The Grandest Game

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2024

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 19

Chapters 20-41

Chapters 42-63

Chapter 64-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Background

Authorial Context: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Jennifer Lynn Barnes has authored more than two dozen young adult novels. Her first novel, Golden, was published when she was an undergraduate. Before she finished her graduate education, five more of her novels were published: Platinum, Tattoo, Perfect Cover, Killer Spirit, and Fate. While Barnes has authored several stand-alone novels, most of her books are a part of a series. Each series has a slightly different focus: Although all involve elements of mystery and suspense, and most include elements of romance, some (such as the Raised by Wolves series) include paranormal and fantasy elements, and others (such as the series The Naturals, which features procedurals) are more realistic.

The emphasis on psychology and intellectual puzzles in the world of The Inheritance Games and The Grandest Game clearly reflects the author’s academic interests and background: She was a Fulbright Scholar and holds advanced degrees in psychiatry, developmental psychology, and cognitive science from highly regarded institutions, including Yale and Cambridge. A respected expert in the psychological study of fandom and in the cognitive sciences of imagination and fiction, Barnes holds dual appointments in psychology and professional writing at the University of Oklahoma. In The Inheritance Games, characters face two distinct challenges: solving intellectual puzzles and learning to understand their own and others’ minds. The books have complex plots that mirror the nature of the puzzles the characters are trying to solve, challenging readers to understand the characters and solve the mysteries in their lives. Both the characters and readers sift through clues and attempt to put them together while dealing with various kinds of misdirection. Barnes’s academic interests give her a deep understanding of effectively constructing this kind of elaborate, puzzle-filled psychological mystery.

Series Context: The Inheritance Games

The Grandest Game is the first title in a planned two-book series based on Barnes’s earlier series of books called The Inheritance Games. This series takes its name from the title of its first book, The Inheritance Games, published in 2020. In this novel, teenager Avery Grambs learns that Tobias Hawthorne, a man she has never met, has chosen her to inherit his entire fortune. As a condition of his will, she must move into the Hawthorne mansion for a minimum of one year. Hawthorne’s four grandsons, Nash, Grayson, Jameson, and Xander, have varying reactions to learning that Avery will inherit the family’s billions. As she tries to understand the clues that Tobias left for her, she develops a romantic interest in both Grayson and Jameson, learns about the family’s troubled past, survives an attempt on her life, and discovers that the Hawthorne brothers’ uncle Toby, long presumed dead, is alive. The Inheritance Games was nominated for the 2021 Young Adult Edgar Award and won the 2021 Teen Buckeye Book Award.

Barnes followed this book with 2021’s The Hawthorne Legacy, 2022’s The Final Gambit, 2023’s The Brothers Hawthorne, and 2024’s The Grandest Game. Games Untold, a stand-alone collection of shorter fiction about the characters in The Inheritance Games universe, is scheduled for publication in late 2024, and Glorious Rivals, the second book in The Grandest Game series, is scheduled for the middle of 2025. The Hawthorne Legacy and The Final Gambit follow Avery’s adventures as she solves the mystery of Toby’s disappearance from the family, tries to discover the identity of her own biological father, pursues a relationship with Jameson, and eventually decides to give away most of the fortune she has inherited. The Brothers Hawthorne, unlike the first three books in the series, isn’t narrated by Avery. This novel focuses on complications in the lives of the Hawthorne brothers, particularly Jameson and Grayson, who both get involved in mysteries relating to their birth fathers’ families. The Brothers Hawthorne was nominated for the CrimeFest Best Crime Fiction Novel for Young Adults award in 2024. While The Grandest Game’s premise involves Avery and the Hawthorne brothers’ staging an elaborate game with enormous prizes, its primary focus is several new characters who are invited to compete in their game.

The books in The Inheritance Games series are part of a mystery subgenre in which protagonists are challenged with puzzles, riddles, and games that they must master to find the solution to a larger mystery. Puzzle-solving mysteries like these have long been popular for middle grade readers: Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game, Chris Grabenstein’s Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, Jessica Lawson’s Nooks & Crannies, and Denis Markel’s Click Here to Start are examples of popular puzzle-solving mysteries for young readers. Examples of this genre for adult readers are Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia and Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan and Rodrigo Corral.