Genius zzzzzzzzzz - huh? What?

I finally finished Genius Squad this morning. Will it surprise you when I reveal that there is a sequel to this sequel? Cadel's story is like the song that would not end, and Genius Wars is the next in the set. I hesitate to say "trilogy," because I'm frankly concerned that Catherine Jinks believes herself to be the next J.K. Rowling. If you're reading this Cath, I'd like to say with all positive, and loving intentions, don't give up your day job. And don't call Vera Wang about the gown you're planning to wear to the movie premier either! While I feel quite certain that the books will be made into films (isn't that the reason to write books anymore?) I have my doubts about whether the films will keep me from falling asleep, unlike their literary predecessors.

I read Evil Genius because someone I respect had recommended it. I still respect him, and I still want to know what he's reading so I can read those books too, but I also want to confess that when I said I liked Evil Genius earlier this year, I wasn't telling the entire truth. I liked that such a cool person had loaned me his copy of the book, but I had to work to get that sucker read, and, frankly, Genius Squad was even worse. I found myself sighing over the same old problems. Awkward syntax (as though the books had been translated into English by someone who hadn't been reading or speaking it that long -- it was the "all your base are belong to us" phenomenon on a more subtle level), and ridiculous character names (Saul is the most reasonable first name in the whole set of books so far, but he gets the last name "Greeniaus" tacked on for good measure) caused serious irritation for me with both books.

More significantly, the author just didn't make me care. The hijinks and demonstrations of genius are well-imagined, but without a character-driven background, all the drama starts to feel pointless. The title character, Cadel (he has so many possible last names that it's not worth listing them all here) is mildly interesting, but his emotional conflict always feels surface-level to me, as though Jinks fears we couldn't embrace a truly evil genius. So Cadel isn't bad to the bone, he's only done evil things because he didn't understand they were wrong...and how boring is that? If you're gonna call your book Evil Genius, for heaven's sake, embrace it. Run with it. Wallow in it like Patricia Highsmith does with Thomas Ripley and make him really, deliciously amoral. Otherwise you need to call the book something like Morally-Conflicted-Due-to-His- Questionable-Upbringing Genius so we know what we're in for. Jinks is so unwilling to confront the true nature of evil (or so timid about whether her readers can handle it) that even the central villains, Prosper English and Phineas Darkkon (see what I'm talking about?), don't accomplish anything that's really merits the title. Anyone that was truly evil would have shot Cadel in the head at the end of book one and I would be done with this ridiculous series once and for all. Wait, maybe they are evil because they let him live in order to continue torturing me?

Will I read Genius Wars? Of course I will, in just the same way I'll end up slogging through Breaking Dawn in a month or so. While I think there's probably some medication available to help me resolve this problem, at present I can't NOT read the rest of the books in a series, even if I find them all terrible. (For the record, I didn't hate the Twilight series, I've just read better romantic fiction and better vampire fiction and I did resent being sucked into a trilogy that was 1792 pages long right smack in the middle of the school year. I'm also 39 and I've been married for almost 16 years, which changes your viewpoint on finding the partner of your dreams and choosing the course of your entire life when you're 17. I'll admit that I was also a bit put-out when I realized what the deal was going to be with Jacob. That was just one notch too far over the top for me -- if you've read it, you know what I'm talking about there, if you haven't it would be a total spoiler to tell you more. Why I can suspend disbelief long enough to get into the vampire thing, but not take it to the next level I cannot explain, but there it is. But, whatever conflicts I may have with Stephenie Meyer's work, she sure can write a page-turner, and I admire her enormously for that.)

Hey, while I'm on the subject, which of you is going to lend me your copy of The Host? I've only got thirty or so books lying around here waiting for me to read them, after all...