The Lord of Opium (The House of the Scorpion) Paperback – September 9, 2014

Im a picky reader but I love reading about utopian/dystopians . I actually bought this book for my boyfriend as it was his childhood favorite and I’ve read it myself . I purchased the second one too.

Feel free to check out my other reviews on Goodreads or my blog: [...]I have read some of the reviews on here for Lord of Opium and I see quite a few people who did not like the sequel to House of the Scorpion. I am not among that group. I loved this story as much as I loved the first. I’ve found recently I enjoy the dystopian style plots of books like this, where the future of the world is just a little different. Nancy Farmer’s imagined world includes the US and Aztalan, formerly Mexico, separated by countries run by drug lords including the land of Opium. When we left Matt, he had returned to Opium to find the original El Patron dead, along with most of his guards, family and friends. With him dead, that made Matt, his clone, the next in line to rule the land. Matt wants to tear down the drug cartel and free the eejits, people who have been micro-chipped into submission, but he finds this task difficult. The rest of the world lays in total devastation, pollution and overpopulation have wrecked most of the planet, except for Opium, and it turns out the secret to saving the earth lies in Opium.This book does not contain a lot of the suspenseful moments that House of the Scorpion had that kept me riveted. However, I still enjoyed the plot and was happy to be back in this world with Matt, Maria and his group off friends.Lastly, I received the audio book version of this novel, and it is narrated by actor Raul Esparza, who does a near perfect job of capturing all the characters, the Spanish and different voices. He keeps the story moving, interesting, and helps me to picture the characters not just from the descriptions but from how he voiced them. I don’t always find narrators who can really bring a book to life, so it’s a joy when one comes along. I’d recommend the book, and especially the audio book version just for that.

Fanciful and entertaining continuation of young Matt's life as he returns to Opium. No need to give away the plot or the ending. If you enjoyed the first book, you should like this one.

As usual, Nancy Farmer's characters and stories fill my every waking hour until the last page of the book. I force myself to slow down so the book will last longer. I've been waiting for this second novel in the series and of course, it did not fail to keep me glued to the digital page. The House of the Scorpion(2010), Farmer's first book taking place in the bizarre land of Opium, left me wanting more. The Lord of Opium delivered me right back into the world of (former) clone, Matteo Alacran, without skipping a beat and continued to take over my own life until the ending.In Lord of Opium, we revisit the vast country of Opium and all the characters that make Famer's stories so interesting. Only now, it all belongs to Matteo. All the good stuff is inside: Eejits and Safe Horses, force fields and drug lords, friends and enemies. I couldn't wait to see how the young man handled it all. Is Matteo too nice to be mean? Can young Matteo handle the running of a country that Patron built on death and fear, where the good of the whole must be weighed against the good of one? But this book. Buy the first one in the series too. Enough said. Oh yes, and if you haven't read Farmer's other series: The Sea of Trolls Trilogy, do so immediately.

The House of the scorpion has been my favorite book since I read it in 4th grade, over 10 years ago. Matt is still such an incredible character who learns to sort of follow in his originator's footsteps while also working to clean up the evil drug lord's messes that have been accumulating for over 100 years. I have always hated how much I love the villain, but I think that it's just one of charms of Nancy's brilliant writing. I love that this book was true to the original and delivers a satisfying ending. I wish it could go on forever!

I’d definitely recommend this if you’ve read house of the scorpion.

As much as I loved the characters both old and new. I couldn’t help but feel as if there could have been more action scenes. It’s good for a sequel but not as exciting as I wanted. I’d recommend it if you liked house of the scorpion

I love both parts of Nancy Farmer's story. After a while the suspense (still present) becomes secondary to the emotional response to the main characters, especially Matt. The characters are complex, well observed, changing. I found the part about the horrible "goulag" for orphan boys totally surprising in its truth). It is normal that Orwell observed so well the reality of the so called communism, he saw its atrocities in Spain, but how Nancy got this inside, I don't know.Matt, as a clone of the lord of opium, discovers with awe some of the characteristics of the original model in himself, developing against his will. He also discovers, at 15, what the power implies and how many moral issues it brings with itself. Starting with a beautiful utopia of the young, he meets the obstacles of the reality...The performance of Raul Esparza is as outstanding as always and I found it difficult to part with this audiobook. I will certainly listen to it again, soon.

The lord of Opium was a great listen to wished it could have gone on longer

Enjoyed scorpion better

Having enjoyed greatly 'House of the Scorpion' I was looking forward to reading 'The Lord of Opium' upon its release. The book is what I would expect from Nancy Farmer- well written, good characterisation- but it did not live up to my expectations.There are two aspects of the book that hindered my enjoyment of it 1. the answer given to a question that may be hanging over for many readers from their reading of 'House of the Scorpion' and 2. a lack of the tension that would made me anxious for Matt and his friends.Regarding point 1 this is never a question I asked myself! That I did not ponder the matter does not mean that I lack curiousity; it is simple the case that when I read novels set in different/ future realities I accept certain features of their realities just as I accept that when I walk out of the door later today I will not float into the sky! That said, it is a fairly obvious question to address in a sequel. I was not convinced by the answer and as reaching this answer propels most of the novel it is not surprising that my enjoyment of the book was diminished.The second point is something that I was aware of towards the end of 'House of the Scorpion'- once I knew Matt would live a lot of the tension in the book dissipated, but I was still curious as to what would happen between Matt and El Patron and I was satisfied by the manner in which the book ended. The Lord of Opium does not quite match the promise of that ending. As I write this review I begin to suspect that the issue may be that too much of the world these books describe was revealed at once and this overwhelmed me/ distracted me from the narrative.It may well be that my expectations were set too high by the first book in the sequence, but too many elements of the book failed to convince for it to warrant more than 3*.

Absolutely beautiful book, an Excellent sequel to "The House of Scorpions". The book starts out a bit slow, but picks up near the half way point and from there on in I couldn't put the book down. From Happy, Sad, Funny & Touching moments, to the amazing characters, this book is just hands down a Masterpiece and Perfect Sequel and Ending to the House of Scorpions.This is a must have for any reader, but it is strongly recommended you read the first book before hand.This my friends is what you call, a Beautiful book.

Honestly, I loved the first book. Even thought it ended really fast I was okay with it because I knew there is a second book. And at first, I enjoyed this novel as much as the first one but then it started to get kind of random and it felt like the plot isn't moving forward. But I was okay with it because I thought it'll all make sense at the end. When I got to the last 50 pages I was a little worried - there's not enough pages left for it to have the kind of plot twist or whatever I expect. Lastly, due to the sudden and quick explanations and actions that are going on at the end, it was kind of disappointing. Still, I recommend reading it if you read the first one but still it's not as good as the first one. It's the same interesting and unique dystopian world and that's what I enjoyed mostly anyway. :)