Nick Book Review

A fragment of skin that is placed in a petri dish, germinated then placed in a cow to grow and finally be born as a child. This is how Matt was conceived, Matt is the clone of the almighty leader of Opium; El Patron. Opium lies between the United States and Aztlan it is a small strip of land. Matt is born into a corrupt world where he is not wanted, clones are viewed as beasts by all individuals, except for one, El Patron. Matt will find out that although El Patron may seem to be his greatest ally he is also his greatest enemy.

The House of the Scorpion, an interesting title that could be interpreted in multiple ways; I for one thought that the book was about insects at first! For me this book was, all right, I tend to read fast paced novel that have a mystery to them. This book was almost in that category because it was the mystery of what the purpose of Matt was that you were trying to solve. This book was slow at many points and I skipped many pages because I could not bear to keep reading them. This book also had its high points in it; these were what kept me from rage quitting on the book in the end. Although this book was not my favorite at some points, Nancy Farmer did a great job in writing it, she used very emotional subjects to draw you into the story.

Overall this was a fairly good book with some great scenes and some very interesting situations. I am giving this book a 7/10 because although it was quite boring at times the overall plot, characters and setting really shone through.