this was... underwhelming. i loved the first one, hated the second and I was just okay with this one. i hate it when mystery stories resort to secret family members and messed up family trees and I could not remember who was who's kid and who were half siblings or who was secretly adopted by who I just couldn't be bothered. i also couldn't really remember the plots of the other books that well even though I watched a summary and I didn't care enough to search when I didn't understand something they referred to. this was felt like it was written a poorly done everybody lives/nobody dies fanfiction for a different series written by a 15 year old, each character feels like a parody or exaggeration of something that actually exists but it was made in earnest. all of the characters are very bland with personality types thrust upon them that they don't really embody. xander was so fucking cringe oml, author tried wayyyy to hard to make him quirky and silly and goofy🤪🤪 and tried to tell us that him and avery were besties???? no???? yes they interact but they're not that close and I hate that the author kept insisting that they are. UGH JAMIESON BROOOOOO I hate this guy. he kept being like "I'm so damaged, I always makes the wrong decisions, I'm such a bad guy, I'm so dangerous" but girl he does nothing?? also personally I find him really annoying and him being like "thrill seeking" or whatever doesn't feel real, like the author keeps making up personality traits and says that about the characters even though they don't act like it.

and I did not buy their relationship sorry.  BTW I am a grayson girlie all the way

and grayson was so done dirty here oml, he was so whiny this whole time and he didn't contribute anything to the story he was just like 😔😔😔 emily 😔😔😔 it's my fault😔😔😔 I was meant to be the best😔😔😔 like dude I don't really care? max was annoying as always however while I could ignore it in the first book cause I enjoyed the other aspects i couldn't let it go for this one, same silly🤪🤪 goofy 🤪🤪 complaints as I did for xander. her whole "doesn't swear" thing where she says mother-faxing and like slimehead or whatever tf she says instead is so cringe I had to immediately block it out every time she spoke. alisa was also barely in this one and she's my favourite character! oren slayed as always and tbh I actually really enjoyed the ending with her giving away 96% or something like that to a charity trust thing and the ending with the reveal of her own games, I thought that was a very fun way to maybe introduce a spin off series?? tbh I actually really love that idea and even though I haven't enjoyed 2/3 of writing from this author I would highkey read that series it sounds so fun.

also the final chess game with the stakes was slay I liked how she purposefully lost to Avery only so that she could challenge brian or whatever his name was (i finished the book 20 mins ago and I already forgot, I know that Brian isn't right but I'm just gonna call him Brian to make this review easier). HOWEVER. idk why when she pulls up all these new terms for the chess game she also doesn't say "also Toby can stay hidden and he can live with me now" what???? also I have no idea why threw his game with eve??? genuinely can someone pls explain why if you read this I don't understand?????

anyway, even though mostly had things to complain about, I though that this book was OKAY. i will definitely forget the entire plot within like one week but I didn't actively hate it like I did with the second one in the series, 2.5 stars