The House of...The Scorpion
by Nancy Farmer
Our Price: $24.95
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $7.50 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Nancy FarmerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Format: Large Print
Published: 2003-04-02
ISBN: 0786250488
Number of pages: 515
Reading Level: Young Adult
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Book Reviews of The House of...The Scorpion
Book Review: I didn't get it
Summary: 2 Stars
I truly do appreciate this book. I truly do. Nancy Farmer has a gift for creativity and I'm in love with the way she makes a blend of culture, sci-fi, and morality. This is a complex and thought-provoking novel, written quite well.
That said, I still did not like it.
It's dark, severe, grating, and hard-to-swallow. Which works well for many a book, but I'm afraid that it only made the end of this book all the more cheesy. And this is one top of the bizarre family connections.
There's an icy feeling that connects almost all the characters, and I don't think Ms. Farmer properly escaped it in time to leave one satisfied.
Thank-you, Ms. Farmer, for putting such incredible concepts into a YA book with your talented writing, but please do not expect everyone to enjoy this.
Though I'm sure the right crowd will love it. I do not complain against its awards
Summary of The House of...The Scorpion
A National Book Award WinnerA Newbery Honor Book
Some see Matt as a beast. But for El Patrón, Matt is a guarantee of eternal life, for they share the same DNA. Matt tries to understand his existence while facing sinister characters.
An Accelerated Reader® title for Ages 11 to 14.
Fields of white opium poppies stretch away over the hills, and uniformed workers bend over the rows, harvesting the juice. This is the empire of Matteo Alacran, a feudal drug lord in the country of Opium, which lies between the United States and Aztlan, formerly Mexico. Field work, or any menial tasks, are done by "eejits," humans in whose brains computer chips have been installed to insure docility. Alacran, or El Patron, has lived 140 years with the help of transplants from a series of clones, a common practice among rich men in this world. The intelligence of clones is usually destroyed at birth, but Matt, the latest of Alacran's doubles, has been spared because he belongs to El Patron. He grows up in the family's mansion, alternately caged and despised as an animal and pampered and educated as El Patron's favorite. Gradually he realizes the fate that is in store for him, and with the help of Tam Lin, his bluff and kind Scottish bodyguard, he escapes to Aztlan. There he and other "lost children" are trapped in a more subtle kind of slavery before Matt can return to Opium to take his rightful place and transform his country.
Nancy Farmer, a two-time Newbery honoree, surpasses even her marvelous novel, The Ear, The Eye and the Arm in the breathless action and fascinating characters of The House of the Scorpion. Readers will be reminded of Orson Scott Card's Ender in Matt's persistence and courage in the face of a world that intends to use him for its own purposes, and of Louis Sachar's Holes in the camaraderie of imprisoned boys and the layers of meaning embedded in this irresistibly compelling story. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell
Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic Books
Where the Wild Things Areby Maurice Sendak
Harper Collins; Published: 1988-11-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.13
Price in other shops:
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)by Rick Riordan
Miramax; Published: 2006-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.20
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)by J. K. Rowling
Arthur A. Levine Books; Published: 2007-07-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops:
The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 4)by Rick Riordan
Hyperion Book CH; Published: 2008-05-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.65
Price in other shops:
The Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl, Book 6)by Eoin Colfer
Hyperion Books for Children; Published: 2008-07-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.46
Price in other shops:
New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)by Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown Young Readers; Published: 2008-05-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.05
Price in other shops:
Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3)by Christopher Paolini
Knopf Books for Young Readers; Published: 2008-09-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.51
Price in other shops:
Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)by Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown Young Readers; Published: 2007-08-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.25
Price in other shops:
Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)by Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown Young Readers; Published: 2006-09-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.34
Price in other shops:
Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)by Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown Young Readers; Published: 2008-08-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.64
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Tangerineby Edward Bloor
Harcourt Paperbacks; Published: 2006-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.24
Price in other shops:
Al Capone Does My Shirtsby Gennifer Choldenko
Amazon Remainders Account; Published: 2004-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.70
Price in other shops:
Feedby M.T. Anderson
Candlewick; Published: 2004-02-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.87
Price in other shops:
Fever 1793by Laurie Halse Anderson
Aladdin; Published: 2002-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.17
Price in other shops:
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)by Rick Riordan
Thorndike Press; Published: 2006-01-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.71
Price in other shops:
The City of Ember (The First Book of Ember)by Jeanne DuPrau
Yearling; Published: 2004-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.62
Price in other shops:
The Land of the Silver Applesby Nancy Farmer
Atheneum Books for Young Readers; Published: 2007-08-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.44
Price in other shops:
Monster (Amistad)by Walter Dean Myers
Amistad; Published: 1999-05-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.75
Price in other shops:
The Sea of Trollsby Nancy Farmer
Atheneum Books for Young Readers; Published: 2004-09-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.14
Price in other shops:
The Ear, the Eye, and the Armby Nancy Farmer
Orchard Books; Published: 2004-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.94
Price in other shops: