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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
Good, but could be better, the ending is interesting but a bit too chaotic. The characters are a bit too bland. It has potential, but it wasn’t realized to its extent
Will be reading the 2nd book tho
Will be reading the 2nd book tho
Spoliers for this whole review:
I am scared I am aging out of YA. This book was fine. The plot was a predictable and not that griping. The writing style was a little too simplistic for me.
Though I did like the characters of the teens in the gambit. Very dystopian ‘rag tag group of misfits who fit together’ and not fully fledged out but I did like it !!
There were just jokes stand out moments for me with this book though nothing really made me dislike it either.
Synopsis wrap up so I remember what this book is about when I come back to this:
Ross Quest is part of the infamous crime and thieving family in North America - the Quest. She was raised by her mum and Auntie and is great at thieving but wishes to be a normal teenager and have friends her age and have a normal life. She plans on a heist with her mum to complete the task but then leave separately to go to a gymnastics summer camp. Something goes wrong during the heist and her mum is captured. The ransom for her return is 1billion dollars. The only way she can get this is to enter the Thieves Gambit with 8 other teenagers with speciality in thievery.
Competing in two tasks 1. thieving from a french gallery 2. a team task in stealing an egyptian sarcophagus in the last task the last 4 contestants have to each kidnap a member of the others family. Ross refuses to do this as her target is her childhood archenemies 14 year old brother. 3 of the last 4 team up to instead blackmail the organisation running the completion. It goes swimmingly until the end where her love interest betrays her and goes for his target - Ross’ aunt. He wins the Gambit and she find out her mum pretended to be abducted so Ross will compete and pay her ransom for her to pocket. In order to keep her life and save her Aunt, Ross and betrayal love interest have to work for the Gambit organisation together for a year.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
My initial thought before reading this was that this would work better as a movie. After reading it, I still think the same. It is hard to capture the essence of action in a book and this being targeted at young adults, it didn't do it any favors.
I really wanted to like this, but when you have a premise with thieves and secrets and action, you really expect something... unexpected! And this had nothing new going for it. It started pretty nicely with a few tips and tricks for thieves and I would love for this to continue, but instead of that, we got a lot of teenage drama, romance that made little sense, frenemies that are being so cheesy and not a lot of action actually. If it at least focused more on how peculiar such an upbringing was psychologically instead of the obvious tidbits, it would have worked more. Alas we got very obvious twists and very boring repeats of "I broke our only rule; Never trust anyone. It won't happen again!"
This mostly resembles a story that someone thought up how thieves should work, but does not have much idea behind it other than movies. Then again, I'm no master thief, so who knows? All I know is that for the most part it felt close to something good and deeper, but it only ended up as average teenage drama but with higher stakes and a pretty boring ending, because really? Archenemies?
I would still watch it if it was a movie though. Seems like it would be fun 1.5 hours.
I really wanted to like this, but when you have a premise with thieves and secrets and action, you really expect something... unexpected! And this had nothing new going for it. It started pretty nicely with a few tips and tricks for thieves and I would love for this to continue, but instead of that, we got a lot of teenage drama, romance that made little sense, frenemies that are being so cheesy and not a lot of action actually. If it at least focused more on how peculiar such an upbringing was psychologically instead of the obvious tidbits, it would have worked more. Alas we got very obvious twists and very boring repeats of "I broke our only rule; Never trust anyone. It won't happen again!"
This mostly resembles a story that someone thought up how thieves should work, but does not have much idea behind it other than movies. Then again, I'm no master thief, so who knows? All I know is that for the most part it felt close to something good and deeper, but it only ended up as average teenage drama but with higher stakes and a pretty boring ending, because really? Archenemies?
I would still watch it if it was a movie though. Seems like it would be fun 1.5 hours.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Thanks so much to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK Children's for giving me an e-arc copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This was the first book I’ve read by Kayvion Lewis, and I cannot wait to see what they do with the rest of this series!
This was so faded paced and intense, with high-octane situations where you wonder if the main character will end up making it out.
This story focuses on the Thieves Gambit - in simplistic terms, a competition for the worlds up and coming teenage thieves and gives them a chance to prove their worth. In this one, the story focuses on Ross who is part of a well renowned thieving family and her unwillingly joining the competition as it’s the only way to save her mum.
This book is honestly a roller coaster and it’s constantly keeping you on your toes! With books like these I try not to guess what happens, but some of it was a little predictable. However, that ending!?!! I honestly did not expect that, and leaving it on a slight cliffhanger is making me desperate to find out where this story goes next!! This was such a good YA story, and would recommend to anyone who enjoys anything like Oceans Eleven and The Inheritance Games.
This was the first book I’ve read by Kayvion Lewis, and I cannot wait to see what they do with the rest of this series!
This was so faded paced and intense, with high-octane situations where you wonder if the main character will end up making it out.
This story focuses on the Thieves Gambit - in simplistic terms, a competition for the worlds up and coming teenage thieves and gives them a chance to prove their worth. In this one, the story focuses on Ross who is part of a well renowned thieving family and her unwillingly joining the competition as it’s the only way to save her mum.
This book is honestly a roller coaster and it’s constantly keeping you on your toes! With books like these I try not to guess what happens, but some of it was a little predictable. However, that ending!?!! I honestly did not expect that, and leaving it on a slight cliffhanger is making me desperate to find out where this story goes next!! This was such a good YA story, and would recommend to anyone who enjoys anything like Oceans Eleven and The Inheritance Games.
I can see the appeal for a YA reader. I thought several of the plot points were predictable, including the ending, but I’m also not the target audience for this book.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It's very cute! More of a tame version of Hunger Games, but I enjoyed it! A few characters and plot felt predictable and it's very fast-paced.