuse any and all 'justice seeking' behavior anymore, and when there's no decent prose or truly complicated worldbuilding beyond US imperial vs Latin America imperilaized to distract from such, it all becomes tediously trite very quickly. In any case, I can finally say that, however many decades after I read the first book, I am finally done with this trilogy. Plus, checking this out allowed me to discover to a few loose pages that spurred me onto making some long term investments in my workplace's book repair infrastructure (I'm the one in charge of such things), so. Far from the worst thing one can get out of getting through a few hundred of easy to read, if not as engaging as one had hoped, pages of narrative that, in the end, one proved to be too old to enjoy.
P.S. The captcha's some of the most mealymouthed cuntfuckery I've seen in a long time, and I've been dealing with GRAmazon for a decade now.
P.S. The captcha's some of the most mealymouthed cuntfuckery I've seen in a long time, and I've been dealing with GRAmazon for a decade now.
March 30, 2024
8.6
I picked this book up at the library shop because the cover was striking, and then afterwards realized that it was the sequel to the "House of the Scorpion" book that I had accidentally ended up with a few months before. I would have avoided reading the first book for longer if I wasn't intrigued by this cover, and I'm so grateful for that because these books are actually so good.
The setting awkwardness of the first book is a lot lessened, which makes sense given Matt's change in life state between books.
The themes. The characters. The everything. I think my brain is too overwhelmed to actually say much about the book because it's very good and I just love it. I would read Expanse sized novels in this world, the current length of them does do them justice, but leaves it very understated. Which does work very well, but I wouldn't turn down more either.
I will admit the ending feels a little rushed, and a bit too clean. Especially the resolution of the eejit plotline, which I understand, but realistically there should have been more issues going on there. And the Matt/Maria bit feels like more of a pretty bow than I gravitate towards at this point in my life, but if I'm being honest I would have adored it at the target age for these books, so I won't dock points from it there.
But even without that, it's a really great story, and has taken up a very special place in my heart.
I picked this book up at the library shop because the cover was striking, and then afterwards realized that it was the sequel to the "House of the Scorpion" book that I had accidentally ended up with a few months before. I would have avoided reading the first book for longer if I wasn't intrigued by this cover, and I'm so grateful for that because these books are actually so good.
The setting awkwardness of the first book is a lot lessened, which makes sense given Matt's change in life state between books.
The themes. The characters. The everything. I think my brain is too overwhelmed to actually say much about the book because it's very good and I just love it. I would read Expanse sized novels in this world, the current length of them does do them justice, but leaves it very understated. Which does work very well, but I wouldn't turn down more either.
I will admit the ending feels a little rushed, and a bit too clean. Especially the resolution of the eejit plotline, which I understand, but realistically there should have been more issues going on there. And the Matt/Maria bit feels like more of a pretty bow than I gravitate towards at this point in my life, but if I'm being honest I would have adored it at the target age for these books, so I won't dock points from it there.
But even without that, it's a really great story, and has taken up a very special place in my heart.
July 11, 2018
I really wanted to like this series. The premise sounds SO good and interesting, the clones, 140+ year old drug lords, futuristic setting, people with microchips controlling their actions. And then this one seemed like it would improve on the last one, giving actual background information on things that were too vague and giving Matt the power to change things that are corrupt.
But my gosh, NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS BOOK. It is literally just Matt wandering around learning things about the country he has inherited. Let's visit this town and see what the scientists are doing. Oh they're the ones who created clones. Let's visit this location. People are crazy and they're growing mushrooms. Let's wander around the opium fields. Man, eejits are bad, we really should do something to help them. Characters are introduced for no reason but to talk to Matt and explain some things and walk around. Matt is obsessed with helping Waitress. He changes her name, he plays music for her, he thinks she's soooo pretty. But he loves Maria. If only Waitress/Mirasol wasn't an eejit. I want to help her. Blah blah blah let's eat some quesadillas. That's this book.
Speaking of, the author must seriously have been hungry when writing this book because it talks about what they are eating SO much. In such detail. The stew was this, the vegetables were this, the food was so rich, the salad had this in it. IT WAS SO BORING. And it happened SO often.
Matt wants to make all these changes but then does literally nothing about it. Drugs are so corrupt, we should plant other crops. Does nothing. Eejits are treated horribly, even though they can't think for themselves they should be treated like people. Continues to keep them in pens and feed them pellets and hires some doctors who do nothing to find a cure. I miss Maria so much. Does nothing to show this and obsesses over Mirasol/Waitress. I could go on and on about Matt literally doing nothing for the entire book.
Finally, finally, finally after pages and pages and PAGES of NOTHING happening a tiny little plot emerges. Since it is like THE ONLY THING THAT HAPPENS I'll keep it spoiler free since I would be hard-pressed to find anything else resembling a spoiler in the whole entire rest of the book. But basically the one thing Matt is motivated to do...then very abruptly and unsatisfyingly his motivation disappears. And then finally when he figures out the thing he's been trying to figure out, it is SO anticlimactic and then the book is over. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE PLOT OF THE ENTIRE BOOK ALL ALONG AND THEN MAYBE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN INTERESTING.
I wanted to like this book. I wanted to like the last book. I thought this series was going to be good. But I can think of nothing positive to say except that the audio book reader was really good at different voices but the author did a terrible job of writing a book. Sorry, just was not for me.
But my gosh, NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS BOOK. It is literally just Matt wandering around learning things about the country he has inherited. Let's visit this town and see what the scientists are doing. Oh they're the ones who created clones. Let's visit this location. People are crazy and they're growing mushrooms. Let's wander around the opium fields. Man, eejits are bad, we really should do something to help them. Characters are introduced for no reason but to talk to Matt and explain some things and walk around. Matt is obsessed with helping Waitress. He changes her name, he plays music for her, he thinks she's soooo pretty. But he loves Maria. If only Waitress/Mirasol wasn't an eejit. I want to help her. Blah blah blah let's eat some quesadillas. That's this book.
Speaking of, the author must seriously have been hungry when writing this book because it talks about what they are eating SO much. In such detail. The stew was this, the vegetables were this, the food was so rich, the salad had this in it. IT WAS SO BORING. And it happened SO often.
Matt wants to make all these changes but then does literally nothing about it. Drugs are so corrupt, we should plant other crops. Does nothing. Eejits are treated horribly, even though they can't think for themselves they should be treated like people. Continues to keep them in pens and feed them pellets and hires some doctors who do nothing to find a cure. I miss Maria so much. Does nothing to show this and obsesses over Mirasol/Waitress. I could go on and on about Matt literally doing nothing for the entire book.
Finally, finally, finally after pages and pages and PAGES of NOTHING happening a tiny little plot emerges. Since it is like THE ONLY THING THAT HAPPENS I'll keep it spoiler free since I would be hard-pressed to find anything else resembling a spoiler in the whole entire rest of the book. But basically the one thing Matt is motivated to do...then very abruptly and unsatisfyingly his motivation disappears. And then finally when he figures out the thing he's been trying to figure out, it is SO anticlimactic and then the book is over. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE PLOT OF THE ENTIRE BOOK ALL ALONG AND THEN MAYBE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN INTERESTING.
I wanted to like this book. I wanted to like the last book. I thought this series was going to be good. But I can think of nothing positive to say except that the audio book reader was really good at different voices but the author did a terrible job of writing a book. Sorry, just was not for me.
August 23, 2023
This is a nice sequel to "The House of the Scorpion". Farmer does a great job exploring new ideas in the world built in the first book. She has to introduce a slew of new characters and does a fine job developing them.
This book creatively addresses more medical ethics ideas. I would have liked it more if she had focused on one or two of the issues a bit more deeply.
There was one mystery that I felt wasn't fully explained, but otherwise, it resolved quite nicely.
This book creatively addresses more medical ethics ideas. I would have liked it more if she had focused on one or two of the issues a bit more deeply.
There was one mystery that I felt wasn't fully explained, but otherwise, it resolved quite nicely.
September 29, 2013
4 stars...the only thing disappointing about this book is the fact that it will certainly become a trilogy with "The Bug" as the new antagonist. I am tired of the trilogy thing...although I am so glad that publishers have decided on three as the holy grail instead of 12---it's just too hard to keep up with as a reader and as a budget-strapped librarian!
Although Scorpion most certainly could've stood on its own, I am so thrilled that Farmer continued the story with this complex read. Although I loved the pacing of the first...and Farmer's slow reveals to Matt, the main character, I do love the fact that we see Matt struggle with his new power and the constant battle between good and evil in this story. I love the fact that Farmer updated the story with connections to the crazy explosion of technology that has happened to our world since the first book was written...and I also like the fact that she worked through ideas about ecosystems and preserving life on Earth. Most interesting was the addition of notes in the back of the book...I love the fact that she connected the book to real life and explained how certain events and topics helped her develop the plot and characters.
A rich, rewarding read for highly capable middle school readers...I think this could be a dynamite duo for English teachers in the right circumstances. Farmer never fails to produce some thought-provoking works!
Although Scorpion most certainly could've stood on its own, I am so thrilled that Farmer continued the story with this complex read. Although I loved the pacing of the first...and Farmer's slow reveals to Matt, the main character, I do love the fact that we see Matt struggle with his new power and the constant battle between good and evil in this story. I love the fact that Farmer updated the story with connections to the crazy explosion of technology that has happened to our world since the first book was written...and I also like the fact that she worked through ideas about ecosystems and preserving life on Earth. Most interesting was the addition of notes in the back of the book...I love the fact that she connected the book to real life and explained how certain events and topics helped her develop the plot and characters.
A rich, rewarding read for highly capable middle school readers...I think this could be a dynamite duo for English teachers in the right circumstances. Farmer never fails to produce some thought-provoking works!
November 1, 2013
I was so excited when I saw that House of the Scorpion had a sequel. Scorpion has been one of my favorite books since I first read it, and I was always captivated by the futuristic world and Matt's complicated situation. However, when I read The Lord of Opium, I was severely disappointed.
The book has almost no story arc. It's a whole bunch of Matt exploring Opium and struggling with becoming the new Patron, which honestly didn't interest me at all. The introduction and development of characters is very forced, and there is a lot of telling instead of showing. Characters are introduced as one personality, and suddenly have another. All of it is so infuriating, that I had to force myself to finish it.
The ending is the only piece of real action, and it's so jumbled and rushed that I had to go back and reread paragraphs to understand what was happening.
Reading this book has, however, renewed my love for House of the Scorpion. I read it the day after I read the sequel, just to make sure I wasn't misremembering it and it's glory. I wasn't.
Conclusion: read House of the Scorpion. Don't read The Lord of Opium, unless you have some time on your hands to waste.
The book has almost no story arc. It's a whole bunch of Matt exploring Opium and struggling with becoming the new Patron, which honestly didn't interest me at all. The introduction and development of characters is very forced, and there is a lot of telling instead of showing. Characters are introduced as one personality, and suddenly have another. All of it is so infuriating, that I had to force myself to finish it.
The ending is the only piece of real action, and it's so jumbled and rushed that I had to go back and reread paragraphs to understand what was happening.
Reading this book has, however, renewed my love for House of the Scorpion. I read it the day after I read the sequel, just to make sure I wasn't misremembering it and it's glory. I wasn't.
Conclusion: read House of the Scorpion. Don't read The Lord of Opium, unless you have some time on your hands to waste.
March 27, 2018
The Lord of Opium is a unique coming of age book following the clone of a drug lord and his journey to becoming viewed as equal to regular people, running a country, and helping the world. Matteo, the clone, travels through Mexico, learning about what life is like outside of his home country of Opium. Opium is a country of drug lords, legally growing and manufacturing drugs to sell them to the world. A major crash in the world economy forced the United States and Mexico to allow a new couuntry to be formed to pull them out of the depression, drugs being one of the most lucrative sources of income. The Lord of Opium is a good book with an interesting plot and compelling characters.
February 7, 2017
I would honestly rather rate this a 3.5, because it was a pretty weird book. It was like oh there's this space station in the sky, and oh yeah it's important. And Matt's character development was pretty weird too. At some points he was exactly like El Patron, or just acted completely different than he would have in the first book because some things Matt would never do. So he was a bit confusing. I did like some characters though, like Listen or Mr. Ortega. And the descriptions of the different settings were really nice.
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