130 books, which is 2.5 Cannonballs, and probably as much as I’m going to accomplish this year (I might finish my audiobook today–we’ll see). Catherine Jinks’s Genius Squad was a good way to wrap up the year–some light, silly fun. Note: this is the second book in the Genius trilogy (I reviewed the first, Evil Genius, a few months ago), so spoilers exist for the first novel.
At the end of Evil Genius, Cadel Piggott finds out that his parents are not his parents, and his real father is probably the psychotic behind the The Axis Institute–Prosper English. Cadel took down the Institute, Phineas Darkkon died, the other members disappeared and Prosper English waits in jail for trial. Now, Cadel remains trapped in limbo–no one knows for certain who his parents were, which means he’s not really a citizen of anywhere, so he’s stuck in foster care while things are being sorted out.
Bored out of his mind, Cadel is approached by an opportunity that seems too good to be real: a “Genius Squad”, disguised as a foster home, in which incredibly bright kids like Cadel have been working together to take down GenoME, another one of Darkkon’s projects. Even better–Cadel’s friend Sonja, who has cerebral palsy, could come, too. So, what’s the catch?
The Genius books are a lot of fun–the characters are wildly intelligent and social stunted, leading to crazy pranks, fights and conversations. The plot is always very twisty–I kept trying to guess what was going to happen and found myself correct only about 50% of the time. Cadel’s emotional growth is making him a much more likable lead, and I loved one of the new characters: ex-member of the Mounties, Saul Greenbriar. Jink obviously aimed the series at an audience a bit younger than myself, but that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment one bit.
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