The Lord of Opium

ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Nancy Farmer

Maps on pp. xiv–xv and p. xvi by Rick Britton

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Book design by Mike Rosamilia

Jacket design by Russell Gordon

Jacket photo-illustration by Steve Gardner

The text for this book is set in Bembo Std.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Farmer, Nancy, 1941–

The lord of Opium / Nancy Farmer. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

“A Richard Jackson Book.”

Sequel to: House of the scorpion.

Summary: In 2137, fourteen-year-old Matt is stunned to learn that, as the clone of El Patrón, he is expected to take over as leader of the corrupt drug empire of Opium, where there is also a hidden cure for the ecological devastation faced by the rest of the world.

ISBN 978-1-4424-8254-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4424-8256-2 (eBook)

[1. Cloning—Fiction. 2. Drug traffic—Fiction. 3. Environmental degradation—Fiction. 4. Science fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.F23814Lor 2013

[Fic]—dc23 2012030418