Julia's Bookshelves

• Buy the book here
• Page Count: 384
• Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Mystery

The stage has been set, and the final match is about to be played. In The Final Gambit, the third of The Inheritance Games series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, teen protagonist Avery Kylie Grambs is about to finally claim the fortune bequeathed to her and become a billionaire.

Nothing about inheriting the Hawthorne Fortune has been simple for Avery. After being thrust into the spotlight and moving into Hawthorne House with the four Hawthorne brothers, she’s been the subject of consistent public scrutiny and private attacks on her safety.

I talked about the first book, The Inheritance Games, in a previous post, and while I’ll be remaining spoiler-free here, I recommend that you check that out first. These books fall into one of my favorite genres of literature: teenage girls on the case. Avery is a badass, inquisitive, and complex main character that solves riddles in moments that, frankly, would take me weeks to puzzle out. In this final book, she’s facing impossible problems and high level threats that go beyond stripping her of the fortune that was mysteriously left to her.

I think that this third book does a good job of keeping readers engaged in the personal lives of the characters while also moving the plot along. There’s a love triangle between Avery and two of the brothers that progresses through the trilogy, and a piece of this final book is Avery making her choice. Would I have chosen the same Hawthorne brother? Probably not. But hey, they’re all cunning, mysterious, and entertaining characters, so I can’t complain. This isn’t a team Peeta vs. Gale situation where the choice is glaringly obvious (don’t you DARE say team Gale).

Ultimately, I think that beyond the riddles and the romance this book boils down to that grating conflict between wealth and social responsibility. Avery at her core is a kind character that is thrust into the spotlight but wasn’t raised to expect the comforts. of exorbitant wealth. II wished that The Final Gambit got more into the ethical conflict that any character would have to contend with in her position. When you come from nothing, how do you justify having it all when you know how little others have? Granted, she hasn’t been able to do much with the fortune in the first two books because of her age, but I was longing for a more gritty look at what, I believe, most people would feel in her situation. The book scratches the surface of this conversation, but as a reader I was hoping for more.

Perhaps it’s my outside-of-target-audience perspective speaking. I’m not exactly in the teenage reader category anymore. But still, we’ve seen books (again I return to The Hunger Games) that are written for this target audience tackle conversations around the ethics of capitalism, wealth gaps, and social inequity. The Final Gambit makes a bit of an effort to address this, but I longed for more. We can enjoy stories of fantasy surrounding “what if you woke up one day with everything” and also examine what that would really make you feel. Avery just felt like a protagonist that would have a stronger, more persistent stance.

Overall, I think it’s a good conclusion to the mystery. If you’re a reader that loves to dig deep and watch layers and layers of history and drama unfold, The Final Gambit will likely satisfy that. Of course, don’t forget to read the other two books first! This series is definitely meant to be read sequentially.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes knows how to keep mystery readers hooked, and I’m a big fan of the drama and theatrics of this grandiose story. I’m excited to explore more of her stories!