The Lord of Opium by Nancy Farmer (review)

El Patrón, the ruthless ruler of Opium (in The House of the Scorpion, BCCB 2/02), is dead, and suddenly fourteen-year-old Matteo Alacrán, once a disposable clone of El Patrón good only for spare organs, is expected to rule in his place. With few allies at home, Matt must rely on the reluctant Cienfuegos, who only wants Matt to become another El Patrón, while on the borders, foreign armies wait anxiously for their chance to end Opium’s drug trade and raid its lush lands to replenish their own ravaged ecologies. Matt, meanwhile, wants nothing more than to free the workers from their zombie-like servitude and reunite with his beloved Maria. He knows that his only hope to save himself and his nation is to explore El Patrón’s dark scientific achievements, but visits to various secret laboratories reveal yet more dangers: power-mad scientists, violent, mentally damaged clones, and a biosphere full of workers with no knowledge of the outside world. Frustrated by his limited choices, Matt eventually teams up with Cienfuegos and a young girl named Listen to overthrow Opium’s dark past and prove himself a leader for its future. Picking up only moments after its predecessor, this narrative offers an intriguing sequel that unfortunately doesn’t reach the level of the previous title. Farmer succeeds in providing just enough detail to allow unfamiliar readers to follow the plot, but any emotional connection to Matt as a character remains grounded in the initial story. While Matt continues the worthy thematic struggle of figuring out who he is under the shadow of what others want him to be, he eventually becomes little more than a vessel by which to explore El Patrón’s vicious legacy, a focus that diffuses energy and slows pacing. New characters are compelling, though, and readers who wonder how Matt survives the aftermath of El Patrón’s death will likely be relieved by the success he finds in the end.