This book needed some mayonnaise or BBQ sauce because it was dry!

STORY:

"Cameras are eyes... Microphones are ears... (pg 294)"

In Genius: The Game by Leopoldo Gout (320 pages), Rex Huerta's a regular sixteen-year-old boy who has a knack (and need) for hacking. Unfortunately, his parents are at risk for being deported from the U.S, Teo, his older brother, has run away from home, and school isn't much fun for him. With all these things weighing on Rex's shoulders, the announcement of the genius Kiran's youth-hacking competition sounds promising, not to mention he needs a quantum computer. Of course, Rex's internet hacker friends Tunde and Painted Wolf are going to be there for their own reasons.

This book needed more detail. To know a character is "tall, thin, and broad-shouldered (pg 125)" is not enough for me! Does the character have dimples, sunken in cheekbones, and are their clothes loose or ironed to perfection? These are the things I want to know! 

The visuals like the diagrams, drawings, and photographs were a nice aesthetic, but they felt like a crutch sometimes.

Also, Rex's—actually, everyone's— narrative was dry. And there were too many info-dumps that could've been weaved into the story better. 

There's a little attraction between Rex and Cai (Painted Wolf). I mean they were alright. Depending on how old Kiran was, I liked him with her better if only for the Batman/Catwoman angle.

CHARACTERS:
This book has a bunch of diverse characters! Yay! The three main leads are respectively Mexican, Nigerian, and Chinese! Within the Genius competition, there are South Americans, Egyptians, South Africans, and Haitians and others.

Still, I had no favorite character.

Rex is okay, I guess. But he doesn't really have a personality. He just reacts to the things that happen around him. 

"I do not like the term junk. It implies inherent uselessness and I have come to find that nothing is inherently useless. It is only a matter of finding the time, functionality, and place of the object" (pg 40).

I did like Tunde the most due to his sense of wonderment. I didn't mind his not-translated Nigerian lingo because I could figure out most of it from context.

Cai (Painted Wolf) was supposed to be this baddie/vigilante chick that I just did not get or care about.

Kiran was interesting just a smidge. 

 OVERALL:
I'm sorry guys but I could not wait for this book to be over. It took me 9 days to finish this because I had to force myself. It was almost a DNF, but I hoped it would get better.

Not a bad idea but I wished it could have been executed differently (and with more detail)! I might read the sequel.

When Olive and Willow go to camp, Willow has a harder time to adjust to being away from home and gets very clingy. Olive is a social person and tries her best to make Willow feel included until she starts monopolizing her time. Of course, this brings about a series of events that make this story very relatable.

lowkey/highkey Willow needed to sit down somewhere. Being afraid and wanting to attach to the only familiar face you see is normal, but she OVERSTEPPED big time telling Olive she can only sit with her, declined someone else asking OLIVE to dance (not you, Willow!), and turned her butt to anyone that wanted to be her friend. I thought she was maybe socially awkward at first, but then it turned into "if I can't have Olive, no one can." On top of that, as soon as Willow gets comfortable at camp, she likes "new phone, who dis" to Olive.

Willow was so irritating hahaha.

Yeah, read this. I love when stories can teach a lesson to kids without being preachy.

"Sure are a lot of cats fighting today."

"They're so cute even when they fight."

Well, I wasn't expecting a closeup of (erect?) cat genitals (or the most contrived poses ever to show panty shots), but this is where we are in the world.

This is about gangster cats, but they are portrayed as humans. Sometimes, I thought the flip-flopping from human to cat was a bit distracting. But other times it's really cute like when Ryuusei was stuck inside the cardboard box.

"Living free is why I'm on the street!"

I don't feel attached to Ryuusei, the main character. I just see him as a creepy, cliche hotheaded shounen hero. Y'know the "ask questions later" type. I usually don't mind that trope (I've read a bunch of manga/seen animes, so I'm not too burnt out), but these characters aren't interesting enough that I want to read the next volume.

Still, you might think differently, so read for yourself. Of course, there are cute cats too.

Yes, this one does get a little cliche with

bully has a bad home life, so they act out

trope, but that happens in real life sometimes. Anyway, this is one of my favorite Big Nate books! The story gets the slightest bit emotional (gasp!), we see a glimpse of Nate's dad as an actual character (which means he had a life and aspirations before he was just Nate's dorky dad), and a cute preteen romance that doesn't hog the entire story.

Wow, Nate finally stopped pining over Jenny.

I definitely recommend!

This series was on display at the library, so I decided to read it.

Well, everything in this manga is 0 to 100 with no in-between. Chikage feeling unfulfilled and disappointed at 31 is realistic, but her suicide attempt is handled so cartoonishly. Right now, all the characters feel really flat, and the way she becomes an idol is a bit too ridiculous. I was expecting Chikage to try to become a popstar/idol herself

not basically be coerced into it.

.

Chikage seems to have about 3 love interests, but we all KNOW who she's going to end up with. I kind of like Tokita, but him trying to kiss her in the mouth while she was asleep is wrong. Still, he's the only character I vaguely like right now. I like that he has always noticed her and cares for her even now. I really hope Chikage doesn't try to date the 15-year musical prodigy. I don't know how that's going to work out for her.

Normally, I wouldn't be interested in reading the next volume, but I already have the next 4 with me. So ... until next time