Genius squad – Catherine Jinks
Mar. 3rd, 2010 12:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grassangelOnce upon a time, I read the book before this, Evil Genius. I liked it, and was vaugely sad that there appeared to be no plans for a sequel.
Fast forward a couple of years and, as I’m browsing in a book store, I spot The Genius Wars, which aside from being by the same person also had ‘genius’ in the title and a similar cover to Evil Genius. I then pick this up and discover that HOLY CRAP, it’s the THIRD book in the series. As in… she’s not just written a sequel BUT A SEQUEL TO THAT.
Cue me reserving at the library.
I have now obviously finished it and I’m reading the third currently. (And hee, it only comes out in the US this year, in October. A year after its release over here and in Australia. Yay~)
it was a bit disconcerting reading this though, as I had mostly forgotten what had happened in Evil Genius aside from the fact that the main character was an awesome anti-hero and the story in general was good and contained chases and explosions and mind-fuckery.
So it was a little confusing when it kept referring to events in the previous book.
Perhaps one of the only things I really remembered was Sonja, the amazing 17 year old mathematician who has cerebral palsy and is kind of Cadel’s girlfriend. Or perhaps girl friend with a space. Either way, they are adorable.
Well that and Cadel is kind of like Artemis Fowl, in that kind of ‘young genius anit-hero’ way. Except he’s more towards ‘villain’ than ‘anti-hero’ in the first book. And more towards ‘adorable boy messed up by authority figures’ in the third. But er, yeah, initially a villain figure, albeit a young one.
*insert segue that would transition smoothly from evil teenagers to cross-dressing fifteen year old boys*
There is, randomly, a fair bit of crossdressing in this. I do not recall any crossdressing from Evil Genius but it has been ages. It is apparently because Cadel looks very pretty and feminine. So he gets turned into a girl TWICE in this book. The second time is because Prosper forces him too, but the first time is gorgeously fun because Lexi gives him inappropriate clothing and Sonja says he looks better that she does in most things, including silk flowers.
There are a few heart wrenching moments when Cadel is despairing over if he’ll ever be good, because being evil is IN HIS DNA, but then considers that Sonja will never be free of her prison, which is her own body.
Actually, that’s quite the theme running through this book and, from what I’ve read so far of the third, that too. Nature vs. nurture, that kind of stuff.
I’m at a loss for additional words concerning this book, aside from the the fact you don’t really see some of the big twists, that Prosper English is a proper villain and not watered down at all, and that there should be more books like this out there. (i.e. very good YA with proper bad guys written by Australian authors.)
Fast forward a couple of years and, as I’m browsing in a book store, I spot The Genius Wars, which aside from being by the same person also had ‘genius’ in the title and a similar cover to Evil Genius. I then pick this up and discover that HOLY CRAP, it’s the THIRD book in the series. As in… she’s not just written a sequel BUT A SEQUEL TO THAT.
Cue me reserving at the library.
I have now obviously finished it and I’m reading the third currently. (And hee, it only comes out in the US this year, in October. A year after its release over here and in Australia. Yay~)
it was a bit disconcerting reading this though, as I had mostly forgotten what had happened in Evil Genius aside from the fact that the main character was an awesome anti-hero and the story in general was good and contained chases and explosions and mind-fuckery.
So it was a little confusing when it kept referring to events in the previous book.
Perhaps one of the only things I really remembered was Sonja, the amazing 17 year old mathematician who has cerebral palsy and is kind of Cadel’s girlfriend. Or perhaps girl friend with a space. Either way, they are adorable.
Well that and Cadel is kind of like Artemis Fowl, in that kind of ‘young genius anit-hero’ way. Except he’s more towards ‘villain’ than ‘anti-hero’ in the first book. And more towards ‘adorable boy messed up by authority figures’ in the third. But er, yeah, initially a villain figure, albeit a young one.
*insert segue that would transition smoothly from evil teenagers to cross-dressing fifteen year old boys*
There is, randomly, a fair bit of crossdressing in this. I do not recall any crossdressing from Evil Genius but it has been ages. It is apparently because Cadel looks very pretty and feminine. So he gets turned into a girl TWICE in this book. The second time is because Prosper forces him too, but the first time is gorgeously fun because Lexi gives him inappropriate clothing and Sonja says he looks better that she does in most things, including silk flowers.
There are a few heart wrenching moments when Cadel is despairing over if he’ll ever be good, because being evil is IN HIS DNA, but then considers that Sonja will never be free of her prison, which is her own body.
Actually, that’s quite the theme running through this book and, from what I’ve read so far of the third, that too. Nature vs. nurture, that kind of stuff.
I’m at a loss for additional words concerning this book, aside from the the fact you don’t really see some of the big twists, that Prosper English is a proper villain and not watered down at all, and that there should be more books like this out there. (i.e. very good YA with proper bad guys written by Australian authors.)
