The Genius Plague by David Walton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fast-paced and nerdy in a "cocky newbie to the NSA fights an intelligent Mycelium plague" vein. :)

The initial premise was what brought me to the book and that still stands. The fungus is mimicking our brains from within our brains and makes us smarter... with the pitfall that it only behaves to improve its own survival.

I might have preferred an all-out hard SF going much deeper into a fully-successful plague, but hitting the breaks like this was fun enough for a single novel. The alternative might have become a doorstopper and I might have loved that, too, but alas... this is only my opinion. :)

What we do have is a cocky bright kid getting into a ton of trouble who does everything he can to save the world. It's really not bad. It's smart. Interesting. Tons of great science and ideas were thrown about for all you mushroom lovers out there. It's a real smorgasbord. :)

I may not like the end so much, but I really enjoyed the ride getting there. Walton's writing is fast-paced and as cocky as his MC. It's designed to be popcorn fiction and for the most part, it fits the bill perfectly. :)

Now, where's my salad? I'm in the mood for a few whitecaps. :)

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