Reviews

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

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firedew's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

oddpilot97's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I wish I had enjoyed this more.

The first chapter had me absolutely hooked, and I genuinely enjoyed the first quarter of the book. The second half was hard to get through, and it felt like the tone made a huge shift unexpectedly. The character of Tamlin was lovable in my opinion, but aside from that, most of the characters were not very likable.

At first, I thought the clone theme was going to divulge from the stereotype of clones only being used for organs, so I was a bit disappointed when that didn’t end up being the case. I wanted more character development on El Patron clarifying why he acted the way he did. Why he became so cruel and money hungry beyond just growing up poor.

I would’ve liked more character development from everyone. The brain-dead people and animals were an interesting concept. I would have enjoyed learning more about that and more about how our nation had evolved to the state it was in then.

Content Warnings