The Lord of Opium

I just think Farmer missed the mark on this one. The book was enjoyable, but the meat of the book (or rather the really interesting parts) were diluted by stories of teenage love and childishness. I completely understand that, perhaps, that was part of the narrative: what would happen if a child steps into the shoes of a great leader? However, I wanted to Matt to leave behind the childishness and truly step into his role of El Patrón... I didn't even mind that he wanted to be his own person, but I just wanted him to accept the role.

I wanted the questions that Farmer posed to be more fleshed out. I wanted to be immersed in the world of Matt and to see the consequences of his decisions as they happened, but I didn't get to see that. I didn't like many of the characters that were in this second book, with the exception of Matt and Cienfuegos. They, too, were boring and underdeveloped.
There were many moments of rising tension that were just brushed aside, and frankly, the climax wasn't exciting as a result.

I liked the world that Farmer created, however, I just think it fell flat in the end.