Titles: The Inheritance Games, The Hawthorne Legacy, The Final Gambit
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Inheritance Games
Why is this series so popular???
This is a review for the trilogy as a whole. No spoilers.
This series did not live up to the hype; I’m a little bitter that I waited several months to get my turn at the audiobooks from the library. How many other books could I have borrowed and enjoyed in that time?
I was further disappointed to learn there was no fantasy element. I’m not sure where I got the idea it was a fantasy series; maybe it came up as recommended when I was looking at other YA fantasy, or maybe it was the cover designs, which sure look like those of YA fantasy to me. Regardless, nope, no fantasy.
I found this series rather boring. The first book was the most interesting because it was fresh. Mysteries abounded! The second rode the coattails of the first, since the first really didn’t answer the most important questions. The third felt rote and I tuned a lot of it out. I lost track of who was related to whom and who was supposed to be antagonists. Somewhat in the second, but definitely by the third, it felt like Barnes was twisting relationships and characters’ attitudes to manufacture drama in a plot that was losing intrigue.
What most turned me off was the love triangle. I abhor love triangles. I feel they do the heroine (for it’s usually a girl stuck between two boys) no favors, because it gives her the traits of indecisive and flighty, not to mention unfaithful if she acts on her indecision. She may also come off as greedy or even cruel, leading two boys on. I just can’t fathom how it ever became a favorable trend.
The characters were okay but not great. Hard to relate to, for sure; almost everyone were super rich and accomplished geniuses. Avery was only poor for two seconds at the start. I suppose Libby and Max are exceptions, but once Avery inherited they benefited too. Nope, can’t say I relate to a life lubed by 42 billion.
Avery was likeable enough, but didn’t have much personality beyond being a puzzle genius and not wanting to be rich. Jameson was supposed to be the bad boy, but he really wasn’t that bad beyond a tendency toward recklessness and some self-interest. He didn’t have enough charm to be the heartthrob he was supposed to be, but I liked him better than Grayson. Grayson was just annoying. Between having multiple sticks up his ass and his emotional and psychological issues, he held no appeal to me, and I couldn’t understand why Avery was so attracted to him. I got REALLY sick of watching her go all gooey around him. Xander was the comic relief, and I liked him best of the brothers. He had charm in spades and some of the best lines. I wasn’t sure what to think about Nash at first, but by book 3 he was close to Xander for favorite. He was the most down to earth of the four, just seemed like a solid dude.
The narrator, Christie Moreau, did nothing to help the brothers’ appeal. They all sounded like children, high-pitched and grating. Nothing sexy about that.
So yeah, overall none of the characters were super endearing and the plot lost steam from the beginning. I’ll probably check out any subsequent installments eventually, but I’m not excited for them. Things were pretty well wrapped up in book 3. Only one question left I can think of, and it sounds like book 4 will answer it.
