The inheritance games

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

General information:

The inheritance games is a young adult mystery thriller which  is recommended for ages 12 and up. The book is 384 pages long and was released in 2020 and gained massive success later on. 

Content:

In the inheritance games we follow Avery Grambs, a poor girl who occasionally lives in her car. Averys plan for the future is to survive high school, get a decent job and travel the world. One day Avery's simple life gets turned upside down when she inherits billions from a deceased man she never knew. She has to move into the mansion where she discovers secret codes, games, a lot of mysteries and an angry family trying to find out who she is. Soon she finds herself stuck in a game which could turn out to be deadly.

Review:

The protagonist of the inheritance games is Avery Grambs, a 16 year old girl whose life is turned upside down. Avery was a decent main character, while she was well written she didn't stand out to me and just wasn't super memorable. She didn't have any qualities that stood out to me and made her memorable. 

But on the other hand I loved reading about the Hawthorne family and particularly the four brothers, Jameson, Grayson, Nash and Xaver. They were all different but each owned a different and unique personality and vibe. I also connected with their personalities in different ways and mostly Xaver felt familiar. The brothers made the mystery even more fun while adding different aspects to Avery's character development and just adding a fun dynamic to the story. Aside from the Hawthorne brothers there were so many different family members and most of them were really forgettable. You know when you read a name and don't know who that was again. I had that feeling so often while reading the book making the mystery harder to follow. 

Since the inheritance games is a really small book it has a simple plot as well. The small games and mysteries kept me engaged and I actually finished the book in two days! The story was easy to follow but still really mysterious. There were small twists but nothing surprising which I was surprised at since it is a mystery thriller. The inheritance games kept me hooked because small but interesting things were revealed in almost every chapter. In the plot there are also serious topics like abusive relationships, death and family drama giving the simple and almost light-hearted nature of the book a serious depth. The only complaint I have is that the reveal at the end seemed a bit confusing and unclear since it seemed a bit too fast for me.

 I loved the pace since the book has really short chapters and easy writing which flows really well. I also liked the dialogue which was fast and used to tell the story. For example the dialogue between Jameson and Avery was always quick paced and playful. The setting was also described really well. The story plays in this HUGE Mansion which is almost a giant puzzle. There are so many different descriptions of the rooms and hidden passages. Naturally I expected a puzzle with games that were obvious but the mystery layd out by the billionaire wasn't anything big or grand like I expected. The clues were small and hard to find out. I was a bit disappointed by that since other people raved about the mystery aspect, maybe giving me false expectations.  

Buchbuzz Opinion: 

4 / 5 - the book was quick paced, uncomplicated and really good to get you out of a reading slump. I would definitely recommend it to any general reader.