Review of The Grandest Game (The Grandest Game #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. In this first installment of a new series, Jennifer Lynn Barnes takes us back into a world full of mystery, puzzles, and intriguing characters. While the book is set in the same world as the popular The Inheritance Games series, it stands on its own. But is it accessible to new readers? In this review, I share my experience as someone who hasn’t delved into this world before. Read on to find out if this book is truly worth it for everyone or primarily for those who have already read the previous books.
“Some people can make mistakes, make amends, and move on. And some of us live with each and every mistake we make carved into us, into hollow places we don’t know how to fill.”
– The Grandest Game
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
‘The Grandest Game‘ by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a mystery full of puzzles but lacks engagement for new readers
Synopsis
Seven tickets. An island of dreams. The chance of a lifetime.
Welcome to the Grandest Game, an annual competition run by billionaire Avery Grambs and the four infamous Hawthorne brothers, whose family fortune she inherited. Designed to give anyone a shot at fame and fortune, this year’s game requires one of seven golden tickets to enter. With millions on the line, those seven players will do whatever it takes to win.
Some of the players are in it for the money. Some for power. Some for reasons all their own. Every single one of them has secrets. Amidst it all is Grayson Hawthorne, tasked with a vital role in this year’s game. But as tensions rise and the mind-bending challenges push the players to their limits—physically, mentally, and emotionally—it soon becomes clear that not everyone is playing by the rules.
Review
I want to start this review by saying that this is the first book I’ve read by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This world and these characters are entirely new to me. ‘The Grandest Game‘ is set in the same world as The Inheritance Games and features characters that have appeared before, but it is an entirely new series. You can technically read this book without having read the other series, and that’s what I wanted to test. This review is therefore written from the perspective of someone with no prior knowledge. Let’s get started!
I found the storyline interesting. A group of people playing a game where they can win millions sounds like something I would also want to watch as a series. The idea that this cash prize is linked to various tasks and puzzles also appealed to me. However, while the concept behind the series and the plot are intriguing, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something important because I hadn’t read the previous books. This made it harder to truly enjoy the story. For example, I didn’t know Avery Grambs or the Hawthorne brothers, which I think is a must to understand how this game might be structured.
The chapters are very short, something I personally enjoy. It makes the whole “just one more chapter before bed” so much easier. I love it when a book is structured this way, and ‘The Grandest Game’ definitely meets that preference. However, sometimes the same character was followed for several chapters, which I didn’t quite understand. Why not just keep it in one chapter? Maybe this was part of a puzzle, who knows. The short chapters made it easy for me to finish this book.
Regarding the characters: I didn’t really feel connected to them or their choices. Maybe this is because I haven’t read The Inheritance Games, but it felt like I was missing crucial information about who these people are and why they do what they do.
I also struggled with the puzzles. I’m not sure if I’m just not good at them, but it often felt like the logic was missing. It gave me the feeling that some puzzles were just there to cause confusion rather than to advance the plot in a logical way.
In the last 10% of ‘The Grandest Game‘, the story became a bit more exciting again. I also thought the plot twist at the end was well done.
Would I recommend it?
No, I wouldn’t. Although it should technically be possible to read this book as a standalone, I think it just doesn’t have the same impact without prior knowledge. If you really want to enjoy this new series, I would say: start with The Inheritance Games series first.
Rating
I choose not to rate this book as I feel I don’t have enough information to fully understand and therefore assess the story.
Details
- Trigger warnings: Violence, death, manipulation, abduction, emotional trauma, deception, betrayal
- Representation: The book includes diverse characters, including characters of color and LGBTQIA+ (bisexual and gay) representation
- Genre: Contemporary
- Pages: 384
- Publication date: July 30, 2024
- Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- About the author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes (who mostly goes by Jen) was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been, in turn, a competitive cheerleader, a volleyball player, a dancer, a debutante, a primate cognition researcher, a teen model, a comic book geek, and a lemur aficionado. She’s been writing for as long as she can remember, finished her first full book (which she now refers to as a “practice book” and which none of you will ever see) when she was still in high school, and then wrote Golden the summer after her freshman year in college, when she was nineteen.
With love,
heavenlybookish 