Review: Genius by Leopoldo Gout

Genius by Leopoldo Gout 
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: May 3rd, 2016
Purchase: Amazon

Trust no one. Every camera is an eye. Every microphone an ear. Find me and we can stop him together.

The Game: Get ready for Zero Hour as 200 geniuses from around the world go head to head in a competition hand-devised by India's youngest CEO and visionary.

The Players:
Rex- One of the best programmers/hackers in the world, this 16-year-old Mexican-American is determined to find his missing brother.
Tunde-This14-year-old self-taught engineering genius has drawn the attention of a ruthless military warlord by single-handedly bringing electricity and internet to his small Nigerian village.
Painted Wolf-One of China's most respected activist bloggers, this mysterious 16-year-old is being pulled into the spotlight by her father's new deal with a corrupt Chinese official.

The Stakes: Are higher than you can imagine. Like life and death. Welcome to the revolution. And get ready to run.

My Thoughts:
Genius was definitely not my normal read, but you know what I totally got into it.  It was for the most part fast paced and really got me thinking about technology.

I think the author did a great job at keeping his readers connected to the characters.  Genius is told through three POVs Painted Wolf, Rex, and Tunde.  These are our main characters and I think they fit pretty well.  I had a hard time connecting with Tunde and I think it's because his chapters felt cold.  This is a shame because his story was the one that was most devastating and one who the most to lose.  I liked him but his voice didn't work for me.  I also found that when the author would break into Tunde's chapter with what I am guessing is language from Tunde's culture it totally killed the chapter for me.  I didn't understand it and it wasn't because it was in a different language like Spanish or French.  Nope it was English, but the wording and spelling totally threw me off and I didn't like it.  Maybe if this strange language would have been explained I could have let it go, but as it is I'm left feeling nothing but confusion. 

Painted Wolf and Rex definitely made up for what connection I was lacking with Tunde.  I found them both incredibly intriguing and very fun to read.  They both brought something different to the table and it was really fun watching them work their mad skills.  When they all finally got together everything clicked into place and it was explosive.  They were all brilliant and I found myself drawn in to the story even more.  Was it realistic, not to my knowledge but you I have learned to let those things go with these types of books.  I mean they are meant to be fun right?  What's fun in being completely accurate??  Give me mad genius coders, special badass spies, and brilliant inventors!!

I will say that I loved how the author took his book down a level with the way he went about the competition. I am very high strung person and I know if I had to read the last half of the book worrying if these three characters were going to win would have killed the book to me.  It's too much pressure and I think letting the Game rule the book would have taken away from the bigger story line.  Some will disagree with me and I get that, I understand a lot of people like the fast, furious competition story lines, but I'm not one of them so I liked that he chose to go about the Game the way he did.  The competition is still in there, it's just not as important in the end as you think.

All in all I have to say this one was fun.  I think the sequel if there is a sequel will be a lot of fun because this one did end in a cliff hanger that was crazy!  I would definitely pick up the sequel because like I said it was a crazy ending and also because we finally got to see what Painted Wolf could do.  It's her turn to shine and I can't wait!

4 snowflakes