This book was incredibly disappointing for me. Marketed as "a bloodier Hunger Games," All of Us Villains tells the story of Ilvernath, a land where every generation, the seven most powerful families volunteer a champion to fight in a tournament to the death. The winner's family earns exclusive control over Ilvernath's high magick. The book follows four of the seven champions volunteered for this fight.

I had several issues with this book, the first being that it wasn't even remotely a bloodier Hunger Games. While The Hunger Games does have more characters in the arena and thus more opportunity for bloodshed, this book barely even had fighting in it between the characters. And while a couple minor characters did die, but I still wouldn't put it remotely on the Hunger Games' level.

Another issue I had was the pacing. The book is supposed to follow this tournament, but this tournament doesn't even start until the 40% mark of the book. In my opinion, the first 30% of the story wasn't even necessary--it was just a lot of backstory that might've been important for the authors to know, but wasn't necessary for the reader to know.

Along with the title being "All of Us Villains," the book tries to beat you over the head with the idea that these are morally grey/villain characters, but their actions truly show the opposite of that. None of these characters want to die, none of them want to murder each other, and they all actually show a fair amount of humanity. There's nothing morally grey or evil about them, really--they all just are desperate to survive and end the tournament without killing each other. Now, if the book hadn't been about ending the tournament and each of these characters entered the arena desperately wanting to win for one reason or another and were genuinely willing to slaughter each other to make it happen, that would've made them morally grey, and it would've fulfilled the premise of the book (not to mention, it would've been a much more compelling story).

Lastly, the magic system just wasn't well explained or established. Despite all of that time that the book took to finally get into the actual story, we really don't learn anything about the magic system at all. There's different levels of magic, but it's never explained what those levels mean, why some characters can cast higher level spells than others, or how a character would even go about increasing the level of spells they can cast. It did have potential to be an interesting magic system, but it fell apart for me when there were just no explanations at all.

This book had a lot of ambition comparing itself to the Hunger Games, and ultimately, it didn't live up to that expectation.

I was given an ARC for this book on netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I finished this book a little later than the realse date, but I absolutely LOVED it! I definitely want a physical copy of this book. The writing is impeccable, with lush descriptions and witty one liners that had be cracking up. You can’t tell that it was written by two authors as the writing flows beautifully throughout. The multiple POV's in the book really helped everything flow much better and make it easy to understand the full story. The plot of this book is very Hunger Games meets dark fantasy. This book was so evil but amazing! I absolutely loved the characters and where the author took the story. The plot of the book is very complex and enticing. I loved the plot tists because they always occured the least when you expected it to. Over all the plot was 100% amazing and super intersting. The charcetr deveopment was one of the best i've ever read. The way all the chracetrs grow with each other, but at the same time don't complelty chnage thier entire personality. The characters were all morally gray, and yet I couldn’t stop rooting for them. This book ends on such a good cliffhanger; I am so excited to read the second one when it comes out.

Woah hold on a minute! The Hunger Games with a dash of Game of Thrones style with magick plus bloodier and more ruthless? So much yes! It took all of half a hearbeat after reading the synopsis for me to decide I MUST get in on this one as soon as possible. And I cannot tell you how grateful I am for this book.

Every generation, at the coming of the Blood Moon, seven families in the remote city of Livernash each name a champion to compete in a tournament to the death, the winner claiming exclusive control over more than anyone can fathom. Imagine this scene playing out with extremely well developed characters that draw feelings and bonds with certain characters whether you want to or not. There is a little something for nearly everyone; In other words, if the synopsis appeals to you in the slightest you will find this book extremely worthwhile.

All of us Villains is a deliciously devious beginning to what is sure to be a must read series for the masses, with the ending suggesting so much potential for the next book I'm already antsy for the story to continue!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Teen, and the brilliant minds of Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman for granting me an arc in order for me to share my honest opinion. I cannot thank this team enough and I may be preordering a physical copy of this as soon as possible because it's an absolute must have!

All of Us Villains
by: Amanda Foody & Christine Lynn Herman
Pub. date: November 9, 2021
Date reviewed: October 12, 2021

Many thanks to Macmillan/Tor-Forge & NetGalley for allowing me access to this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Ok. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this one.. I’m a bit confused & feel like vertigo has set in. All of Us Villains was a fun read, although a bit inconsistent at times. I don’t usually read books about magic & spells & the like but I did enjoy this one & will Definitely be looking forward to number two. All of Us Villains gets 3 of 5 stars from me.
#AllOfUsVillains #NetGalley

So before I begin the proper review, let me just:

JKFHGSKJDHL ASGDHJSF

Okay, I’m good.

Every generation, seven families send their teenaged champions to fight to the death in the Blood Mood tournament in hopes of controlling the rare resource of high magic. While common magic is readily available, the use of high magic is all but reserved for the family of the winner.

As the champions scramble to find sponsors who’ll help them craft spells and charms for that winning edge, families’ greed and prides cause them to make some fatal mistakes. And soon the champions find that there is more at stake than their own lives.

Tor was kind enough to send me an advance copy of All of Us Villains, a joint novel by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. There was literally so much hype around this book; many of my friends over on Book Twitter were also raving about it weeks before the book was released.

Dystopian stories have kind of fallen out of style over the years—I was a teenager myself when The Hunger Games was released—but All of Us Villains makes a convincing case for the revival of the genre. The way the story combines this dystopian narrative with fantasy scratches an itch in my brain that I didn’t know was there.

With so many characters, it would be near impossible to focus on each champion without the book becoming an epic. Instead, the story follows just four of them, with the remaining three popping up in the others’ storylines. Sucks to be those three, I guess, but needs must. The main four have their own distinct narratives and arcs and it wasn’t difficult to tell them apart from each other, an issue that I tend to have in ensemble stories.

I actually really did love All of Us Villains apart from one fatal flaw in its storytelling—and here there is a minor spoiler—and that was there is a sequel. That is not typically a flaw in and of itself, but my main qualm with this book is that the authors were so excited to set up the sequel that the first book was left unfinished.

None of the characters’ arcs were finished by the last page; it was set up such that we were right after the story’s climax but I personally felt we were still in the early stages of everyone’s storyline. In fact, I was so stunned by the ending (I did kind of see it coming because I was keeping an eye on the page count) that I had to double check I didn’t receive a faulty copy.

Hence my earlier keyboard smashes.

Is All of Us Villains still a good book? Absolutely. Would it have been better had the authors just punished everything as a thousand-page novel? Personally, I would say yes, but some of you might enjoy the delayed gratification.

Nevertheless, I am so excited for the sequel and I’m crossing my fingers for a release date soon because if I do not get to find out what happens to Alistair I will personally fly to America and… cry.

I gave this book a 4 star rating, but it teeters on 4.5 because WOW I loved this book and I’m so sad that I HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL TO COME OUT TO LEARN MORE. I’m really enjoying all the characters and their changing personalities because multiple times throughout this book I would think “Oh, I really hope they don’t die” to “I wouldn’t mind if they died, they’re being awful” back to “PLEASE DON’T DIE”. A lot of people are saying they wished these characters were a little more morally gray, but I disagree. I think for 14-18 year olds (or whatever the range is), they are as morally gray as we can expect from teenagers in the modern day who grew up knowing they were going to be lambs for slaughter. I highly recommend if you’re a fan of the Hunger Games or Harry Potter series, but I think most people will love this if they are into any type of adventure story with life or death as the highest of stakes.

Hunger Games with magic is right! This book has an epic magic system, that combined with this cursed tournament where seven teenagers have to fight to the death makes for a very intriguing story. The characters really stood out to me as they each have different perspectives on the tournament and their complicated families history in the tournament. Isobel and Alistair are my favorites. I loved their dynamic and their relationship. I'm excited to see where the next book takes us.

*Thank you to NetGalley for the arc of this book!*

All Of Us Villains is a tale of seven young, morally gray characters doing what they must to win a magical tournament that will benefit their families for the generation to come. Think The Hunger Games but with curses.

I enjoyed several aspects of this book. The character development, a unique magic system, the overall wicked vibe. I did however find it took longer than normal for me to get through. There were some definite pacing issues for me, and I found it to be a little soft for a book that very clearly is meant to be about villains.

With that being said, I’m invested enough to want to know what happens next and will be down to continue the series as it comes out!

Every generation the Blood Veil hits the town of Ilvernath. Seven families are trapped in this curse, but only one wins the prize. Each family names a champion to fight in a tournament to the death. The last champion standing wins full control of the high magick for their family until the next Blood Moon rises.

No one outside of these seven families knows about it—well that is until this year. Someone has released a tell-all book about the families and the history of the tournament. Now all the champions are put in the spotlight and tourists are drawn to the town of Ilvernath for the upcoming tournament. This newfound publicity has given each of the families insight into the others. It also has caused quite a stir—some are intrigued by the tournament, some think of them as monsters.

This book is told from 4 of the 7 champions perspectives. I love multiple POV books as they provide insight you never get from a singular POV.

One criticism I have about this book is that I found myself only caring about Alistair. I found the other characters to lack personality or depth. Yeah we get it you want to win, but what else? Yeah the Lowe’s always win and you think their cruel— okay? Alistair was thought to be the monster by everyone, but his character is so much deeper than that. I loved seeing his character arc through the tournament.

Another criticism I have is that the last 10% of the book felt rushed. I felt like too much happened in those last few chapters and a lot of the character development I had seen was thrown out the window. The ending was also super predictable, which was a let down.

Overall I really loved the build up of the tournament as well as the writing from multiple POVs. I’m really excited to read book 2, even though I didn’t like the way the plot turned.

ALSO TO MY THG FANS— THERE ARE EVERLARK PARALLELS!! MY EVERLARK HEART ♥️ I would definitely recommend picking this one up just for that

This book had a lot of promise in both premise and character development. I loved the concept, and the writing was very solid. There were two main aspects of this book that knocked down my star rating: the main romance and the ending. I will be the first to admit that romance is not my favorite genre, but normally I can enjoy it as a sideline to the plot. In this story, the romance seemed to frequently be no more than a road block to plot advancement, and made me start rooting for them to be split up more often than not. In regards to the ending, I can appreciate a cliffhanger, but this book literally just stops in the middle of the action. There is a difference between a solid hook to continue the series and an unfinished novel, and frankly this fell into the latter category for me. This book would not hold up on its own. All of that being said, I enjoyed it overall and appreciate the unique premise of the book.

I haven't read either of these author's other books, so I was going into this one fully based on premise. It seemed an interesting one, and I always really enjoy stories centered around competitions or 'games', as long as they're done well, of course.

This book definitely delivered. The competition remained the focal point of the story the whole way through, with all the POVs either focused on winning the competition or somehow trying to stop it. A story is always stronger when the characters are willing participants, or don't spend the entire book trying to simply escape the captivating setting they've found themselves in, and in this book, each and every character seemed invested and willing to participate, if on their own terms.

I really liked the cast of characters that this book had, even if it took me a while to like some of them. While all the POVs are fairly dominating personalities, it still ended up working together really well. I also like that the authors really stuck with the darkness of the competition and the idea of raising your kid to kill other kids later, and you could really see how that childhood impacted the characters. They were willing to kill if it meant the progression of their own goals, whatever that happened to be. The motivations of the characters themselves were also so varied that it never felt like you were reading the same thoughts and feelings over and over, as everyone had their own reasons for wanting to win and be the last one standing.

One thing I want to note is that I have been seeing this book being advertised as LGBTQ+, and while this is true in a sense, it's not a large part of the story at all. One character makes a few references to the fact that he's bi, and appreciates another guy in an aesthetic sense, but none of the relationships (past or present) in the story are queer (that we know of yet), and the character who is bi doesn't have a relationship in this book (nor seemingly even a love interest for later books). So while this is definitely not a straight cast, I wouldn't recommend it to someone specifically looking for a queer book.

In the end, I did really enjoy this, and I can't wait to see what happens after that mess of an ending. I'm certainly invested now!

All of Us Villains was an interesting read! The characters were interesting and intriguing, all definitely villains in their own right. I wish that the relationships between them had been a bit more fleshed out, because then I think the stakes would feel a little higher throughout. A Big Event that happens toward the end really sent me for a loop, and I'm nervous thinking about what it means for future books. Ultimately, this mainly feels like a set-up for books to come, but I'm definitely wrapped up in the lives of the villains of the Blood Veil, and I'm excited to see where they go next!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

I've loved Herman's other books and couldn't wait to get my hands on this. I thought the flawed characters were so well written and couldn't put it down. What a great take on magic and a great read!

This Hunger Games-esque YA novel combines old magic with seven teens forced to fight to their deaths.

Ilvernath is hiding a secret-a dark, hideous secret. But then a book is published detailing the seven powerful families who control the city and the magic within it. Every generation these families hold a tournament to see who wields the most powerful high magic. These families sacrifice their children in a fight to the death to bring the power back to their families. These teen “champions” run the gambit of being trained since youth to a startling upset between family members. But there is another secret, one the families don't want to come to life as they will lose the magic and their power. It is rumored that there is a way to break the curse that cements the tournament to these families. Maybe, just maybe, these villains aren't so villainous and there is a way to break the curse and save their young lives.

I loved the characters. Each was unique and not just copies of Hunger Games characters. The majority of the champions (there are a few without perspectives) are complex and the stress of the tournament brings out all facets of their personality. It is interesting to see a villain turn hero and the hero who turns to violence.

This book lives in that grey morality area. This theme is enticing and exciting. As a reader, we are kept on our toes. What will these characters do? Will they go with violence and death or safety and hope? In fact, many of these characters flip between the hero and the villain role leaving many of them unpredictable. These children were raised as villains, as murders. But what happens when push comes to shove?

It doesn't tell a complete story. The ending doesn't feel natural more like a show episode you need to watch next week to finish the story. I hate these kinds of books. A good writer can keep you wanting the sequel while wrapping up the strand included in the first book. Instead, I felt trapped and manipulated.

All of Us Villain is a great novel that keeps readers guessing and wraps them in a blanket of spells and curses.

This book is spectacular and I can’t wait to read the next in the series.

The magic system was well established. Most of the main characters had character depth and motivations. I really liked all the family histories. I am glad that the competition didn’t start till 40% of the book, it helped establish all the characters. Alastair is obviously my favorite. I love him and want to wrap him up in a blanket. I am eager to read the next book, especially because of where this one ended.

A great cast of characters as hunger games meets magic. Children of the most powerful magic families fight in a battle to the death to earn the rights to control high magic for the next 20 years. The plot is fast paced and has many interesting twists and turns. The biggest questions are answered in this book with many left for the next book.

Wow, this was deliciously dark and propulsive and I'm annoyed it just came out and that means I have to wait so much longer for the next book. In Ilvernath, seven families select a teenage champion to compete in a battle to the death to decide who controls the high magick for the next two decades. It's the result of a curse that was enacted upon them centuries ago, and nobody really seems to think too deeply about it. But since the last competition, their secret competition has been revealed to the normies, so now the world is watching with bloodlust in their eyes. This story is told from four alternating points of view, from four of the potential victors: Alistair, Briony, Gavin, and Isobel. Throughout the book, and as the battle nears, we see these teenagers interrogating more and more the stories they've been told about the necessity of the fighting, and explore whether there's a way to end the curse once and for all...

This book is about our unwanted inheritances, the trauma and anger that can be passed down through generations, about coming of age and coming into your own. It complicates the idea of villainy, and reveals these teenagers as nuanced, complicated, annoying, annoyed, full humans, which I always appreciate.

My one overarching quibble is the use of the word "monster" was heavy-handed and redundant, to the point where I noticed it so much that I did a search of how often it appears in the book. (Sixty six times.) But obviously that didn't have an overall impact on my enjoyment of the story.

If you liked The Hunger Games or your favourite book in the HP series was Goblet of Fire, I think this one is going to be for you.

I really enjoyed this book. I absolutely love anything Amanda Foody touches. While being familiar with the authorial voice Foody has I was unable to distinguish which was Foody and which was Herman, and I think that was an absolute strength. Four POVs told and all four felt distinct, yet similar enough that when they interacted it was pure magic.

I loved each chapter starting with an excerpt from the Tradition of Tragedy. I love how villainous all four POVs are. I loved how dark and intense this book was. The prose was beautiful, the dialogue added to the story in a way I can't begin to deconstruct, the plot was unhinged, I love watching the slow descent into madness and villainy that Foody and Herman showcase.

Amazon review is pending approval.

Review:
All Of Us Villains is one of my favorite reads of the year, and definitely my favorite fantasy read of the year.  If you have been waiting for a blood drenched world of magic and morally grey characters, this is IT. Thank you to Tor Teen for the review copy!

Written in multiple POVs, this story roped me in and trapped me under the blood veil with the rest of the characters.  Which is dangerous because they would all definitely kick my ass.  Like, right away, don’t even pass go.  The premise is so creative and the execution is perfect, letting me get lost in the story but still admiring the incredible writing.  I found myself pausing to admire the pacing, the inserted lore, the little details that created the depth of each character.

And this is where the multiple POVs really were allowed to shine because I fell in love and hate with every character.  Each and every one of them is despicable and loveable, and I’m rooting for them all while wanting to give them a tentative hug and beg them to stop killing each other already. 

If this one isn’t on your TBR and library holds yet then you’ll want to add it right away.  Promise.  I’m already wanting to reread it just to tide me over until the next book is out.

Atlas 6 meets Hunger Games but they are all terrible people. I really enjoyed this book! the characters we get are complicated and have their own reasons for entering the death contest. They are a little dumb but they are teenagers. Alastair was my favorite and I want him to succeed but I also wanted everyone else to succeed. the author did a great job making the characters compelling and vital.
I do think this could have been a one shot book rather than a series; the premise is simple enough and it would have been easy to wrap up in one book.
the magic system is very cool.