Book Review #141: The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

 

After nearly a year following Tobias Hawthorne's rules, Avery is ready to claim her inheritance. But when a familiar face arrives at the mansion with a mystery to solve, Avery and the Hawthorne brothers must drop everything to play one final game. A game with a deadly consequence.

I reviewed the first two books of the series, The Inheritance Games and The Hawthorne Legacy and while I liked the second a lot more than the first, neither really grabbed me. But the ending of the second made me curious enough to pick up the third, so that's what I did!

Again, while I think this was better than the first book, I didn't love it.

For a start, the ending of the second book was a bit convoluted, which made the start of the third book a bit confusing. But thankfully everything was explained well and in an interesting way, rather than the reader just being told what had happened.

I really liked that it got right into the action and straight into another mystery.

I found it strange how little I remembered of the second book, how little it stuck with me. I thought it would be more memorable than the first because it was more interesting but it really wasn't.

The writing didn't feel as engaging as it was in the previous book, and there were a few more annoying things that the author did this time around, such as making the main character repeat phrases or overuse characters' full names for no reason.

The dialogue also didn't feel particularly authentic.

The good thing about reading the third book in a series is that we know the characters really well by now. So when they are experiencing things, we feel like we're experiencing everything with them.

The author did a good job of creating a mystery that you as the reader want to solve and get to the bottom of, and that's ultimately the reason you keep reading. The mystery gets more interesting the more you uncover.

For me, the reveal was teased for too long and then revealed quite quickly. The pacing of this didn't work and it ultimately ended up being disappointing.

However, I did like the ending, and the way everything was wrapped up. 

Overall, I don't regret reading the series, but I am glad to be done with it. I know there are additional books and short stories and spin-offs in this world, but for me the story finished with this third book.

3/5