The Inheritance Games: The Only Thing Puzzling About It Was Why It's So Popular
I heard good reviews about this book, with some even calling it their favourite novel series. The Goodreads also seemed promising, with 4 stars and a nominee for Best Young Adult Fiction and the Goodreads Choice Award. I was even intrigued by the premise, as the summary assured it was about humble and intelligent Avery, our main character, trying to solve the mystery of why she inherited billions of dollars from a man she doesn't know.
"To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch -- and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes," it says. As an avid fan of The Genius Files and Mr. Lemoncello's Library when I was younger, I was excited to have a more mature take on those unique puzzles for the reader to solve.
What I read was not even remotely what the novel promised. Sure, there was a mystery surrounding the fortune, but the vast majority of the book is concentrated on the petty interpersonal drama and relationships between Avery and the four mysterious brothers who are trying to solve the mystery of "Avery". One of them, the bad boy, even calls her MG, short for Mystery Girl, which I find to be quite cringe-inducing. None of the brothers are particularly interesting, rather it feels they have been written to fill a specific niche and capture the interests of the widest fanbase possible. They are all from different mothers, explaining how they all look different, and can be essentially reduced to; cowboy, smart mean one, bad boy, and little brother. There is no development or nuance to them, and they all seem to be relatively attracted to Avery in some way, lending a feeling of bad self-insertation to the story.
"To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch -- and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes," it says. As an avid fan of The Genius Files and Mr. Lemoncello's Library when I was younger, I was excited to have a more mature take on those unique puzzles for the reader to solve.
What I read was not even remotely what the novel promised. Sure, there was a mystery surrounding the fortune, but the vast majority of the book is concentrated on the petty interpersonal drama and relationships between Avery and the four mysterious brothers who are trying to solve the mystery of "Avery". One of them, the bad boy, even calls her MG, short for Mystery Girl, which I find to be quite cringe-inducing. None of the brothers are particularly interesting, rather it feels they have been written to fill a specific niche and capture the interests of the widest fanbase possible. They are all from different mothers, explaining how they all look different, and can be essentially reduced to; cowboy, smart mean one, bad boy, and little brother. There is no development or nuance to them, and they all seem to be relatively attracted to Avery in some way, lending a feeling of bad self-insertation to the story.
The puzzles are incredibly lackluster, as even with the secret passageways that are arbitrarily thrown in, most of the solutions are brute forced. She teams up with some of the brothers to search through every single book in a giant library or every single tree on the humongous property. That was utterly baffling as Avery is portrayed as this highly intelligent girl that is on her way to winning scholarships and passing impossible physics tests.
Similarly, the dialogue lacks any spark, with most of the characters coming off as insufferably pretentious in some ways or highly self-deprecating for the sake of relatability.
Jameson, the aforementioned bad boy, truly wins the grand prize for spouting confusing and pretend-deep poetry to Avery at every chance he got.
"Everyone is going to want something from you soon, Heiress. The question is: How many of us want something you’re willing to give?” / "If I do what I should no more often than I say what I shouldn’t - then what does that make me?”
Both quoted directly from the novel... somehow.
It truly feels like the author focused so much on the YA part of the story by nurturing the romantic push-and-pull relationships that she forgot to write an actual plot with characters that develop meaningfully. I do understand that consuming literature can be for the silly romantic stories as well, and that's perfectly fine, however it's extremely disappointing how much the book promised and how it underdelivered. If it was upfront about the fact that it's more romance than mystery, I don't think I would be as disappointed as I am.
I am concerned about the lack of diverse characterization and backstory. It seems the YA expectation is for all characters, including the main one from which we observe the world through, is just to be mildly attractive and a vaguely tragic past. Love triangles, in my opinion, only work when it's a genuine clash between different people that can offer the center of the triangle different options. But with between Grayson, the smart blonde that goes from hating her guts to suddenly pining after her, and Jameson, the one who constantly teases her and spouts pretentious quotes, Avery should pick neither one.
Similarly, the dialogue lacks any spark, with most of the characters coming off as insufferably pretentious in some ways or highly self-deprecating for the sake of relatability.
Jameson, the aforementioned bad boy, truly wins the grand prize for spouting confusing and pretend-deep poetry to Avery at every chance he got.
"Everyone is going to want something from you soon, Heiress. The question is: How many of us want something you’re willing to give?” / "If I do what I should no more often than I say what I shouldn’t - then what does that make me?”
Both quoted directly from the novel... somehow.
It truly feels like the author focused so much on the YA part of the story by nurturing the romantic push-and-pull relationships that she forgot to write an actual plot with characters that develop meaningfully. I do understand that consuming literature can be for the silly romantic stories as well, and that's perfectly fine, however it's extremely disappointing how much the book promised and how it underdelivered. If it was upfront about the fact that it's more romance than mystery, I don't think I would be as disappointed as I am.
I am concerned about the lack of diverse characterization and backstory. It seems the YA expectation is for all characters, including the main one from which we observe the world through, is just to be mildly attractive and a vaguely tragic past. Love triangles, in my opinion, only work when it's a genuine clash between different people that can offer the center of the triangle different options. But with between Grayson, the smart blonde that goes from hating her guts to suddenly pining after her, and Jameson, the one who constantly teases her and spouts pretentious quotes, Avery should pick neither one.
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