Book Review 02: The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

I have read this book over and over again and it is still incredibly entertaining. The book is about a clone named Matteo Alacran, the clone of the drug lord El Patron, the original Matteo Alacran. In the future, everybody hates clones and they are treated horribly. It takes place in the country of Opium, a strip of land between Aztlan (currently Mexico) and the US. Opium, hence it's name, produces huge amounts of opium, which is controlled by Matteo Alacran who uses "eejits", enslaved people who have computer chips implanted inside their brains. Matt, the clone, lives in the house of Celia, a cook at the Alacran house. She was to take care of Matt. One day, two children, Emilia and Steven, find the house and they spot Matt. They leave and return again the next day with Maria. Matt breaks out by breaking a window, but never experiencing pain before, he steps into the broken glass. The children carry him back to the Big House. A man, Mr. Alacran, recognizes him as the clone of El Patron. In the next few months, he is treated like an animal by most of the Alacrans. Maria doesn't like that he is treated like an animal and tells Celia, who passes it on to El Patron. El Patron punishes the main in charge of Matt my making her an eejit and gives Matt a bodyguard. He also orders the others to treat him respectfully, but they only treat him nicely in front of El Patron. The bodyguard is Tam Lin, who Matt looks up to as a fatherly figure.

You go and read the book to find out more of it.

10/10 Stars

FULL SCORE