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.

A dark, doom-filled YA novel about a fight to the death for control of high magick, this intriguing book has the unusual premise of a fantasy battle set in what is very much a contemporary world. There are tabloids and paparazzi, but also curse-rings and spell-rings and magical relics -- and seven teenagers, representing seven families, who are sent into a tournament to kill or be killed. The plotting is intricate, and so hard to put down!

“Grins like goblins, pale as plague and silent as spirits. They’ll tear your throat and drink your soul.”

I requested All of Us Villains on a curious whim and while it isn’t perfect, I’m able to say with certainly that I’m glad I picked it up. Filled with characters to both love and love to hate, an exciting plot line with high stakes, and compelling twists and turns, the novel kept me flipping the pages, needing to know what would happen next.

My favorite character was Alastair Lowe, but I also throughly enjoyed the devious champion Gavin, the seemingly up-to-no-good cursemaker Reid, and Alastair’s brother, Hendry. I’m always a sucker for a good sibling dynamic, and the writers did a wonderful job portraying the love and loyalty between the Lowe brothers. I admittedly was somewhat disappointed in the lack of villainy the characters displayed and in the case of Alastair, he sometimes felt all over in the place in terms of moral alignment. This was especially frustrating to me when his whole personality would shift and was willing to throw everything away because he “fell in love” (in a romance that felt insta-lovey, lacking chemistry and continuously took me out of the story).

Despite this, by the end, the novel was beginning to feel more like potential villain origin stories. Although the characters’ motivations usually made sense, there were times their actions seemed to come out of left field. I was however eager to see this decline in morality and it made me hopeful for the next book in the series.

Oftentimes, it’s a given for books with multiple POVs to have one or two perspectives in which I can’t wait to get through their chapters. In this novel, those were Briony and Isobel. Their personalities unfortunately did not vibe with me, but I can definitely see how other readers would love them. I also realize seven perspectives would be tedious, but I found it unfortunate that three of the champions felt underdeveloped in comparison to the four given POV chapters. I was interested in their characters, but never felt like I got to know them very well.

As for pacing and plot development, I found them to be mostly excellent. I typically find my attention wandering during a book’s middle section, which wasn’t the case in All of Us Villains. I will say this only happened once or twice around the 75-90% mark, but it was fairly minimal and I mostly equate this to reading more of my least-liked POV sections. Some of my predictions were accurate (which always felt validating as opposed to evidence of lazy writing), but there were several times I was genuinely surprised at the turn of events, which kept me on my toes.

This novel will also hold appeal for horror/spooky book readers, as there is some nasty body horror and gore scenes, as well as several creepy monster stories told by Alistair in his family tradition. The magic system was fascinating and also felt unique in that the champions wear rings carrying spells and curses masterly crafted by makers. However, the effectiveness and power of them were dependent upon the casting skill of the champion.

Needless to say, despite a few flaws, I did quite enjoy All of Us Villains for the exciting plot, compelling characters, queer rep, and amazing conclusion. I’m eager for the release of the sequel and its promise of more deviousness.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Tor Teen for providing me with a digital ARC!

Trigger warnings: murder, gore, body horror, death of a sibling, mutilation, eye trauma, abuse by a parent

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this ARC!

So let's start off with the good! This book follows a group of teens who enter into a high-stakes, magical competition to the death for the chance to wield the most powerful magic in the realm. Basically The Hunger Games if all the kids were actually bloodthirsty witches, who were passed along this "honor" to kill in a competition from their families every 20 years or so. Sounds amazing, right?

I really loved the magic system in this world! I thought it was very original, and also fun to figure out since the characters were in no way all powerful beings. I also really liked a few of the characters. I thought the small romance between two of my favs was so cute!!! I really shipped it.

Now on to the bad, I really did not like the pacing in this book. It was sold to me in a way where I thought we would jump right into the competition, and I found the book kept building, and building without the characters being in the actual competition.

Then, when our characters finally get inside, the trials/ confrontations fell short for me. I thought this book was centered around some huge competition, and when the characters were portrayed to be villains (EVIL with a capital E) I thought there would be much more bloodshed. I was even surprised when the main character who was considered to be the strongest, and the most evil turned out to be a big softie (and he fell in love along the way???) which I don't mind too much since I liked his romance ARC, but then.... IT ALL GOT TAKEN AWAY??? Don't give me something to root for when we are slogging through plot and descriptions, and then just yank it out from under me. Honestly, when that happened and then the brother ended up being alive in a 180 move that made our MC go coo-coo bananas I completely disengaged from the story.

Overall, I found this to be lacking. I had high expectations and I think through the sheer time it took to get to the competition, the amount of characters & their POVs/ backstories, and then the sudden change/ underdeveloped plot in the end I just found myself not liking this book very much. I wish that wasn't the case because the premise is amazing, and I truly did love the romance, but the execution just was not it for me.

I'm hoping this hits home for others!! I think my expectations and the way it was sold to me really did me a disservice, so maybe others will have a better experience.

xx
-Christine

All Of Us Villains is about seven families who, generation after generation, have fought each other in a game that determined the fate of the high magick that they would be able to wield. And time and time again, the Lowe family had won. But that doesn't mean certain victory for chosen champion, Alistair Lowe.
Plans change, priorities change, and quite frankly, goals change.
They—all seven champions—have either been born to be champion, or were given the roles whether they wanted it or not. What they wanted didn't really matter. They were to bring forth power and honor in their families names or they would die. Obviously, the latter was more gruesome. A fate that all of them would have to avoid. Because who wants to die... right?
All seven of them had gone into the tournament fighting for just that. Power, honor, and the chance to get out of the tournament in one piece. But what happens when the lines between being a villain and being a hero start to blur? And what happens when they discover that despite all their efforts, they were just meant to be villains in the end?

This book definitely disappointed me.
I was so excited about it when I had first read the premise of the story. The plot sounded very promising, and the notion of morally grey characters sounded very enticing to me because I'm someone who favors those kinds of characters compared to your everyday hero. So, you can understand my disappointment when I didn't really see that in the characters. Yeah, they committed murder and did questionable things, but what I had been expecting was a group of batshit characters with a penchant for arson and the occasional stab in the back.

The pacing felt oddly off for me, too. The mere fact that it took 40% of the book before the actual tournament started, already said a lot about how the second half was going to go. After that, I really did expect it to go downhill from there, and I was right. The time it had taken for the authors to establish the world building and everything we needed to know about the characters, their history, and everything in between, they had already taken up so much of the story that when the actual action began, there was little to no wiggle room for the authors to expound on certain plot points that were important to the story. I swear, at some point, I was too confused to actually comprehend any form of information being told in the story.

Now regarding the characters... Personally, I didn't really connect with any of them. But I did manage to fall in love with Gavin. He felt like the most consistent character out of all seven of them. The rest felt very one-dimensional. They were always changing their minds, their principles, and their opinions. For me, that simply won't do. I deeply despise characters who can't stand firm in their beliefs. I need characters that can show consistency and determination without having to change their view on things every next chapter. Each of them had so much potential because they were all distinct in their own ways but I think the authors failed in maintaining their characters' abilities and limitations because some things simply did not make any sense. Everything seemed to go their way, even when the odds were very much against them.
I hated the way they took away Isobel's powers for a relevant period of time because I was actually looking forward to how her character would act and react in the tournament considering the fact that she didn't even want to be there in the first place. And don't get me wrong, I loved the moments between her and Alistair, but they didn't have to turn her into a damsel in distress to get those character interactions. I think the two of them would have made a powerful team without one of them having to be vulnerable.
I hated how they made out Alistair Lowe as a force to be reckoned with when he was almost the second champion to die. His character underwhelmed me so much because of the high expectation I established for him because of how the authors had portrayed him and his family in the first—excruciatingly long—40% of the book.

Although, to be honest, I think having expected anything from this book was my first mistake.

Overall, I didn't enjoy it. One of the only things that kept me from dropping the book was the subtle relationship brewing between Gavin and Alistair. And despite my love for AlistairIsobel, I do think that GavinAlistair would hit so much harder.

All of Us Villans is pitched The Hunger Games but in a fantasy setting and with higher stakes. With this description, I am instantly lured in the book. There were also some excerpts from the book that has been released which intrigued me. It was absolutely stunning, the action, the intrigue, and the rivalry between families. Reading the entirety of the tournament amidst their family background has been the cherry on top of this book. We get to see different family dynamics incorporated in this.

Fans of fantasy, Hunger Games, and cunning characters will definitely enjoy this one.

I loved this book so much!
I was a little hesitant about the multiple POVs, but each of them were well developed and unique. It had similar vibes to Hunger Games. I absolutely loved the story and all the characters. I'm very excited for book 2 !

THIS BOOK WAS INCREDIBLE! What I loved about this book is that before the tournament even begins, we get a peek into the lives of most of the champions and get to know them, like them and feel for them on some level. We enter the tournament with them caring about nearly each and every one of them to some extent! The stakes, for us as readers, are high! Great story telling! Twist and turns! Slow burn romance! Love to hate and hate to love! Dark and Sinister history and children sent to the slaughter all in the name of power and who gets to wield it. Incredible book and I can't wait for the next one!

𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙐𝙨 𝙑𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙗𝙮 𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖 𝙁𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙮 & 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙇𝙮𝙣𝙣 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙣

𝙍𝙖𝙩𝙚: 5 ★

“𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟.“
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First of all i’m gonna say, thank you Netgalley and Tor/Forge for accepting my request for the ARC of this book.
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This book is about a tournament that happens every generation. Seven families come together and offer a champion from their bloodlines to compete. Only one family line may claim the magick and only after defeating the other six competitors.
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OH MY GOD. This all i can say after finished reading this book. This is my first time reading this kind of story. A story where there’s a unique magick system, amazing plot, and most importantly interesting main characters with an amazing development. This book is literally hunger games but with magick system and i’m literally sold to this because it’s so freaking good.
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While there’s 7 champions, but there’s only four POVs in this book. The four main characters in here we got Alistair Lowe, Isobel Macaslan, Gavin Grieve and Briony Thorburn. And yes all these characters are morally gray. We got too see their thoughts towards everything about the game and their family. I was so happy that Amanda and Christina making their characters feel alive and i’m obsessed. ALISTAIR LOWE OH GOD HE CAN STEP ON ME I LITERALLY JUST IN LOVE WITH HIM SO MUCH 😩😩😭😭
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The relationship between all these seven champions was also INTRIGUING. Like the trusting each other, and had a love-hate towards each other. I just love it so much. AND ALSO THE ROMANCE IN THIS BOOK oh god… I DIDNT EXPECT THERES GONNA HAVE A ROMANCE AND TO LOVE IT SO MUCH… THE TENSION 😩 ITS A RIVAL TO ALLIES TO ALMOST LOVERS TO BETRAYAL 🥲💔 I CANT BELIEVE THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS REALLY GOT ME CRYING…
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The ending of this book IS SO PERFECT… I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING…. MY JAW LITERALLY DROPPED….YOU KNOW WHAT i will get my physical copy soon!! I’m so excited for the sequel even though i know i have to wait another one year. But yes i really RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO EVERYONE. GO READ IT.

I thought this book would feel more like a dark fantasy “The Hunger Games”, but to me it actually felt about 60% “The Hunger Games” and 40% “Battle Royale”. And I liked that. I liked that a lot because “The Hunger Games” has hope. “Battle Royale? Well… “Battle Royale” shows you just how futile hope can be when the system is rigged against you. And this book sweeps hope out from under the character’s feet every time they get a glimpse of it.

Call me a cynic. A pessimist. A nihilist. But I’m here for the reality of systemic abuse of power structures and the futile fights against them by small bunches of idealists.

If “The Hunger Games” taught a generation of humans to fight back against the center of power and to try for equity (as things should be, I’m not denying that), then this book is a warning to another generation that it’s not as simple as you think it is. Change comes over time, and it doesn’t come without some heavy sacrifices and costs. You don’t change the world with squeaky clean hands.

Even though this is a dark fantasy novel, it feels more real for this perspective. That every act of rebellion will end in bloodshed. Every attempt at bucking the system will require sacrifice. And, more than anything, nothing ever goes to plan when power is involved.

It did take some time for this book to hook me. I didn’t really get sucked in until they were almost in the competition itself. But then I was in it, and I was in it until the end. And I was deeply satisfied by the end.

You will 100% find All of Us Villains on my top reads of 2021 list. It is safe to say that I am OBSESSED with this book and will be anxiously awaiting the release of the sequel.

Told in four POVs, AOUV introduces us to the seven families of Ilvernath, each of which must offer up one champion every generation for a battle to the death to determine which family will control the last remaining high magick. This time, the stakes are even higher with the eyes of the world trained on the seven champions following the release of a scandalous tell-all novel. We follow four characters as their families choose and prepare their champions and send them into the Blood Veil, from which only one can return.

Foody and Herman's characters are distinct, dynamic, and incredibly-well developed. All of their choices and actions felt believable to me as the reader because they were consistent with what I already knew of the characters. The multi-POV narration worked seamlessly due to the unique voices given to each of our four villains. I often found myself wondering how it was possible to both love and hate these characters at the same time.

The plot was fast moving and surprising. I was consistently wrong in my predictions of what might happen next which was so fun and exciting. I was on the edge of my seat right up until the end - and now I will have to stay there until the next book is released!

I could really go on and on about how much I enjoyed the magick system (spell rings and septograms and cursemakers, oh my!) or how shaken I was over some of the actions of these ruthless and brutal families, but I will end with this: if you love YA fanatasy, this is a can't miss book.

3.5 Stars

There were a lot of things that I really liked about All of Us Villains, but I also felt like there were some places where it fell really short for me. I generally binge read books over a couple of days, but with this one, I didn’t feel compelled to read it all at once until I hit the 60% mark. It took me a full eight days just to get to 60%, and then I finished the rest on the same day once the action picked up.

Some thoughts:

* I loved the premise, and I thought it had a lot of potential even though the concept is not new. The “Hunger Games meets HP Tri-Wizard tournament” references are pretty accurate with the main characters having to fight to the death in a tournament using magic and curses. The idea of morally grey characters facing their own demons and each other sounded really intriguing...but the characters were definitely FAR less villainous than the title and synopsis would lead you to believe. In fact, I was pretty disappointed by how un-villainous they all ended up being.

* I didn’t realize that this was the beginning of a series (it’s noted on Goodreads, but it wasn’t noted on NetGalley), so I was surprised by the rather abrupt ending, LOTS of loose ends, and lack of resolution. This is clearly my own fault, though, and not actually a flaw of the book, but I did feel like the ending was really rushed and disjointed anyway. It actually left me double checking to make sure I hadn’t just been given a preview of the book vs the entire thing.


* I LOVE the idea of all of the magickal elements, but I also thought there was often too much left to the imagination there. The descriptions of what happens with each spell or what things look like are often vague, though the names of the spells (The Deathly Slumber, Dragon’s Breath, Pick Up the Pace, Here to There, etc.) give a clear indication of what they’re supposed to do. I guess, silly as it may sound, the magic didn’t feel all that magical.


* The story is told from alternating POVs, and though that can sometimes be seen as a detriment, I thought the authors did it well enough here. I didn’t love all of the different characters, but they were all unique enough that each POV was able to stand on its own.

I did, however, wish that the rotating POVs would have been from all seven champions and not just four of them, even if we had gotten just one initial chapter in the beginning where we got to know the backstory of each champion. The book relies SO deeply on the other four backstories and world building for the first 50% of the book that leaving three of them out made those other characters feel totally dispensable and unrelatable.

All in all, this was entertaining enough, and I will likely pick up the second book when it comes out. Hopefully, at that point, I will still remember these characters and the story because this definitely seems like one that I am likely to forget.

This is a story about blood & sacrifice.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Did you read Hunger Games & feel like you wanted some magic thrown in? Well! This is the book for you. I loved the dynamics between characters & the dark, vicious magic system. I also really enjoyed the lore & themes of sacrifice and redemption.

Thank you so much netgalley & Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the eArc!

Monsters aren’t born: they’re made. And in this otherwise normal village, they’re raised. Some of them embrace their calling, and some run from it, but they’re all cursed to repeat it regardless.

Crazy good story with epic world building and interesting character dynamics. Each champion from the seven ancient families has their strengths and weaknesses and each family is twisted in its own way. It’s no wonder they can’t trust each other.

I got to the last 5% of this book and had to deal with the fact that I would not be getting a resolution, so the twist didn’t come as a surprise, and it wasn’t quite twisty enough, honestly. But I am still very eager to found out what happens next! If you’re a fan of magic, YA, and enemies to lovers to friends to enemies to sisters to what are we now, this is for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Teen for an advanced copy preview. Warning, this book ends on a huge, huge, massive cliffhanger! So much so that I went back three times to reread the last chapter thinking I must have missed something. Told from four different view points (not seven, whew!) this read is about seven different families fighting it out for the ultimate control of magic (or magick) where each puts up a champion to fight to the death for the title. If you're expecting each character to be the utmost villain, don't let it scare you away. The characters are well done, fleshed out, complex, and intriguing. It's a good character driven storyline where the characters are the ones pushing the plot. Lots of twists and turns and great world building. I am just still not over that cliffhanger.

I LOVED this book. All of Us Villains is how I imagine the Hunger Games would've gone if the story centered on the careers from districts 1, 2, & 3. These characters come from seven of the most wealthy, powerful noble families of their land, and they must fight to the death in order for one winner to rule the kingdom (with their family) until the next tournament.

This book has the perfect ratio of plot to character development. A complaint I've often had with fantasy, dystopian, or sci-fi books is the heaviness of the plot; I didn't find that here at all. The book focuses so much on the trauma, character development, and developing relationships between these characters, which I *really* loved.

I also loved how the shades of grey morals are really investigated in this book. The title alludes to all the main characters being villains, but they're so much more than that. At times they prove to be born of their circumstances, resistant to their circumstances, or completely falling into the villainous characterization the world makes of them.

The world building and magical system of this book was super unique, and very well done. Magic is a craft to be bought, rather than something everything can do, which is a pretty unique idea. The universe and setting in which this world is set was really well-written; the authors gave so much to visualize about the towns from which they live and the actual arena where the kids must fight, which really added to overall atmosphere.

I do feel as though this book has borrowed really heavily from tropes and characterizations of popular books, whether intentional or not. The plot was very Hunger Games, and I found one sister dynamic in particular was pretty similar to Katniss/Prim. One of the characters was very similar to Kaz Brekker. Perhaps the authors borrowed from these stories, or perhaps I've just read so many books that I'm able to make these connections, I'm not sure.

As far as the audiobook, I really enjoyed the dual narration for female and male characters. The male narrator in particular was really great at inflection and acting, which made the book just *that* much more atmospheric.

I'm really glad a sequel is being made from this book, because the ending, while fantastic, left me wanting so much more. Overall I definitely recommend!!

This was an amazing read which is about seven teenagers who must fight each other in a tournament. I really enjoyed this dystopian read. I haven't read anything like this in a while. It's kind of like the Hunger Games but with magic and multiple povs. I enjoyed the world building of this book which was filled with magic and betrayals. At first, the world building was okay but throughout the story it got better as the story built. The setting was wonderfully done where it was unique and different. The plot structure was well done with many conflicts and plot twists thrown in. The pacing was a little slow for my liking but the conflicts helped lift the book. The writing was well done for the most part and it was amazing to see two authors bring this story alive.

Even though there were seven main characters, only four of them had their pov in the book. I enjoyed the different povs as you can connect to at least one character. I was disappointed that we didn't get perspectives from the other characters (as I know there are a lot) but I wish we had minor povs as I would have loved to learn more about the other. The main characters are Isobel, Alistair, Gavin and Briony. I enjoyed each of the character's as they were special and had great character development (well most of them). I wish to give more details of each character but then this review will be super long and you will hate me (haha). To keep it short, I'm pretty sure that you will at least enjoy one character's perspective. The side characters I would say were the other three competitors in the book but there were other minor characters. Also there is barely any romance in this book which I was really sad about as I’m a romance sucker but let’s hope that book two has everything I want!

The ending ends with a cliffhanger and let me tell you that I totally didn't expect it. It was such a great cliffhanger and now I need book two! This book is such a perfect read if you are still in a Hunger Games hangover and need something similar to the story. This book has all the twists and turns that you wouldn't expect while reading and will keep you on your toes. I did have some minor problems with the book like the world building and pacing but overall it was a great read. I'm hoping to get the other character's perspective in the next book after the ending. I totally recommend this book if you love the Hunger Games world and twists and turns Divergent style.