As the teenage ruler of his own country, Matt must cope with clones and cartels in this “electric blend of horrors and beauty” (Publishers Weekly), the riveting sequel to the modern classic House of the Scorpion, winner of the National Book Award, a Newbery Honor, and a Printz Honor.
Matt has always been nothing but a clone—grown from a strip of old El Patron’s skin. Now, at age fourteen, he finds himself suddenly thrust into the position of ruling over his own country. The Land of Opium is the largest territory of the Dope Confederacy, which ranges on the map like an intestine from the ruins of San Diego to the ruins of Matamoros. But while Opium thrives, the rest of the world has been devastated by ecological disaster—and hidden in Opium is the cure.
And that isn’t all that awaits within the depths of Opium. Matt is haunted by the ubiquitous army of eejits, zombielike workers harnessed to the old El Patron’s sinister system of drug growing—people stripped of the very qualities that once made them human.
Matt wants to use his newfound power to help, to stop the suffering, but he can’t even find a way to smuggle his childhood love, Maria, across the border and into Opium. Instead, his every move hits a roadblock, some from the enemies that surround him…and some from a voice within himself. For who is Matt really, but the clone of an evil, murderous dictator? Is his true destiny already predetermined by his genes?
谁是朋友？谁是敌人？
权力究竟带来了什么？
人性和道德的悖论如何解释？
自然和社会的发展存在什么样的关系？
一切的问题摆在这个十四岁的男孩面前
他是新的鸦片之王
不久之前，马特还是一个被众人唾弃，阿尔帕特隆的克隆人。而当他14岁的时候一切却都发生了翻天覆地的变化——他继承了阿尔帕特隆邪恶的毒品垄断帝国，他是拥有无数呆瓜僵尸军队，足以影响世界进程的新的鸦片之王。
他的王国就横亘在美国和墨西哥的交际处，是世界上最大的毒品生产邦联制国家。2137年的世界其他地区都因为一场可怕的生态灾难而全面毁灭变成了“上帝的烟灰缸”，唯有马特的王国因为封闭得以幸存。
马特终于发现，在太空，有一颗叫作“天蝎星”的卫星控制着呆瓜们脑中的芯片，使得鸦片王国成为了一个充满了行尸走肉的国度。
谁被安装了芯片？如何实现智力的恢复？世界的重建怎么处理？马特只有靠自己才能完成这些宏大的问题。
By Nancy Farmer, Paperback, Simplified Chinese Character, 351 pages, 8.26"x5.9"
