A review by book_aesthetic
The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

I won’t lie to you…I’m disappointed. Not only because of my losing the Jameson/Grayson debate, but because this ending just feels…wrong. First of all, Jameson loses any magic that makes us like he’s a good fit for Avery, even though he ends up being with her, it’s just not at all the same. Everything in this book just seems so surface level, as though we haven’t gotten to know these characters in the past two. The puzzles just get easily passed over by the group, just “too easy” for them at this point. I get that they’ve done a lot of them now, but they shouldn’t just be easy now, as they’re all different. The first two books just had this sense of curiosity that this one completely lacks. Everything just happens fast and gets easily lost. Avery becomes pretty annoying and completely different from the character that we knew in the first two books. For how much I loved the first two books and how well done they were, I’m upset that this one really didn’t sit well as an ending to the trilogy. Shoutout to Xander, Nash, Max, and Grayson for holding any sort of candle to the first two books.
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