The Grandest Game

Written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Narrated by Anjali Kunapaneni, Christine Lakin and Zachary Webber

Get ready for a new series that brings readers deeper into the lush, romantic, and puzzle-filled world of the #1 bestselling Inheritance Games series (over 3 million copies sold!), set a year after we last saw Avery and the Hawthornes.

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.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Lynn Barnes delivers a brand-new series in the world of The Inheritance Games, where fan-favorite and new characters collide in a game you’ll never forget.

Do you have what it takes to play?

Audiobook Edition is read by Anjali Kunapaneni (as GiGi), Christine Lakin (as Lyra), and Zachary Webber (as Rohan). 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Release date: Jul 30, 2024
• ISBN: 9781668637876

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Jennifer Lynn Barnes es una autora best seller de The New York Times con más de veinte aclamadas novelas young adult, que incluyen Little White Lies, Deadly Little Scandals, The Lovely and the Lost y «The Naturals series»: The Naturals, Killer Instinct,All In, Bad Blood, así como la novela electrónica Twelve. Jen también es una becaria Fulbright con títulos avanzados en psicología, psiquiatría y ciencias cognitivas. Recibió su Ph.D. de la Universidad de Yale en 2012 y actualmente es profesora de psicología y redacción profesional en la Universidad de Oklahoma.

Reviews for The Grandest Game

[ardaiel-573470 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Do you like puzzles? I love jigsaw puzzles, word games, escape rooms, logic puzzles, all of it. I think that’s one reason I liked the original Inheritance series so much to begin with. The Grandest Game picks up where that series left off, as Avery and the Hawthorne scions begin a new yearly game, open to 7 lucky contestants. But when the prize is millions of dollars, some people will do anything to win.

As much fun as I had with the original series, this felt lackluster to me. Things I originally found charming and witty about the Hawthorne brothers fell flat this time, and the puzzles weren’t as interesting. This is in large part because we shift our character focus away from the original cast to our newcomers, and they just didn’t steal the scene in the same way. Character development felt really lacking, and two weeks after reading it, I can only really remember half of them.

If you really enjoyed the first series it might be worth picking up to see if you disagree, but overall it felt pretty empty to me. I think I may just close the book on this series and remember Inheritance Games fondly as it was.

[sennebec · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There is trickiness aplenty here, some in the form of players in the game who have hidden agendas and are not who they seem. Other bits of trickiness come in the form of the house and island where they're playing a game for a lot of money. Following along as they solve the clues, makes for a forehead-wrinkling experience as you try to figure out what the clues mean before they do. It sets readers up for the second book most handily.

[katarinasavoye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Where is a Hawthorne? Who else is on the Island? So many secrets....

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

THE GRANDEST GAME returns us to the world of the Inheritance Games. Avery Grambs and the Hawthorne brothers have developed a game in which someone will win more than $20 million dollars. There are only seven places in the game which will take place on an island.

This story introduces and follows a few of the players all of whom are in the game for their own reasons from Rohan who wants the money to secure his play in a secret organization to Lyra who wants to learn about her past and provide needed funds for her parents.

All of the characters have intriguing personalities and intriguing reasons for wanting to win this new Inheritance Game.

The story is filled with puzzles for the players and the readers to solve. I loved the story and can't wait for the sequel since there is definitely a cliffhanger ending to this one.

[krau0098 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Grandest Game series. I borrowed this audiobook from the library.

Thoughts: I wasn't a huge fan of this book. You jump between three main characters throughout the book. I thought it was a bit odd that this starts with the second Grandest Game; it made me feel like I missed something in the first Grandest Game. Especially when the first Grandest Game is referenced throughout the book. If anyone knows if the first Grandest Game was published as short story or something and I missed it please let me know!

We spend a lot of time with characters that were introduced in The Brothers Hawthorne book, characters I didn't really care much about. I never got to really engage with them in this book because we jump around so much. Grayson is in here a lot, and that is pretty much the only redeeming quality to this book. The other three characters are (I think, maybe there were even more POVs) all ones we met briefly in the Brothers Hawthorne. I didn't get to spend enough time with them to care about them in this book and didn't know them well enough from The Brothers Hawthorne book.

This is only the first part of this second Grandest Game and it takes place on a small island. The participants are trapped within the house on that island in groups of two or three and must work to solve puzzles to get out of the house by dawn. Basically, they are in complex escape rooms within the house. I didn't find the puzzles to be nearly as intriguing or interesting as in previous books, and they were a bit hard to follow because you kept jumping between the different groups.

There is a hint that there is more going on here than just the Grandest Game. At one point, the island mysteriously looses power and there is some discussion of the contestants having sponsors. However, we don't learn much more than that in this book. This book is more about exposing strange family secrets than anything else. I just didn't find it as intriguing or engaging as the books in The Inheritance Games. I don't plan on continuing the series.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was well done. No complaints about the quality of it at all. Different narrators are used for the different POVs so you are never confused about which character POV you are listening to. If you enjoy audiobooks and want to read this book, I would recommend the audiobook.

My Summary (3/5): Overall I was disappointed in this Inheritance Games spin-off series start. Too many characters are introduced too quickly, and there is too much jumping around between them so you never get a chance to engage with any of them. The puzzles were not nearly as intriguing as in the previous books and you jumped around so much it was hard to follow them. This book was a lot more about family secrets than cool puzzle hunt adventures (which was my favorite part of the Inheritance Games). I don't plan on continuing the series and wish Barnes would leave the Hawthorne family and start on another project.

[ftbooklover · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A new start to the Grandest Game is beginning, and new contestants have won their places in the competition. All of the players have some kind of history with the Hawthornes and also have a need to win the game. As the game goes on, each individual realizes that there is more than just prize money at stake for the players. It also becomes evident that there is someone else on the island that isn't part of the game but has his or her own agenda.

It was hard to get into the story in The Grandest Game. By necessity, there are many characters in that figure into the tale, making it tough to get invested in any of them. Also, each chapter is told from a different characters perspective, causing the reader to be thrown from one subplot into another throughout the entire novel. However, the game is extremely fun with lots of clues and twists, and overarching mysteries that will continue in subsequent books. Overall, The Grandest Game is an interesting story that left this reader looking forward to the next installment.