House of Scorpions

Author: Nancy Farmer
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The first science fiction novel about clones introduced to China, won the American National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2002, received the Newbery Award and the Prinz in 2003, was nominated for the Carnegie Award by the UK Library Association in 2003, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by the American School Library Journal. This is the first science fiction novel about clones introduced to China, telling the legendary story of Matt, a clone, who struggles to seek the rights to survival and self-worth in a hostile yet chaotic world. It explores the moral and ethical dilemmas brought by cloning technology to humanity, the conflict between the body and the soul, and the value and essence of life. The protagonist, Matt, is born into two violations of divine laws: first, he is the only one of thirty-six frozen human cells implanted into a cow to survive for a hundred years, and second, he is the only one who rebels against the laws of the Opium Kingdom and refuses to terminate his intellectual growth. Before the age of seven, Matt was locked in a small wooden house in a poppy field, living a completely isolated life, until one day he was discovered by three children in a messy room at Al Patrone Manor filled with sawdust, like a chicken coop. Matt spent his days with cockroaches and rotten bones. He was surrounded by a group of vicious bodyguards, with computer chips in their brains, and inexplicably got involved in the power struggle of the Al Patrone family. Faced with misfortune, Matt is mentally strong, brave, and noble. With his extraordinary strength, he desperately seeks to know everything he can. As he grows older, he gradually realizes his own worth and understands that he can make things turn out well with his own strength. At the age of fourteen, a terrifying prophecy about his future forces him to a suffocating escape, followed by a series of thrilling scenes, climbing cliffs and walls, and spine-chilling...