The Coral Island by modern scholars and generally considered to be dated in many aspects, in 2006 it was voted one of the top twenty Scottish novels at the 15th International World Wide Web Conference. Robert Louis Stevenson's 1882 novel "Treasure Island" was in part inspired by "The Coral Island", which he admired for its "better qualities", as was J. M. Barrie's character Peter Pan; both Stevenson and Barrie had been "fervent boy readers" of the novel. Novelist G. A. Henty was also influenced by Ballantyne's audience-friendly method of didactism. William Golding's 1954 novel "Lord of the Flies" was written as a counterpoint
The Lord of Opium problems that remained at the end of "Scorpion". Farmer began working on the novel in 2008 and the working title was "God's Ashtray". Farmer wrote 80 pages of the book before having to stop due to an illness. When her health was better, Farmer tried to resume writing, but was exhausted after moving from California to Arizona. She was at last revived by listening to music and was able to finish the novel. Critical reception of "The Lord of Opium" has been favorable, with starred reviews in "Publishers' Weekly," which hailed it as a "superb novel . . .well worth