Reviews with content warning for Confinement - The Final Gambit

Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

17 reviews

litliz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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aas's review

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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emmajh91's review

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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prashiie's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

"The thing about strategy," he says, "is that you always have to be thinking seven moves ahead."

Not only do we have some Hawthorne secrets to unravel and puzzles to solve, there is another person calling the shots now.

Traps upon traps. And riddles upon riddles.

I don't trust Eve. She is suspicious. That’s what I thought from the start and I was right. I can’t believe she hurt Grayson like that. First it was because Eve looked so much like Emily but then she also turns out to be tricking them all. Grayson deserves so much more and three books later he still hasn’t found his happiness. I hope he will in the upcoming books.

So at the start of this story, we know Toby’s life is in danger.

It turns out Tobias Hawthorne knew from the beginning that Eve would be involved in this situation and tries to warn Avery. What bothered me the most is that even in this situation he made them solve the puzzles to find out who is keeping Toby instead of just telling them this straight away.

The ending of the previous book was good enough to end this series with. I don’t see why we have a third book. It is interesting, I’ll admit that. I didn’t mind reading about my favourite characters again. But it is not on the same level as the first two books.

“They'd been sculpted by Tobias Hawthorne, formed and forged by the billionaire's hands. They were extraordinary, and for the first time in their lives, they weren't living under the weight of his expectations.”

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neverlandpages4's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

• After a YEAR and 5 months, I’ve finally finished the inheritance games series. Well, I guess not because there’s a fourth book coming but it was supposed to be a trilogy so I’m considering it done. Also the fact that I waited months to read this just to binge it in a day at the end made me furious at myself 😭

• I read the first two books in January of 2022. I absolutely loved them but by the time this came out, I’d completely forgotten everything and kept putting it off. I was finally over it & watched a recap of the first two on YouTube so I can read this.

• Right away, I was really bored. There didn’t seem to be much happening in the mystery aspect. A lot of it was focused on the love triangle and teenage drama that wasn’t even interesting. I thought I wouldn’t be able to put this down but I was dying for it to be over.

• Pretty much every review I’ve ever seen of this has been criticizing who Avery ends up with but to be honest, I couldn’t care less because she didn’t have chemistry with either of them & she continued to make the dumbest decisions and then proceeded to act surprised when she was in danger.

• There were also a ton of time jumps. Every chapter would skip weeks to months and I just felt disoriented reading this.

• As with the first two books, I really disliked Max. The dialogue itself & the other characters were childish enough without her addition and I was cringing every time she talked. I also didn’t like the “trendy” references. It was clear that the targeted audience for this book was Tik tok, as it says on the cover.

• The ending was so predictable and I just felt like I wasted my time reading about a bunch of clueless characters that can’t see what’s right in front of them.

• I think it’s safe to say I won’t be reading the fourth book. There’s another series by this author that I’m interested in reading though and I’ve heard good things about it

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thekiwibibliophile's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a super disappointing end to the series. I liked the development & the story line of the first 2 but the last third of the book was just, meh.. I wasn’t expecting it..
I am a fan of mystery’s and riddles so that kept me going and some of the characters are so good! I really did like the series and am glad I stuck it out. Just not something I will reread..

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rinku's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Last Gambit concludes the main trilogy of The Inheritance Games in a satisfying way which makes me so happy since I’ve read quite a few finales in the last weeks that disappointed me.

To become the official heir of Tobias Hawthorne, Avery just has to last at the Hawthorne house for a few more weeks. Everything seems fine until Eve, who was briefly mentioned in the previous book, arrives at the Hawthorne house, needing help from Avery and the brothers because Toby was kidnapped. Avery and her friends have to figure out who the kidnapper is and what his intentions are. Like it’s typical for the series, the kidnapper sends them different very mysterious riddles they need to solve to learn more about him.

Probably the reason why I can’t give this novel five stars is Eve who annoyed the hell out of me. I almost hated every scene with her, and it was so terrible to see how irrational Grayson behaves since she looks like Emily and

it’s even more terrible how much Eve manipulates him because of it. Luckily, he’s able to free himself from her and consequently Emily in the end

. I also felt so sorry for Avery who started to feel like she doesn’t belong to the Hawthorne’s and Eve’s presence in general creates so much drama.

Just like in the previous books, I was really invested in all the still fun riddles and the family drama, even though I was a bit confused this time because I couldn’t remember all the relationships – maybe a family tree would’ve been nice, I don’t know. The reveal that

Eve is working together with Blake

was not really shocking to me though since it was kinda obvious from the beginning.

In contrast, I really loved how everything slowly comes together which was just so satisfying. Towards the end, it becomes clear that

Tobias Hawthorne predicted almost everything up to this point. He’s honestly so evil for using Avery so that his boys don’t get hurt, if I understood it correctly. Still, “hearing” his voice for the first time was such an impactful moment

. We of course get more drama with

Blake kidnapping Alisa and Grayson swapping himself for her. It was so amazing how Avery was able to win against Blake, even though Toby had to sacrifice himself for it, and how she wants to give away most of her fortune

I’m probably repeating myself, but I love all the characters so much (besides Eve lmao). Avery’s development throughout the trilogy is amazing and I love how she’s already doing good things with all her money. It was even greater how she takes the initiative and makes her own plans. The Hawthorne brothers are still all so precious, and I can’t even say who’s my favorite since I like them so much. I especially liked Xander here; he’s funny as always and it was so wholesome

how he met his dad who’s the only dad of the brothers who accepts his sons. I also love how we learn in the epilogue that he now works with his father

Other mentionable characters are Thea, Alisa, and Oren who I like so much; especially

Oren saving Avery from Eve was such a great moment. Of course, it’s his job but it was still amazing

. Another thing I appreciated was that we got more backstory for Tobias Hawthorne and that he gets more criticized. We also need to talk about the elephant in the room: the solution of the love triangle that seems to really divide people. I

was also team Grayson and hence I’m a bit sad that Avery ends up with Jameson. Grayson’s confession was so heart-breaking, and I hope he still will find happiness one day

All things considered, the main trilogy of The Inheritance Games deserves its hype in my opinion. After reading the first book, I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy the series as much as other people do, but I did in the end. I know that many people don’t like the second book but it was my absolute favorite. We get to know the amazing characters so much better, and the mystery is so engaging throughout the whole series and leaves us with a great conclusion. The premise of the series is just so creative and I’m really curious how the story will continue in The Brothers Hawthorne.

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mirandahedvik's review against another edition

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challenging inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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cc_shelflove's review

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adventurous challenging inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love it when series conclusions actually do not disappoint! The Final Gambit takes us back to the basics of book one. Follow the yellow brick road, also known as the puzzle trail. One clue leads to the next leads to the next leads to the next… Do you see where I’m going with this? I’ll stand by my statement that this is my new favorite young adult mystery series. I’m very very excited for this summer’s upcoming spin-off series to follow Jamie and Grayson!

“Tobias Hawthorne’s game hadn’t made me extraordinary. It had shown me that I already was.”

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