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jedabooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
marykirk's review against another edition
5.0
It took me a good time to finish this one, but the events were very interesting, and kept me going. I also was anxious to find the fate of our beloved Cadel, his new friends and family, and OF COURSE, the man who raised him. Thaddeus Roth/Prosper English. Prosper is absolutely my favorite character of the series, and his ending left me stunned. The last page.... Left me screaming. Cadel... Oh my. You'll see, dear readers, you shall see.
roshk99's review against another edition
4.0
Although the technical terms are bit too much for the average reader to understand, the plot is fast-paced and the story captivating. The ending is a bit cheesy - but there is no other way to end it without everyone dying.
adeperi's review against another edition
2.0
I was enjoying it about as much as the others until the last couple of pages; then, the story just kind of... died. The ending was depressing and didn't really tie things together for me. But the rest of the book was still pretty good.
nyx1801's review against another edition
3.0
I can't say I really liked the last book of the series. It was slower than the other too and didn't have that much action. It feels like the first of the three was the strongest one
bellatora's review against another edition
4.0
Books about heroes in retirement are tough. They have everything they wanted (stability, family, safety) but they get a little antsy. Cue evil villain returning and throwing things in turmoil, and the hero having to step back up.
That's basically what happens in this book. Cadel finally has a real family, is in university and is still friends with Sonja. Then suddenly Prosper English comes back on the scene and everyone Cadel cares about is in the line of fire, starting with Sonja.
I find this part of the hero's journey less interesting for some reason. Maybe because the hero has gotten his happily ever after and I resent the fact that he still has to fight for it? Maybe because heroes in retirement are just not quite as badass as when they were still in the thick of things?
I don't know, but this book feels less awesome than the second one. Maybe the problem is really that Cadel is pretty much on his own for so much of this book. While others try to help him - and he uses some people - for the most part, it's Cadel fighting Prosper English and Fiona/Sonja/Saul are only bit players. I like Cadel best when he is with his support group. He is not as compelling when he is trying to solve everything by himself.
Still, this was a great series and I'm glad I stayed with Cadel until the end.
That's basically what happens in this book. Cadel finally has a real family, is in university and is still friends with Sonja. Then suddenly Prosper English comes back on the scene and everyone Cadel cares about is in the line of fire, starting with Sonja.
I find this part of the hero's journey less interesting for some reason. Maybe because the hero has gotten his happily ever after and I resent the fact that he still has to fight for it? Maybe because heroes in retirement are just not quite as badass as when they were still in the thick of things?
I don't know, but this book feels less awesome than the second one. Maybe the problem is really that Cadel is pretty much on his own for so much of this book. While others try to help him - and he uses some people - for the most part, it's Cadel fighting Prosper English and Fiona/Sonja/Saul are only bit players. I like Cadel best when he is with his support group. He is not as compelling when he is trying to solve everything by himself.
Still, this was a great series and I'm glad I stayed with Cadel until the end.
skyeblue1737's review against another edition
3.0
Don't really have much to say about this book. I think Cadel is right about how it ended. Bits between characters seemed to keep repeating themselves throughout the book as the story progressed to important key moments, but otherwise, I enjoyed the end to this trilogy. Glad to see that Prosper's true colors showed up in the end.
nematome's review against another edition
3.0
This book, which I think is the end of the series (Really? That was the end? Okay...), took quite a while to make it over to the U.S. So, the last time I hung out with Cadel and the gang was about three years ago. It took me a while to remember all of the characters and plot details. This author is very adept at "refreshing" the reader without sounding repetitive so that was quite helpful. I think that the major strength of these books is the characters - Catherine Jinks has a great imagination. I don't think I've ever encountered a weirder, more eccentric bunch. She really parades them all out for this book, which actually got overwhelming by the end. There's only so many bizarre outfits and nutty personalities that I can keep track of before I start to forget who's who. The story was decent, although slow at times. I was pretty ready for this to be over by the end. There is a really hilarious (although maybe unintentionally so) scene when Cadel visits the U.S. Cadel is driving through L.A. and notices:
a) Oil Drills
b) Illegal immigrants waiting for work
c) McMansions
There's also a small mention later of the 260 cable t.v. channels. I think American needs some better P.R.!
a) Oil Drills
b) Illegal immigrants waiting for work
c) McMansions
There's also a small mention later of the 260 cable t.v. channels. I think American needs some better P.R.!
gnome_of_your_beeswax's review against another edition
4.0
I read this for 4th quarter:
This book was great! But the ending was not very good. I hope there is another book. I liked the fact that from the beginning you watched Candel (Spelled right?) grow up. It was a very good series.
In this book Candel gets new parents, and finds out who his real dad is. His 2ed fake dad tries to kill him too. At the end he gets kidnapped and is hidden in a safe house that is in inside a house. At the end the 2ed evil fake dad is lost at sea and Candel is returned to home. His new parents are Fiona and Sal. (spelled right?)
This book reminds me of the mysterious benowick secoitey. This is because both books have kid genius's. Also because I liked them both. They are both books I would recomend.
Action & Adventure
This book was great! But the ending was not very good. I hope there is another book. I liked the fact that from the beginning you watched Candel (Spelled right?) grow up. It was a very good series.
In this book Candel gets new parents, and finds out who his real dad is. His 2ed fake dad tries to kill him too. At the end he gets kidnapped and is hidden in a safe house that is in inside a house. At the end the 2ed evil fake dad is lost at sea and Candel is returned to home. His new parents are Fiona and Sal. (spelled right?)
This book reminds me of the mysterious benowick secoitey. This is because both books have kid genius's. Also because I liked them both. They are both books I would recomend.
Action & Adventure
teaxmillions's review against another edition
1.0
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.