3.5 stars. 
 Last year I read The House of the Scorpion aloud to my sons, and we all liked it. I looked forward to this title, and again, I read it aloud to them, now ages 14 and 12. All three of us liked the first one better. 
 This one finds Matt as the new Lord of Opium, a position that is challenging, tiring, scary, and one that he is just not fully capable of doing. Yet he forges ahead, with big plans of helping the eejits. A number of characters make another appearance, though I sorely missed Tam Lin's presence. Even the old El Patron kinda sorta comes through, and we all found that entertaining. 
 Nancy Farmer writes well, and with many details. This one included more details than I even really needed, with long descriptions of the environments. Farmer's strong writing shines through in her character descriptions, and that's what made the book for me. The plot and storyline of The House of the Scorpion was so different and unexpected, it made it hard for the sequel to feel as fresh and exciting. 
 This time around, I liked Cienfuegos the best. My 12 year old preferred the Mushroom Master. My 14 year old said he liked Glass Eye Dabengwa. The 12 year old would give it 3-3.5 stars. He didn't like "all that romance." This is a common complaint of his, since we've begun reading titles that include at least a minor love aspect. While I didn't like Maria, and I thought the scenes with Mirasol were mildly icky sometimes, I didn't think there was a gaggy amount of romantic scenes. 
 It's a long read (all those descriptions), and by the end I was quite invested in a number of the characters, and seeing how it all ended up. The resolution felt satisfying, though the last few chapters were a touch eye-rolling. Thankfully the book caps things off with several pages of an Appendix, which set my eyes on the correct path again.