Jennifer Lynn Barnes: Inheritance Games (2020, Penguin Books, Limited)
English language
Published 2020 by Penguin Books, Limited.
Fun book that felt like a fan fiction sequel to Knives Out. I liked the twists, surprises and seeing how the puzzle pieces fit together.
I am not surprised that this book is a best seller. It is paced well and rife with indulgent teen fantasies- getting rich, going shopping, having wealthy dapper hotties swoon at your feet, making grades so good teachers think you are cheating, showing em' all- in this regard it is a nice bit of escapism. It is also a paean to the shallowest values of american society through tic toc.
The puzzles our heroine must solve are cute, and she is not a terrible heroine by any means.
I feel like this entire story was informed with a lot of good market research.
It is, however, so stupidly unrealistic that I could not stop rolling my eyes. And the whole Emily plot line just did not work for me as it seemed to unravel clumsily and was not convincing. The characters are predictable. But that is okay, it is a …
I am not surprised that this book is a best seller. It is paced well and rife with indulgent teen fantasies- getting rich, going shopping, having wealthy dapper hotties swoon at your feet, making grades so good teachers think you are cheating, showing em' all- in this regard it is a nice bit of escapism. It is also a paean to the shallowest values of american society through tic toc.
The puzzles our heroine must solve are cute, and she is not a terrible heroine by any means.
I feel like this entire story was informed with a lot of good market research.
It is, however, so stupidly unrealistic that I could not stop rolling my eyes. And the whole Emily plot line just did not work for me as it seemed to unravel clumsily and was not convincing. The characters are predictable. But that is okay, it is a book for kids not adults. I would still recommend it to teenagers, but for older, cerebral teens or adults not so much.
it was a good book, the puzzles and mysteries were interesting to read but I feel like the love interests hadn't been written about much/were hard to picture due to the lack of descriptions so it was hard to imagine them as love interests. The dialogue was written well, it showed aspects of their personality. Also, it felt like I didn't know much about Avery since there wasn't much written about her as a person.
I had a blast reading this entertaining young adult mystery novel about a teenage girl who - out of the blue - inherits several billions from a philanthropist even though she's never met him before (and, of course, he has not one, not two, but four handsome and also somewhat baffled and miffed grandsons) and no, for once I didn't care that the plot is ridiculous at times, and that the twists are fairly predictable, and that the characters are...well, straight out of a YA novel.
I want more. I'd also super like a billion dollars, please.
Very entertaining and easy to read, not a new favorite or anything but the mystery was fun^^
Don't believe the hype.
I hate it when I get a book and think "is this a YA novel?" only to get to the end and see that, yes, the author is known for writing YA novels.
So I'm not the target audience here. I found it to be very manga-ish. A young woman catapulted into a different life, confronted by a series of characters that are almost caricatures. The cowboy, the nerd, the heir, the mysterious one. Add a little Mean Girls, throw in a pile of regret. The puzzles weren't as puzzling as I expected, and just generally it wasn't my thing. But it's a YA novel and these novels aren't my thing, so there you go.
This is the right book for you if...
- you like strong teenaged heroines who just happen to have exactly the right set of skills and interests to solve lots of carefully-placed riddles
- you enjoy discovering very obvious plot devices and how the author employs them to advance the story
- you do not mind a plothole every now and then for the sake of drama
- you are okay with two-dimensional characters with only a hint of nuance
- you enjoy watching teenagers engage in cookie-cutter romance situations
- you don't mind reading a book that is clearly designed to lead up to a sequel because many questions of the first part remain unanswered.
I do not like any of the above, so I did not enjoy this book very much.
That being said, it is definitely a page-turner and made me want to know what happens next. …
This is the right book for you if...
- you like strong teenaged heroines who just happen to have exactly the right set of skills and interests to solve lots of carefully-placed riddles
- you enjoy discovering very obvious plot devices and how the author employs them to advance the story
- you do not mind a plothole every now and then for the sake of drama
- you are okay with two-dimensional characters with only a hint of nuance
- you enjoy watching teenagers engage in cookie-cutter romance situations
- you don't mind reading a book that is clearly designed to lead up to a sequel because many questions of the first part remain unanswered.
I do not like any of the above, so I did not enjoy this book very much.
That being said, it is definitely a page-turner and made me want to know what happens next. It was especially the super-obvious plot devices (like secret passages and little riddles in every nook and cranny of the mansion) that were not necessary and "The Inheritance Games" would have been just as exciting without them.
The way it is, it feels like an overengineered gadget - okay to use, but just too much of everything.
My daughter liked this book... I'm obviously not the target audience
