The Inheritance Games
By Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Inheritance Games are a series of six books (with a seventh coming out soon!). The first book follows the story of Avery Kylie Grambs, a girl who lived in poverty with her mother, who dies when she is 16. Avery’s father is a man who doesn’t care about her and has only visited about twice, so her only relative she now has contact with is her siter Libby. Avery is a star student, but her life is rigged – girls like her don’t get to be anything more. But everything changes when she finds out she has inherited 42 billion dollars. As her life is turned into a fairytale, she must uncover the secrets of the billionaire and befriend the Hawthorne brothers while struggling with media reporters and sudden fame.
Avery starts to wonder why the billionaire, Tobias Hawthorne, would have left her, a nobody, almost his entire fortune. The Hawthorne brothers, Jameson, Grayson, Nash, and Xander, turn the mystery into a game – the last game that Tobias Hawthorne got the chance to design. They must navigate riddles and clues in order to uncover the secrets buried within the mansion and in Tobias Hawthorne’s mind…
The book is amazingly written and uses advanced vocabulary. I would recommend it for anyone who can understand the complex themes and enjoys mysteries. The author, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, studied psychology and effectively captures the different relationships between the characters. The book explores the themes of sudden power, love, and chance.
Book review written by Eliska Menclova (Year 10, 2025)
