The old adage goes: Don’t judge a book by its cover. There are only two things I’d have come into The Inheritance Games thinking from the cover alone. One, it’s very pretty, and two, someone working in publishing knows how to tell people this is a young adult novel from the title alone. Blame Suzanne Collins for ruining anyone else naming something “The _____ Games” without being tied to books aimed at teenagers before all their hopes and dreams are burst like a bubble. Truth is, that’s what I thought coming into Jennifer Lynn Barnes‘ 2020 young adult thriller after several recommendations.

As I’ve said in previous articles, I never enjoyed the period of reading where I was earmarked to only like young adult fiction. I have theories why, and that fed into my early opinions of The Inheritance Games, as my notes highlighted. For example, early dialogue between characters read like a CW drama filled with sex, drugs, and angst masquerading as adult themes that are really for teens. That sounds like I hated the book, doesn’t it? That’s the trouble with mixing preconceived notions and a slow burn. It bakes a cake that turns out a bit stodgy and you really don’t want to go on eating it.

Starring your typical American teenager with a backstory so mundanely tragic, I’m sure Hallmark will make a Christmas movie out of it, we follow Avery Kylie Grambs. Now, I don’t think anyone is going to take a knife to my throat for this one, but through strange circumstances, she inherits a bit of money or more appropriately wealth. The wealth that others presume they are owed, not through great deeds, but through simply being around. This is where I bring in the comparisons: Everything you think you know about Knives Out is exactly what The Inheritance Games is set up to be, a mystery with a teen twist.

The deeply engrossing premise is tangled up in a family history that everyone is a little cagey about, sometimes in ways that are purposefully in service of the plot. With that tangled mess of a description, you may have noticed that I am trying not to give too much more away. Despite not clicking together like a particularly intricate puzzle with some of the segments aimed, (for lack of a nicer term) at teenage women over a mid-20s bloke, I think I loved The Inheritance Games.

Again, I’ll defer back to my dyslexia and history within that, which has made blasting through a book difficult in the past. That includes books I’ve enjoyed immensely, mind you. I’ve always taken a slower, more plodding approach to everything. I came into the book knowing nothing, even from the recommendations and what I could presuppose from bits around it, so I was going in blind. Somewhere between then and about a week later, I had been pulled into a mystery in Texas, I was invested in our lead, I’d picked up the next book, and I was hungry for more. I’d gone from disliking the first 20-40 pages to almost cheering on G.I. Clouseau digging the bullets out of a tree.

Yes, despite the idea that every moment may be a flower-visioned princess trying on all the dresses fantasy, it isn’t all Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway. As I said, the family aren’t all that keen on Avery, and some aren’t even keen on the mystery. However, the mystery has a bit of an uneven ending. One that could swing either way, dependant on what you were hoping for leading up to that point. I’d say some of the action, much like the rest of The Inheritance Games, is framed a little ridiculously, almost downright cartoonish in the description. However, there was never a hint, at least beyond the first several chapters, that everything is taken with stone-faced sincerity.

Ultimately, beyond my newly discovered knowledge that I have a preference for historical fiction, the mystery of Hawthorne House, its occupants, and its newly-found owner was intensely gripping. It is a teen tale encased in enough thrills, mystery, intrigue, and character to make a fun and enjoyable read. Sometimes it may be a little unbelievable and downright outlandish in every respect, but that’s half the point straight away. Maybe it is not the greatest read you’ll ever have and I wasn’t entirely sold in places, but The Inheritance Games is fun and drags you along once it gets going.

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The Inheritance Games

$9.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Lack of swearing being a character thing.
• A wonderfully mystery-filled premise.
• Difficult to put down.
• Self-aware at some of the ridiculousness.

Cons

• Some threads are left dangling in ways less desirable.
• I was finding myself speeding/skimming a little.