If you’ve ever thought rich people were weird, let me tell you: the Hawthorne family takes it to a whole new level. This book, The Grandest Game, is set in the same world as The Hawthorne Legacy, and it’s all about rich people playing games, inviting normal people to compete, and promising a life-changing amount of money to the winner.
Sounds exciting, right? Well, buckle up, because while there were some parts I liked, there was also a lot that just made me want to roll my eyes.
What’s the Game, Anyway?
So here’s the setup: the super-rich Hawthorne family hosts a big competition every year, where people from all over the country come to play games for a chance to win millions. This year, there are seven players, but we only really care about three: Rohan, Gigi, and Lyra. The story flips between their points of view, so you get to see what each of them is thinking as the games go on.
From the start, you can tell the book wants you to believe this is high-stakes and dangerous. People are fighting for money that could change their lives forever. But honestly? The stakes didn’t feel as intense as they should have been. I was expecting betrayals, secret alliances, and shady backstabbing. What did we get? A whole lot of nothing, to be honest.
Lyra has a “history” with Grayson, one of the Hawthorne brothers, so of course, you can smell the forced romance from a mile away. It’s one of those “we have history, we hate each other, so we are definitely going to fall in love” situations, which feels so predictable.
Created using AI
Characters: Bland, Annoying, and Sometimes Okay
Let’s talk about the characters, because, well, they are a mess.
Gigi: She’s the “sunshine” girl of the group, but it’s taken too far. She tries to “fix” everyone, like Knox and Brady, who are basically strangers, and her obsession with helping them felt weird. Girl, you’re here to win 26 million dollars, not to become a therapist. She talks big about wanting to win but spends most of her time worrying about everyone else’s issues instead of focusing on herself.
Lyra: She’s so bland. Every chapter with her feels like reading a diary entry from someone who has no emotions. She keeps mentioning her dead father and the two sentences he told her before he died, over and over and over again. Like, we get it. Move on, please.
Rohan and Savannah: They were okay. Actually, they were the only ones who kept things mildly interesting. But we barely get Rohan’s point of view, and Savannah doesn’t even get a POV chapter, which makes no sense since they could have made the book way more fun.
Created using AI
And don’t even get me started on Grayson. The author tried so hard to “fix” his character from the previous books but ended up making him even more boring. The romance between him and Lyra felt forced, dull, and honestly, I didn’t care about them at all.
The Inheritance Games series had characters with quirks, sass, and personality. Here, most characters felt like cardboard cutouts, with only occasional glimpses of depth that were quickly forgotten in the next chapter.
Let’s Talk About the Games (Or Lack Thereof)
When you think about a book centered around a high-stakes game with millions of dollars on the line, you’d expect clever puzzles, nerve-wracking challenges, and a feeling of tension with every turn of the page.
Yeah, no. The games in this book were so boring.
The book has short chapters that switch between different points of view, which would have been fine if I actually cared about what the characters were doing. But I didn’t. The games themselves were not clever or exciting. If I were a contestant, I would have just gone home instead of wasting my time.
Created using AI
Also, let’s talk about nepotism. Out of the eight players, three were from the Hawthorne family. They are already rich, so why are they even here? It felt like a “rich people making other rich people richer” situation, and it took away the excitement of rooting for an underdog.
I wanted the games to be smart, tricky, and layered with tension. Instead, they felt like pointless tasks with no real consequences, making it hard to care who would win.
Plot and Writing: Weak and Disappointing
The plot of The Grandest Game is so weak it made me want to cry out of frustration. It’s like the book is dragging the Hawthorne saga just because the first series was successful.
The writing itself is just average. It doesn’t have the charm, wit, or cleverness that The Inheritance Games had. The puzzles didn’t feel like they mattered, and the reveals were underwhelming. There’s a constant promise of something big happening, but it never really does.
If you find yourself being curious about the Hawthornes...
The romance? It’s YA romance, with “accidental touches” and “forbidden yearning” that just didn’t feel earned. It’s like those fantasy books where enemies keep bumping into each other and suddenly decide they’re in love for no reason. The chemistry was forced, and the romance felt dull, especially between Lyra and Grayson.
The book tries to end on a cliffhanger to make you want to pick up the next one, but it didn’t leave me curious enough to care. Instead, it left me wondering why I spent so much time reading this in the first place.
🌟 Final Rating: 2.5/5
✨ What I liked: Quick read, mild curiosity about the puzzles, Knox’s character development.
🫠 What I didn’t like: Boring games, bland characters, forced romance, and weak plot.
💰 Is it worth it? Only if you’re a Hawthorne superfan or need a quick, mindless read.
The Grandest Game tried to capture the magic of The Inheritance Games but fell short. The games were not grand, the characters were not compelling, and the plot was paper-thin. If you loved the original series, you might find pieces to enjoy here, but manage your expectations and prepare for a lot of eye-rolling moments.
Created Using AI