The Heirs

I really enjoyed The Heirs. It’s an entertaining, easy-to-read family drama with plenty going on to keep the story moving. I was quickly drawn into the lives of the characters and found myself wanting to see how everything would unfold.
It’s very much a piece of contemporary adult fiction, with all the ingredients you’d expect from the genre — family relationships, secrets, complicated dynamics and plenty of twists and revelations along the way. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and I think that’s part of its appeal. It’s the kind of book you can settle into and simply enjoy.
I particularly liked the way the different characters and their relationships gradually became more complicated as the story progressed. There are enough secrets and unexpected developments to keep you turning the pages, without the book becoming so complicated that it’s difficult to follow.
Overall, I found The Heirs an entertaining and enjoyable read. It’s not a book I would necessarily describe as particularly challenging or literary, but it delivers exactly what I wanted from it: an engaging story, interesting characters and plenty to keep me reading. A good choice when you're looking for something absorbing and entertaining.

Honestly, I hated this! I would give zero stars, if that were possible.

This book has a strong setup, with big themes of privilege and power, and the writing style is lively with plenty of conversation. However, the story drags more than grips, and I found myself losing interest part way through the book. It did remind me of the Umbrella Academy, as referenced by other reviewers.
This book is sure to be popular amongst the author’s huge YA fan base, but it just didn’t work for me.

Leontes Button has dedicated his life to proving his hypothesis that prodigies are a product of nurture rather than nature. He uses his five children as guinea pigs in a cruel experiment in which money was no object and love and kindness were completely absent. At the Prodigy Ball, which he hosts annually to celebrate child geniuses everywhere, he is murdered and there are a plethora of potential perpetrators of the crime.

There is a lot to like about this book, not least that it is very gripping.
The premise is interesting and the plot surrounding that premise is well constructed. Layers of new information are drip-fed throughout as we get to know the characters more intimately and this additional information often requires a rethink and a shift of perspective.
From the limited number of books that I have read which are specifically targeted at YAs, the impression I have is that the writing style is quite simplistic and this book is no exception. This makes it easy to read and means that I could sit back and enjoy the story, rather than wading my way through highfalutin prose.
The characters are introduced slowly so that the reader is not suddenly confronted with an overwhelming crowd of people in the first few pages – this is something that I wish other authors would adopt as it is a definite plus point for me.

There are plenty of flashbacks into the pasts of the main characters and these are printed in white on black as opposed to the main bulk of the book which is printed in the normal fashion of black on white. Whilst there is no doubt that it avoids any confusion about which timeframe we are in, it does feel a little gimmicky.
I suspect the plausibility of the scientific experiment aspect of the plot is questionable in the modern day but heigh-ho, why let reality get in the way of a good story!!
My only other niggle is about the depth of the characters at the forefront of the story (primarily the five Button siblings). Although their personality traits are described in a fair amount of detail, they just didn’t resonate with me as cohesive, whole individuals that I could relate to. It is of course quite possible that this is deliberate in the sense that the children are either so bright that ordinary mortals are just not on their wavelength or that they have been so damaged by their upbringing that they are never going to have the potential to be rounded human beings – however, I strongly suspect that this is not the case.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys an easy read with an interesting premise. This applies to both adults and YAs alike. I would happily read another of her books.