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Jennifer Lynn Barnes: The Final Gambit - The Inheritance Games book 3

 Continuing the Inheritance Games series, I was really excited going into this book. I've enjoyed all of the characters and the story, the riddles and puzzles, so I was so eager to continue in this series.

The Final Gambit raises the stakes of the series immensely. Toby has been kidnapped, and Avery must find him before it is too late. Each clue seems like a dead end, and when Toby's daughter shows up at the House, the stakes rise even further. Will they be able to find out who is behind it before it's too late?

This book was intense from start to finish. Barnes made the stakes high with the abduction of Toby, and that intensity carries throughout the novel.

I loved the added character development in this book, especially in Avery and Jameson. I also liked that as part of that development, we started to move past the love triangle that The Hawthorne Legacy set up. It was good to see Grayson finally letting someone in, and watching his character fail in The Final Gambit really allowed him to grow. I loved how involved Max was in this book - her character is a lot of fun, and complements Avery's reservations well.

I loved that we continue to pull skeletons out of the Hawthorne closet. This book increased the stakes, and painted the old man as he more truly was. So far, we've only seen him as someone the boys admired, and someone who was a force of nature. As Avery discovers that she's just a pawn in the old man's games, her attitudes toward him, her money, and the boys starts to shift. I love the way she grows to handle this: the dead old man doesn't get to decide his legacy any longer.

One thing that bothered me about this book (and bothers me about others) is when the author hides a clue in plain sight then lies to readers about it being a clue. In this book, it's Eve. Eve is untrustworthy from the start, and ends up being a mole, and yet Barnes tries to tell us that we can trust her. Maybe this is Avery's perspective, and she grows to trust Eve, even though she shouldn't. I was also bothered by how much Grayson trusts Eve, because I feel like he's more discerning than this? This air of mistrust around Eve made her ultimate betrayal less impactful and shocking. This strategy didn't bother me as much as in the Inheritance Cycle books (the last book in particular), but of the twists in the book, this was the most predictable.

The ending was another part that I struggled with. It seemed too convenient that Blake would agree to a game of chess. I also wasn't sure I really liked how the characters all ended up. Maybe this will get fixed in The Brothers Hawthorne? The ending definitely made it hard to rate.

As far as content, there is some romancy kind of stuff happening between Jameson and Avery, but it's all just an allusion. I wouldn't even really call it "closed door" as I think it's even milder than that. There's some swearing, but nothing crazy.

I ended up giving this book 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐



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