Kyle+O.

media type="custom" key="7800005" Title: The House Of The Scorpion Author: Nancy Farme

**The House Of The Scorpion** is an extraordinary book by Nancy Farmer that captivated my thoughts and made me think about life in a different light. The book is different; it can be dark with twisted ideas of the future or it can be funny and enjoyable and show the happier side of the not so distant future. The book's setting is in a dark sci-fi universe in which everything is not what it seems to be. The topic of the book is clones. With the enjoyable writing of the acclaimed author Nancy Farmer she makes you believe that you are living in sci-fi world. You feel like you are living with these unbelievably life-like and unique characters.

The story revoles around a character named Matt (or Matteo). Matt lives in a house in the middle of a poppy field in what he belives is in the middle of nowhere. While he is raised with the loving care of Celia, who acts like a mother towards him, the house feels like a prison. One day he escapes his prison/ home and realizes he is not human but rather a clone. Clones suffer in the future; they are beaten and treated as animals. For Matt, his future changes when he meets a man named El Patron who says that Matt is his clone. El Patron is a powerful and wealthy old man who gives Matt a life of freedom away from the hate of humans. But suddenly Matt realizes all of the gifts that he recieves from El Patron are not what they seem to be. Matt is taught by his body guard Tam Lin, his girlfriend Maria, and Celia that El Patron is a dark and twisted man who's only letting Matt live as a clone so he could later take Matts organs and replace El Patron's own in an attempt to become immortal. The plan does not suceed. El Patron is unable to use Matts organs and dies. Matt then quickly flees El Patron's estate and starts to act as an orphaned boy. Matt quickly makes friends and leads a rebellion against the keepers who watch over the orphans and subject the orphans to limitless work. Matt once again flees with his friends and meets Maria and her mom who are intent in destroying El Patron's drug influenced empire. Matt uses his DNA to disable El Patron's drug empire and start a new empire without El Patron's drug influenced ways. The climax in the story is when Matt learns that El Patro is using him for spare parts and he is not the wealthy kind man Matt belived him to be.

There are several interseting characters in this book, especially the main character Matt. Matt is interesting because he lives a care free, boring life away from pain and misery until he learns he is a clone, and his whole world turns upside down. I could relate with Matt because he feels alone in the world around him just like me when I'm down in the dumps. But Matt is clever and outgoing and learns to cope and overcome his hardships of being a clone. On the other hand, the character named El Patron is dark and sinister as any old man could be. Tam Lin says El Patron is like a tree. He is big and powerful and towers over the rest of the trees in the forest. But like the other trees in the forest some of his branches are twisted and evil. This perfectly describes the old man because on the surface he seems like a clever kind man but deep down inside he is pure evil.

In summary, The House Of The Scorpion is an excellent book for any young adult reader or sci-fi fan. Nancy Farmer's writing describes the incredible hardships that the main charcter Matt had to go through. It also makes you think that we are so blind in this world to peoples' true intentions. People should never judge a book by its cover because people may seem nice in this book but they might be evil deep inside. The books also shows the danger of drugs, the devastation a family feels when a sibling becomes an addict, and how corrupt a drug dealer's life is. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and once again would recomend this book to any young adult reader or sci-fi fan.