📖 The Final Gambit

Ooh, boy. Here we go again. Normally, I'd open with a funny heading and jump into a synopsis, but I had a better idea. Why don't I use a funny anecdote instead? The Inheritance Games series itself was already enough of a game. My sister, my friends, and others I knew had constantly tried to pressure me into reading the thing. I managed to weasel out of it every time. I said I didn't have time, but the truth was, I just wasn't that into it. Don't get me wrong, the cover looked awesome, and the plot sounded interesting, but there didn't seem to be anyone fighting aliens or killing cyborgs in the story. Yeah, I'm a sci-fi fan through and through. Anyway, I dodged around reading the series, until, of course, the faithful bookshop visit happened in South Carolina. I was surrounded by a bunch of writing nerds who had all read it before, and they could all clearly see the twenty bucks in my pocket. There was nowhere to go. Fast-forward a month, and by that time I've already steamrolled through the first book and geeked out about it. Man. I thought to myself. That book was really good. Shame it was a one-time thing. Then I came upon a Reddit post and realized it was a series. Fast forward again, and here we are. I haven't read the next installation, The Grandest Game, yet, but if it lives up to expectations, it will be one of my favorite books of all time, just because of how good the rest of it was. Let's start with The Final Gambit. The story kicks off with Avery Kylie Grambs, the protagonist we all know and love. She's been absolutely destroying it with the last two books, and she's back again. Everyone's favorite dead billionaire, gamemaster, and king of riddles Tobias Hawthorne has left out one last game for his grandsons and Avery to uncover. Namely, this mystery revolves around Eve, the biological daughter of Toby Hawthorne, Tobias's son. She's Avery's half sister, and the girl herself was born of a one-night stand with Toby and a woman who remains unidentified for the rest of the story. Similarly to Avery, her life absolutely sucked before she arrived at the Hawthorne mansion. She was stuck in nowhere, on her way to do nothing. But it all changed for Eve, on the eve of this new game that they've uncovered (Haha, get it?) Avery finds herself very, very distrustful of Eve. Not all of our main characters feel the same way, however. Eve resembles Emily, a girl that two of the Hawthorne brothers used to share a deep bond with before she died of a heart condition while cliff diving. The brothers in question are Jameson and Grayson Hawthorne, who both used to date the girl before her premature death. Jameson has moved on, but Grayson took her demise much more heavily, and seeing a doppelganger of Emily doesn't help either. This new edition to The Inheritance Games absolutely lived up to the first two. The mystery was spectacular, as always. Clues upon clues. Riddles upon riddles. Nothing is what it seems. O, that way madness lies, all of that good stuff. Moreover, the characters seem genuine and well-written as always. Each character is engaging, although their personalities all range, of course. Shy, assertive, annoying, whatever it may be, everyone always seems badass in their own way. But the way the resolution plays out is the only time I'll allow a cliffhanger. It makes you feel excited, engaged, ready for the next book. It's what a cliffhanger should be, and not a lazy device to plug in when you've got nothing else. Recommended for everyone with a heart for a good thriller!

哎呀,伙计,又来了。 通常我会用一个有趣的小标题开场,再进入简介,但这次我想到个更好的主意——为什么不用一个有趣的小轶事来开始呢? 其实,《继承者游戏》系列本身就是个"游戏"。我妹妹、我的朋友、还有我认识的其他人一直在试图劝我去读这本书。我每次都设法躲过去了。我说我没时间,但说实话,我就是提不起兴趣。别误会,封面看起来确实很酷,剧情听起来也挺有意思的,但故事里似乎没人打外星人或干掉机械人。我就是那种从头到尾都爱科幻的人。 总之,我一直在绕着这本书走,直到那个"命运注定"的南卡罗来纳州书店之行。我当时被一群写作爱好者包围着,他们全都读过这本书,而且……他们显然都看到了我兜里那张二十美元钞票。我无路可逃了。 快进一个月,那时候我已经一口气读完了第一本,还彻底迷上了。我心想:"哇,这本书真的不错。可惜只是一本独立作品。" 然后我刷到一个Reddit帖子,才发现——它居然是个系列! 再快进一下,我们就来到了现在。我还没读下一本《最伟大的游戏》(The Grandest Game),但如果它符合预期,那它将成为我最喜欢的书之一,仅仅因为前几本实在太棒了。 那么我们先从《最终博弈》(The Final Gambit)说起吧。 故事从我们的主角艾弗里·凯莉·格兰布斯(Avery Kylie Grambs)开始说起,她是我们熟悉并喜爱的主人公。在前两本中她大放异彩,这次她又回来了。我们熟悉的那位已故亿万富翁、谜题大师、游戏设计师——托比亚斯·霍桑(Tobias Hawthorne),又留下一场最后的游戏,等着他的孙子们和艾弗里去揭开。 这场谜题的核心是伊芙(Eve)——托比·霍桑(Toby Hawthorne,即托比亚斯的儿子)的亲生女儿。她是艾弗里的同父异母姐妹,母亲则是一个在故事中始终未被揭晓的神秘女人,那只是托比一夜情的产物。 和艾弗里一样,伊芙在来到霍桑庄园之前,生活一团糟,身处无名之地,前途一片渺茫。 但这一切在这场新游戏揭晓的前夜发生了改变(哈,明白那个"eve"的双关了吗?)艾弗里对伊芙感到非常非常不信任。 不过,并不是所有主角都跟她意见一致。伊芙长得很像艾米丽(Emily)——一个霍桑家两位兄弟曾深爱的女孩,她因心脏病在一次跳崖时英年早逝。 这两位兄弟是詹姆森(Jameson)和格雷森·霍桑(Grayson Hawthorne),两人都曾与艾米丽交往过。詹姆森已经走出了过去,但格雷森却始终走不出来,而眼前这个和艾米丽长得一模一样的女孩,无疑更让他难以释怀。 这本《继承者游戏》系列的新作完全不负前两部所设的高期待。谜团一如既往地精彩,线索层层叠叠,谜题一个接一个,一切都不如表面那么简单。你会感到:"啊,这才是疯狂的边缘"那种既兴奋又困惑的感觉——也就是推理小说的精髓。 更重要的是,角色塑造依然真实而精彩。每一个角色都有血有肉,他们的性格各不相同——有的腼腆,有的果断,有的惹人烦,但每个人都有属于自己的"帅气时刻"。 而最终的结局——我只在这种情况下才会接受"悬念式结尾"。它让你兴奋、投入、期待下一本书。它是悬念该有的样子,而不是那种写不下去时才硬塞进去的偷懒工具。 推荐给所有喜欢好剧情、好悬疑的人!