By: Eric Weinberg

Talented writer Leopoldo Gout shows off his brilliance in an amazing page-turning masterpiece, Genius. Genius is a fiction novel that includes some elements of science fiction, though without any futuristic or unrealistic components. It is the first book in the Genius trilogy and sets up the plot for the next two books.

Rex Huerta, Tunde Oni, and Cai Zhang (a.k.a. Painted Wolf) are the novel’s main characters. All three of them are some of the most talented teenagers in the world. Rex Huerta is a 16-year-old Mexican American with an undocumented family. He is a whiz at coding and can write extremely complex programs and even one that cannot be run on regular computers but only on machines that can run on the quantum level. He is desperate to try and find his missing older brother, and can his expansive coding knowledge help him? Is there something more sinister about this mystery?

Tunde Oni is a fourteen-year-old engineering mastermind. He lives in a small village in Nigeria, where he has created multiple engineering works of art, including bringing the internet to this village as well as a solar power tower. He is put under pressure when a ruthless military general finds him and asks Tunde to make him a dangerous weapon.

Cai Zhang, at only 16 years old, has made the powerless powerful. She lives in China, where she uses spy cameras to expose the corruption and ruthlessness of Chinese politicians and officials. She uploads these videos secretly to the internet, causing mass chaos among many Chinese businessmen and authorities. She is an amazing problem solver and is ready to take any challenge on.

They eventually connected through the internet and created their own website and platform known as the LODGE. They created this as a place to answer questions and create a space for other prodigies to speak with each other.

Then, Kiran Biswas, one of the biggest tech visionaries in the tech world thought to be the next Steve Jobs created The Game. The Game is a head-to-head competition with 200 of the smartest 18-and-under individuals in the world.

All three canget in, maybe some, not the intended way, though in the end, all arrive at Boston Collective to begin the game. From here on they must multitask with multiple projects they need to take care of and use all of their advanced skills. But is The Game the most important? Can everybody be trusted? Who has the right intentions, and who doesn’t?

Overall, Genius is an amazing novel. The character development could use some work, with more advanced and important traits being developed. The suspense is great, and the plot is very interesting, with multiple things piling up on each other with a sense of a possible connection between all of them. This is a great book, and all readers will devour this excellent read.