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 clonegrown from a strip of old El Patrons 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 disasterand hidden in Opium is the cure.

And that isnt all that awaits within the depths of Opium. Matt is haunted by the ubiquitous army of eejits, zombielike workers harnessed to the old El Patrons sinister system of drug growingpeople 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 cant even find a way to smuggle his childhood love, Maria, across the border and into Opium. Instead...