"Evil Genius" by Catherine Jinks

Cadel Piggott is a child prodigy. After being caught hacking into high security networks, he is forced to go to therapy. His therapist Thaddeus Roth seems to be as evil minded as Cadel and gives him ideas on other networks and systems he could master, such as the railways and roads. Cadel eagerly looks into these systems due to the fact that he is fascinated by them as well as the fact that they are the only things he considers a challenge. As he grows older he becomes more separate from his busy adoptive parents. They don’t think much of him and don’t pay any attention to him, which Cadel thinks is a blessing. Cadel being a prodigy and being 2 to 3 years younger than most of the kids in the class makes him one of the last people someone would suspect to be behind the incidents he causes. As Cadel reaches the age of 10 he starts to manipulate social networks to his advantage. As he moves through the grades he becomes more daring as well as making stupid mistakes. He causes many incidents such as the collapse of the new gymnasium, and the day that the teachers came to school 3 hours late.

After finishing the 12th grade he almost is carted away to a boot camp where he can become more disciplined. However, Thaddeus manipulates his adoptive parents into taking a look at another college called the Axis Institute. Upon looking at a different version of the brochure than the one that Thaddeus had given his adoptive parents, Cadel sees that the school has several classes such as Infiltration, Assassination, Contagion, and Disguise. After taking a tour of the modern facilities the Piggott’s agree that Cadel will go to the institute. After joining the school he meets several weird and crazy characters. Everyone seems to be at each other’s throat, including the teachers’. As chaos breaks out around Cadel, he has nowhere to run as some of his “allies” disappear. Cadel realizes that the school is tearing itself apart. Several cases of blackmail, murder, assault, poisoning, and disappearing happen around Cadel, which slowly drives him away from the underworld lifestyle that Thaddeus had always planned for him. As he realizes that his life has basically been planned out for him he tries to escape what he’s done and try and fight back against it. He believes he can do it but no matter how smart you are you can’t calculate what will happen in the future.

Cadel is a pretty well-rounded character but I think the adoptive mother really didn’t express enough emotion toward the beginning of the book. I think that his somewhat cheerful mood at the Axis Institute does help him but for the most part it doesn’t give him any allies that are to helpful. Cadel has some of the aspects of Artemis Fowl in the way that he is a mastermind and is smarter than most of the people in the book, but he doesn’t go out and steal important artifacts like Artemis Fowl does throughout most of his books. The school situations are a bit exaggerated since you can’t see how someone could individually cause the entire school staff to be late.

One of the other things that really makes the book interesting is the genetic powers that some of the kids have—such as the twins that have a psychic link and the boy who is at risk of spontaneously combusting because of a special fluid in his body. The powers are more believable because they are based on genetics and not something out of the blue like the ability to fly or run faster than a car. In fact, you wouldn’t even want some of the powers that some of these kids have. There are no Supermans, Flashs or Wonder Womans here.

“Evil Genius” is an excellent book that will excite anyone who has read the “Artemis Fowl” series or loves a good fictional book.

>>Buy “Evil Genius” by Catherine Jinks.

"Unwind" by Neal Shusterman

In a world where abortion is a banned surgery, parents can have their troublesome teenagers unwound for body parts for sick people who need them. Witness the adventure of 3 kids who are trying to escape being unwound and live to the age of 18. Connor, one of the 3, is sent for his unwinding due to the fact that he is a trouble-maker who won’t be successful in life. Risa is an orphan who is being unwound to lower the amount of money the orphanage needs so they can improve living conditions and get more food as well as the fact that Risa has picked the non-practical profession of becoming a Pianist. Lev was marked as being unwound from the moment of birth. His parents follow a religion where they give 10% of everything to god, including their 10th son.

The three meet each other by chance and run from the police force designed to track down runaway unwinds. The 3 are driven forward knowing that everything they do is a risk and that their lives could be over at any second. Their goal is to survive to 18 but knowing if you don’t that your body will be surgically ripped apart and given to the world doesn’t help much. Driven by desperation the 3 do as they must to survive even if it means doing the unthinkable in their world. This includes carrying an abandoned baby with them, having someone that actually wanted to be unwound in the group, and more. Chaos seems to erupt in their minds as they meet other unwinds (hindering their progress as well as helping it) and the stress of thinking that your life is over sinks in.

Their hopes are raised by learning that there are unwind communities that you can seek out and live in until the age of 18. Living for 5 years may sound easy but it is a lot harder when police are after you and if anyone finds out you’re an unwind you are going to be unwound on the spot by police cruising the city. As the 3 fight for survival they find allies and enemies that they wouldn’t suspect until they saw them for themselves. Connor knowing that he would be hunted after shooting a police officer leads the group by shear determination using crazy ideas that bring them to the edge of being discovered. Risa just follows along and helps in any way possible, while Lev is less committed to the group. It is hard to guess if all 3 of them will survive to see their 18 birthdays.

I myself think that being unwound is an inhumane response to banning abortion. Though it does help the adults who are sick and some people do consider it dying, you actually live since every part of your body is working and alive in other people. I think that no one should have their parents decide whether or not they will live or be surgically divided so that other people could use your body parts. I also see a point to banning abortion but instead of ending their life I think that it would be simpler to simply increase the amount of orphanages. Unwinding is practical but is a terrible way to so to speak “die”. As for teenagers running away from this cruel fate decided by their parents I applaud them for making the difficult choice of either dying or surviving 5 years with everyone you know and love looking for you to get rid of you. I think that this book really makes you think a lot.

A story of action and suspense that will please any reader of fiction books no matter how picky they are.

>>Buy “Unwind” by Neal Shusterman.

"Dragon Champion" by E.E Knight

“Dragon Champion” is the story of the dragon hatchling Auron, who’s born into a world where his almost extinct race is brutally murdered by the rest of the world. He is driven from his home when a group of dwarfs murder his parents and 1 of his 3 siblings. You don’t get much of a hint as to what happens to his sister who escapes with him when the dwarfs attacked or if their traitor brother is alive either since there aren’t any hints since all 3 had parted ways. The book consists of several of the well-known fantasy races such as the elves, dwarfs, and trolls that we have come to love yet gives them a twist that entertains the reader such as the dwarves hatred of sunlight causing them to wear special masks. Also the elves have a murderous intent toward the dragons even though for the most part elves think of all things living as good because of their nature-based culture. He meets several interesting characters through his journey to find more of his race.

The book starts off with Auron and his brothers and sisters hatching which then leads into their reaction to others of their kind which leads to the quarrel between the male hatchlings. The female take longer to hatch therefore the fighting is done when they leave the shell. The book jumps through time a year or two between certain chapters, with you meeting characters when they’re young and then again when they’re much older. It seems like Auron goes back and forth between several opinions and thoughts about the other races such as the Blighters and Man and the other races in the book. It jumps through several years as you get closer to the middle of the book making it feel like the characters’ own thoughts and urges such as his changing of thought about the dwarf race and what is the next step to finding more of his kind have changed a lot from the end of one chapter to the beginning of another chapter. The characters are very detailed and help Auron along his way in very peculiar ways such as giving him a dwarsaw (a golden chain with diamond blades that pop out when tugged) that helps him in his adventures.

I consider the book entertaining and exciting. If you enjoyed “Eragon,” you’ll definitely like this book as well.

>>Buy “Dragon Champion” by E.E Knight.