Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Genre: Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction
Personal Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ / ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3.5 out of 5 stars)
Finally, the last book of The Inheritance Games trilogy answers all of the questions that have been burning since the first book. I really would not recommend reading any of the books alone.
In the previous book, Avery thought that she was the long-lost daughter of the rightful heir to the Hawthorne 46.2-billion-dollar fortune and that’s why the late Tobias Hawthorne gave her that massive inheritance instead. However, we learn that she had no Hawthorne blood at all so the mystery continued. Tobias the Second was indeed alive but he wanted to stay dead in public and disappeared once again and took his real long-lost daughter.
In this book, we close all puzzles. We learn that Avery’s mother was a daughter of a crime family who fell in love with Tobias the Second. We learn that they were both running away from their past and unveiling these old secrets threatened Avery’s life. Avery finally learns that the only reason she had the fortune was that the late Tobias Hawthorne had an old enemy and he used Avery as the target board for revenge instead of any of his daughters and grandsons. This’ll lead to a final battle of chess with deadly stakes.
More than anything, I’m just relieved to finally finish this series. The previous books ended with cliffhangers and it’s really hard to read these as standalone. I still stand by my sentiment that the only reason I didn’t love it was that I was out of the target age for this. Otherwise, I know I would’ve loved this for many reasons.
First, the character consistency and development are amazing. All of the side characters had their own thing and no one acted out of the ordinary. In fact, even if Grayson and Jameson were supposed to be the male leads, I found myself loving Xander’s personality more. Tobias Hawthorne’s character has been so well-built that even though he had been dead for all three books, I got goosebumps the first time he ‘spoke’ in the book. It was that good.
Second, the tidbits of mystery are still very well-placed. I didn’t find myself bored because there was always something mysterious happening in almost every chapter. Really, the main driver for me to finish this series despite how childish I felt was that I really needed to know all the answers.
Third, although I felt a little disappointed about what Avery did to the fortune, it was a really clever ending to make Avery want to host annual mystery games to help dispose of the fortune as soon as possible. These characters were connected because of puzzles and games and that’s a poetic way to end it.
Lastly, I really love the fact that Avery’s name was an anagram for ‘A Very Risky Gamble.’ It’s just a really cool touch and I think it’s something that I’ll remember for a long time.
The Stray Reader 
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