Cameron's Novel Review

The novel is centered around a of the ruthless drug lord El Patron. The clone is  Matteo Alacran, a boy formed in a laboratory in the future . El Patron is the head of a drug producing country known as Opium which is located between the United States and Mexico which is now Aztlan not only that, but he is also the head of the Alacran estate which is located in Opium. Matt lives in a small home located in the poppy fields of the Alacran estate with his caretaker Celia, who works for the wealthy Alacrán family. One day, Matt was discovered by some of the estate children and freed from his home with rather surprising force. He was taken to live in the Big House on the Alacran estate where he faces a firestorm of confinement, violence, sickness and especially prejudice.

Matt is able to form friendships within the Alacran estate. His caretaker Celia, his bodyguard Tam Lin who serves as a father to him and his close friend María who later develops into his lover. After years of typical Alacran drama, With the help of his friends Matt manages to escape Opium and his true purpose in the estate. Matt escapes to Aztlan where he faces more violence and forms more friendships but not before a taste of hard labor.
Matt locates Maria who had left Opium months before to meet her mother Esperanza, who is an influential force in politics and protests directed at Opium. Finally, Matt returns to Opium and due to El Patron’s death, is able to serve as the new leader of the country. The novel ends with Matt beginning the difficult task of fixing all of the damage El Patron’s regime had created.

After reading this novel, I felt empty. I felt as though the novel hadn’t been finished. Nonetheless, I did find this novel an entertaining read. The characters were well developed but weren’t truly relatable, it may be due to the fact that they were in set in the future. The characters didn’t seem like someone I would befriend or become, I found it hard to connect with characters. However, out of all of the characters I suppose I could most relate to Matt’s confusion in the sense that he is having difficulty with his identity and who exactly he is. Having an American and Canadian citizenship at some point or another, I wonder where I should really say I’m from, like Matt in his debate of whether he his human or clone and what he should consider himself to be.

I enjoyed the overarching story of the novel, I found it to be somewhat innovative. I don’t tend to read or pay too much attention to teen novels but this novel concept seemed like something new, something that isn’t regularly found in the teen section of the library. I found it an easy yet fun read but some parts seemed too long. El Patron's birthday and Matt's time in the "prison" seemed much too long and I wondered when I could move on to another part of the novel. However, I also found it easy to become truly engaged in the novel, the parts when Matt was in his oasis with Tam Lin for the first time and when he made his escape from Opium kept me drawn to the novel closer than any other parts had. I enjoyed the novel's story but was let down by the end. In interests of not spoiling the storyline, I will not mention details of the end. In conclusion, I feel that this was an easy, yet entertaining read as well as an engaging and innovative piece of literature.

4 out of 5 Stars

If you have read the novel and are looking for something similar, try The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins or 1984 by George Orwell