The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)
The Hawthorne Legacy (The Inheritance Games, #2)
The Final Gambit (The Inheritance Games, #3)
By: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My Rating: Four out of five stars
Best for: 14 and up

Knives Out x The Westing Game x every YA novel ever written

It’s been a while since I read an actual factual YA novel–I’ve been known to enjoy a good love triangle combined with brooding, teenage angst and a plain but gorgeous protagonist. But they also tend to drive me crazy, so I generally try to avoid them. I guess I didn’t read the fine print close enough, because The Inheritance Games trilogy is as YA as YA can be. Surprise!

I’ve had my eye on it for a couple years because of the supposed connection to Knives Out. An orphan who receives a mysterious inheritance? A jealous, (formerly wealthy) family? Puzzles to solve in a giant house? Cliffhangers to keep me wanting more–as long as I didn’t have to wait for the next book? Sign me up! All that I was hoping for was there, wrapped up in that unexpected YA package with a big huge bow on top. Turns out, the combination worked very well.

While I rolled my eyes at some of the afore mentioned YA tropes, the story, the mystery, and the puzzles were strong enough I rolled my eyes and then happily just kept on reading right through all three books. I was intrigued enough by the mystery that I didn’t even care the teenage characters didn’t act like teenagers. The puzzles had me so hooked, I was able to ignore every mention of each boy’s razor sharp jaw line. The story was so engaging, I didn’t even care when the female main character was having a hard time deciding between perfect boy one or perfect boy two.

I really enjoyed the trilogy! I’m happy to make fun of the unexpected YA silliness, but The Inheritance Games started strong, peaked in the middle with The Hawthorne Legacy, and finished strong with The Final Gambit. I think I read all three books in a week!

Content watch outs: No violence, no language in the first two books and a small handful of instances in book 3. There is one character who likes to swear, but only swears in code–she doesn’t use the offensive words, but it’s easy to tell what word she means. There is no on screen sex, but these older teen characters don’t experience young love or process complex emotion like actual teenagers–which is probably my number one complaint about all YA books. You may also want to know there is a tertiary plot involving a romantic relationship between two teenage girls.

All together, I’d say the series is best for 14 and up, and even better if their parents read it with them.

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Happy Reading!