Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Final Gambit

Jennifer Lynn-Barnes is a true mastermind with this third installment of The Inheritance Games. This book was written with incredible precision that the riddles upon riddles and games upon games will make you lose your mind. The very conclusion to the game that Avery and the boys are playing was perfectly laid out, and I appreciated Grayson finally opening up and acknowledging his imperfections and trauma. Gray will always be Gray, and Jameson and Avery will always love each other in the best way they know how. Avery’s character development in this book is unmatched and I liked her more than ever. For all the swifties, this book is Midnights coded! Anti Hero, Mastermind, and Karma are some tracks definitely up there. Moreover, the story is undoubtedly really good, with no loopholes to a perfect ending. This is now definitely one of my favorite YA series out there.

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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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dxxxni's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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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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purplepenning's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

Well… Xander continues to be awesome. I continue to hate love triangles. There's a puppy, but he doesn't get nearly enough page time. And I'm not at all satisfied with the situation

Harry was left in

. Really, the only non-Xander, non-puppy part I liked was at the end where

the immoral hoards of wealth were redistributed

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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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oddduck's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

5.0

Wow, this was fantastic. An absolutely phenomenal end to this trilogy!

First, the plot. This was such a satisfying end to all of the mysteries of the first book. I can see where some might feel that there wasn't enough foreshadowing or clue placement to make the final mystery feel like a natural progression/not completely out of left field. I think that was kind of the point though, and I think we get an in-universe explanation for that in Tobias Hawthorne's message.

He set everything up so that Avery would be the one to deal with it. Not his family. Because he didn't want his family to know about any of this, until Avery was there. So of course this would be as much a surprise to them as it would be to Avery.

When you're dealing with a plot that's based on long buried family secrets, and uncovering said secrets, it's definitely plausible that there could be something big that got buried. It felt like everything slotted together nicely in this book and I really enjoyed the direction it took.

A big part of those feelings are because of the new characters we meet in this book. My non-spoiler thoughts are that they were fantastic in all the worst ways and I loved their addition to the cast. Everything else I have to say about them is full of spoilers though.

Let's start with Eve, because holy crap. Girl!! I know she's kind of a not good person, but I have a hard time blaming her?? She got an absolute shit hand in life and she's just trying to make sure she never ends up in that position again. There were other ways she could have accomplished that, but from her perspective, none of them were viable options. Eve is a great example of one of my favorite motivations for a character. (My only complaint about her is that I'm very over the comparisons to Emily, though I can appreciate what they did within the narrative as an emotional tool.)

I was right there with Avery and Grayson on the "trusting Eve" boat, and even after Avery figures out the message from Tobias warning her not to trust Eve, I was still struggling to see why. Which is brilliant! And definitely made the way she manipulates Grayson so much more emotionally impactful. The scene where Oren's got her pinned down in the chapel, and she's still trying to convince Grayson to help her, and then threatens to jump off a cliff. That had me screaming internally. She's such an interesting character.

Speaking of Grayson, this dude needs some therapy, stat. He's has been through it and he is clearly not taking care of himself in any sort of healthy way. Honestly, this is probably the biggest reason why I don't think he was a good fit for Avery romantically. He needs to deal with his own shit before he tries dating anyone. And he really needs to process everything that happened with Emily.

Now for the Blakes. Honestly, I loved learning about the Blakes. How Vincent was the origin of Tobias Hawthorne's love of games and puzzles. That Vincent is not a good man, but he respects the game more than anything, and if he loses because someone played the game better, then they earned it. And the way the Hawthorne family history is tied in with the Blakes. Wow. I will say it got a bit confusing at times, simply because there's so many characters (we could have used a family tree at the end of the book, honestly), but I loved all the connections.

Which brings us to Toby. Loved seeing him finally decide to stop running away, though it's unfortunate that it was at least partly prompted by Vincent. But then again, Toby made the decision to let Eve win, so that she could get the security she needed/wanted.

I also really loved Rebecca in this book. I didn't really think much about her previously, but she was great here. I love that she's finally learning to take up space and be a person. Her relationship with Thea is awesome. All around good for her.

There was some really cool character work done in this book, and I loved every minute of it.

The love triangle remains the part of these books that I don't really care about. I'm happy with how things shook out. I think the development that happens was natural and made sense. It was a little annoying how Jameson kept trying to like. Start a fight with Avery over Grayson? But I do think it makes sense for his character. He's been down this road before, and he lost, and he's not unused to losing to Grayson, so it was certainly not my favorite thing, but it's a manifestation of his insecurity, which was nice to see. And Avery handled it well. I do have one bone to pick though.

The part where Jameson locks Avery in an escape room (without telling her it's an escape room) because he's trying to "protect her" did not make sense. At no point has Avery ever wanted someone to protect her, so for Jameson to say that she does is ???? Where did this come from? I did not like this part and I was very delighted when Avery told him off over it.

And of course: the ending. I already talked about why I liked the mystery part of the plot, but the other part, the inheritance part, was also great. I think her choice makes perfect sense for her character and as an anti-capitalist, I was very on board. A major theme, especially in this book, has been that money = power, so this feels like the natural conclusion. Knowing the end, I also find it hilarious that Amazon acquired the film rights and is reportedly working on developing this series as a tv show.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes has been on my "always read" list for years and this series is a perfect example of why. What a fun ride, and I'm looking forward to the next couple books she's got coming for this universe.

[Additional content warning: emotional manipulation. I don't think it's quite to the point of emotional abuse and it's definitely not gaslighting, but there's a character who knows which buttons to push and does so deliberately in order to make people self-destruct for their own gain.]

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joanna77_'s review

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adventurous emotional tense 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? No

4.0

“𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞.”

This was so good! I wasn’t a big fan of the second book, and even the beginning of this one wasn’t my favorite, but by the end everything tied together so nicely and I loved the ending! It saved the series for me! To see the boys and Avery so at peace was just wonderful.

There were so many twists and turns in this one, and I found myself getting a little annoyed to be honest, but I think they all wrapped up so nicely that they kind of made up for it unlike in book two.

I wish we could have gotten a little more Toby in this book, especially considering his ending and what we found out about him, but I’m really hoping we get a prequel series, because I really want to read about him and Hannah.

Okay, so the romance. To be honest, I went into this book rooting for Grayson. I know, I know he’s kind of an asshole, but I really liked his character. This book kind of changed that for me. I still like his character, but not as much after some of the crap he pulled in this book. Now, I basically just feel bad for him. I don’t really care for the romance between Jameson and Avery and I kind of wish there wouldn’t have been any romance in these books (except for Nash and Libby) but it’s a YA so it’s to be expected.

Overall this book redeemed the series for me and I am glad I kept reading even though I was spoiled. The ending was honestly the best, I loved it!

Also, Xander has my heart. I love him. He deserves the world.

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