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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
To be honest, I didn't really enjoy The Genius Wars. It wasn't what I expected and it wasn't as great as the other previous books of this trilogy.
The only good part of this book was that we got to see another side of Prosper English. We got to see him break down from his former genius and into his crazed, almost devolved self. This was probably the only appealing detail of this book for me.
There were many things that made this book terrible. Yes, terrible. I scarcely ever say a book is terrible, and this time it's not the subject matter that bothered me. It's how the story is given to the reader. Cadel became annoying about midway through the book. He continued to think about Prosper English and how to stop him and scarcely reflected on other things. It became almost redundant. Not once did he stop and think that maybe the police could handle Prosper. There was no character development whatsoever. Hell, anything that he gained from the second book backtracked into this obsessive, I-can-only-do-this Cadel. It was obnoxious and I nearly put the book down because of this.
Another annoying aspect of this book was when Catherine Jinks continued over and over about the surveillance. I understand that it was a huge part of the story, but I felt like she hammered in the point about a thousand times and it was annoying to no end. Having Cadel have to remind all the adults in the story how to avoid being detected and being paranoid about every camera in sight was bothersome and I feel like he should have figured something out so that he wouldn't be as paranoid, if only to give the reader a break from Cadel's paranoid babbling.
There were also less interesting characters. You basically had the same cast of characters as the second book, which would have been fine if they had been used. I feel like, having dealt with many different, interesting characters in the first book, that being isolated to just Cadel in the third book was boring, especially when he was just being paranoid the whole time and trying to solve things that the police might have helped him with. Having a few new actually engaging characters might have sweetened the pot.
The plot didn't really do it for me as it did in the other two. I expected a fast paced, action packed book, but it really wasn't as exciting as the first two. I really had to force myself to read and it just felt slow. I feel like some of this was Cadel's paranoia. Another issue I had with the plot was that the characters that did recur and that could have had an interesting part to play in the plot weren't used, or were barely used. Niobe's assassination attempts could have helped quicken the plot. Com and Dot could have been used more. Sonja and Hamish could have been used more. The plot was underwhelming and just a disappointment to me after reading the former two books.
Finally, I didn't really like the end. I think Jinks could have added a few more chapters on why Cadel had a sudden change of heart, of which I won't go into as I don't want to spoil anything. She didn't really wrap up loose ends, which was frustrating. It wouldn't have been a big deal if there were going to be more books in this series, but there aren't, so reading the ending was a huge let down. If anything, even if it didn't tie up the loose ends, Cadel's reactions to the past events could have been expanded to give it a halfway satisfying ending.
This book was just a huge disappointment for me. I do not recommend this book, although if you have read the first two, then I suppose you should read it so that you can get the rest of the story. Just be forewarned that it isn't as good as the first two. Don't set yourself up for disappointment.
The only good part of this book was that we got to see another side of Prosper English. We got to see him break down from his former genius and into his crazed, almost devolved self. This was probably the only appealing detail of this book for me.
There were many things that made this book terrible. Yes, terrible. I scarcely ever say a book is terrible, and this time it's not the subject matter that bothered me. It's how the story is given to the reader. Cadel became annoying about midway through the book. He continued to think about Prosper English and how to stop him and scarcely reflected on other things. It became almost redundant. Not once did he stop and think that maybe the police could handle Prosper. There was no character development whatsoever. Hell, anything that he gained from the second book backtracked into this obsessive, I-can-only-do-this Cadel. It was obnoxious and I nearly put the book down because of this.
Another annoying aspect of this book was when Catherine Jinks continued over and over about the surveillance. I understand that it was a huge part of the story, but I felt like she hammered in the point about a thousand times and it was annoying to no end. Having Cadel have to remind all the adults in the story how to avoid being detected and being paranoid about every camera in sight was bothersome and I feel like he should have figured something out so that he wouldn't be as paranoid, if only to give the reader a break from Cadel's paranoid babbling.
There were also less interesting characters. You basically had the same cast of characters as the second book, which would have been fine if they had been used. I feel like, having dealt with many different, interesting characters in the first book, that being isolated to just Cadel in the third book was boring, especially when he was just being paranoid the whole time and trying to solve things that the police might have helped him with. Having a few new actually engaging characters might have sweetened the pot.
The plot didn't really do it for me as it did in the other two. I expected a fast paced, action packed book, but it really wasn't as exciting as the first two. I really had to force myself to read and it just felt slow. I feel like some of this was Cadel's paranoia. Another issue I had with the plot was that the characters that did recur and that could have had an interesting part to play in the plot weren't used, or were barely used. Niobe's assassination attempts could have helped quicken the plot. Com and Dot could have been used more. Sonja and Hamish could have been used more. The plot was underwhelming and just a disappointment to me after reading the former two books.
Finally, I didn't really like the end. I think Jinks could have added a few more chapters on why Cadel had a sudden change of heart, of which I won't go into as I don't want to spoil anything. She didn't really wrap up loose ends, which was frustrating. It wouldn't have been a big deal if there were going to be more books in this series, but there aren't, so reading the ending was a huge let down. If anything, even if it didn't tie up the loose ends, Cadel's reactions to the past events could have been expanded to give it a halfway satisfying ending.
This book was just a huge disappointment for me. I do not recommend this book, although if you have read the first two, then I suppose you should read it so that you can get the rest of the story. Just be forewarned that it isn't as good as the first two. Don't set yourself up for disappointment.
I waited a long time to finish the Cadel-Trilogie. And I still think it deserves a greater audience. But this last installement did not give me the same satisfactions the other two did. For one thing, for the first time, I didn't quite get the tech behind it. Secondly, it was too similar to the other two books. The plot was a bit forseable. Thirdly, there was not nearly enough Sonja this time. And last but not least, the ending felt rushed, inconclusive and unsatisfied.
Still, this trilogy is one of my favorite book series ever.
Still, this trilogy is one of my favorite book series ever.
I thought this book was fantastic. I enjoy all of Catherine Jinx's writing and have followed the Evil Genius series all the way through my teenage years. Now i am seventeen and i enjoyed this book just as much as i enjoyed the original as a fifteen year old. I enjoy how quickly the novel moves, while still packing the punch of well thought out original story line. Great read for any teenager
Better than the last book in terms of Cadel actually doing instead of sitting back and whining. But 99% of the book was pure speculation; Cadel saying it must be so-and-so doing this or some other so-and-so doing that. There's no real confirmation that he's right about any of it until halfway through the book, and even then it doesn't answer all the questions. So Cadel goes to extreme lengths to show he's right. The whole book is a bit of a long shot, even given the subject matter and the things that happened in the previous two books.
Ironically, I liked the ending. It made sense and provided decent drama/suspense/etc. Everything leading up to that felt disembodied from it, though. Cadel can calculate probabilities and all that, but that didn't convince me as a reader that he was necessarily on the right track about what he thought was going on. There wasn't enough proof along the way for it to be believable for me.
Ironically, I liked the ending. It made sense and provided decent drama/suspense/etc. Everything leading up to that felt disembodied from it, though. Cadel can calculate probabilities and all that, but that didn't convince me as a reader that he was necessarily on the right track about what he thought was going on. There wasn't enough proof along the way for it to be believable for me.
(July 30, 2012)
4 stars
(Update: January 18, 2015)
4-5 stars
One of my favorite series of all-time. Without a doubt.
4 stars
(Update: January 18, 2015)
4-5 stars
One of my favorite series of all-time. Without a doubt.
*actual rating 3.5 stars
In the 3rd and final installment of the Genius series, I was expecting a happy ending after the main character had struggled through so many hardships in the series. Sadly, that didn't happen. After living a normal life for half a year, Cadel is forced back into the world of cons and tricks he so carefully avoided. Upon starting this book, I really wanted Cadel to finally have a normal life but as I soon found out, that wasn't possible. I was a little disappointed in the ending of this book. Throughout the whole series, Cadel struggles to free himself from Prosper's tyranny but that never happened in the book. I,however, enjoyed Cadel as a character. He was interesting to read about (seeing as he is a boy genius). One thing that irked me was the length of the book. The books in these series are all so long and so descriptive. One one hand, that's convenient and you can really immerse yourself in the book but on the other hand it starts to get a little bland after a while. This book was not predictable when it comes to the plot points but I did see a pattern in the big picture. Cadel gets captured, he escapes but is still not free from Prosper. In this book, that was still the case. Overall, this book was a good conclusion to the Genius series but I would have liked to see a more detailed ending.
In the 3rd and final installment of the Genius series, I was expecting a happy ending after the main character had struggled through so many hardships in the series. Sadly, that didn't happen. After living a normal life for half a year, Cadel is forced back into the world of cons and tricks he so carefully avoided. Upon starting this book, I really wanted Cadel to finally have a normal life but as I soon found out, that wasn't possible. I was a little disappointed in the ending of this book. Throughout the whole series, Cadel struggles to free himself from Prosper's tyranny but that never happened in the book. I,however, enjoyed Cadel as a character. He was interesting to read about (seeing as he is a boy genius). One thing that irked me was the length of the book. The books in these series are all so long and so descriptive. One one hand, that's convenient and you can really immerse yourself in the book but on the other hand it starts to get a little bland after a while. This book was not predictable when it comes to the plot points but I did see a pattern in the big picture. Cadel gets captured, he escapes but is still not free from Prosper. In this book, that was still the case. Overall, this book was a good conclusion to the Genius series but I would have liked to see a more detailed ending.