Well, I just read something interesting. It is not new to put children up to meet their death in a harrowing battle. This goes back to ancient Greece. This new take on it was interesting and intriguing. Families who control magic get found out by the rest of the world just as they are readying for the once in a generation tournament. Well, that's awkward. The tournament gives these 7 kids 3 months to kill each other. We get to know several of them. I did have a hard time differentiating a few characters for about half of the book. They melted together for me but eventually pulled apart. With the suddenness of the ending, I feel like I cannot truly know if I like this until I get a a chance to know where it goes from here. Good start, though.

I really enjoyed this book! I think it's important to know going into it that it isn't a standalone, as that makes it more understandable when it takes a little while for this magical Hunger Games style tournament to actually kick off. I really appreciate that we got this slower start because seeing our protagonists interact with their families is so important for explaining their behaviour throughout the rest of the book, but I can see why the pacing wouldn't work for everyone.

Our four main characters have been encouraged all their lives to kill or be killed which obviously is not going to leave you with a healthy, well-adjusted teen, but I cared for all of them - though some took a while to warm up to. Even when I caught myself thinking 'this is a little melodramatic', enough time had been spent building up the characters' families and pre-tournament lives that I could understand the characters' thoughts and actions. And because every other reviewer seems to want to mention it - despite the title, none of these characters are out and out villains, though they are morally grey, given the fact they're willing (to varying degrees) to murder other teens. Personally I think it would be boring and one-note if any of these kids were the villains everyone wants them to be, and that's what makes them so intriguing and easy to root for despite their mistakes and bad decisions. I loved following them and I tore through this book just to find out what would happen to them.

I also really enjoyed the world of this book. We never really leave Ilvernath but I felt I got a good sense of the world of this book, or at least the atmosphere of it. It's a dark fantasy world that is a lot like our own, but the existence of magick means some things are very different and some more subtly different. I really appreciated that it didn't stop the story to explain everything about the world and magick in detail but just trusted the reader to pick up on the important parts and go with the flow. There's the specter of the tournament hanging over the whole first half of the story and then there's the threat of brutal murder throughout the second half, so it kept me hooked to the story and I read it in 2 days. I feel like that's the best way to read this book because it keeps the momentum going, whereas if I'd put it down and come back to it after a few days, it might have been harder to slip right back in.

I'll definitely be picking up the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I was immediately drawn to this book, as I love villains, so when I was given the opportunity to read this book from the publisher and NetGalley, I squealed with joy and dove right in.
This story is told from the point of view of four teenagers who are part of a curse that has held their families victims for centuries. The idea is that the winner of the competition will have access to the last of the world’s High Magick, something people are willing to kill for…literally. Truly, these teens have been raised as lambs for the slaughter under the belief that their trials are a holy and their possible deaths are on the same level as that of heroes of old. The problem? These kids don’t have want to just go along and play their assigned roles.
The story bounces from each main characters’ point of view, which gives the reader the ability to see how they feel and their inner desires. I personally love Isobel, but all of the characters have my heart.
I loved every moment of reading this book and the twists had me on the edge of my seat. And that ending! The ending has me DYING for the sequel! This book really makes you think about what makes a villain a villain, but also what makes someone a hero.
While this story is meant for young adults, I found the characters very mature and it was easy to fall into their head spaces and world. I highly recommend this book and think it will be a popular story.

This book was on my "most anticipated releases of 2021" list but sadly didn't end up living up to the hype.

The pacing is all over the place, especially at the beginning where it takes way too long for the tournament to start. I guess that this time was supposed to be used to introduce the reader to the characters, which brings me to my next point: weren't all of these characters supposed to be morally gray/ villainous? This book constantly tells you that the characters are "bad" but it doesn't show any of that.
I was generally dissapointed with the way that these characters were written because I expected all of them to be really angry about their situation, especially when they find out that there might be a way out of this game.
Speaking of the characters, wasn't this supposed to be queer? I certainly did not feel represented by any of these characters.

Overall, I feel like this book should not be compared to the Hunger Games at all. Not just because it's neither thrilling nor emotional but also because the "romance" in the Hunger Games makes sense to me in it being faked (or at least partially faked) for the sake of survival, but in this case ... oh boy. I'm sure romance would be the last thing on your mind when you have to fight for your survival but in this book we get the "I can fix him" trope. For what? To kill him later on?

The ending was honestly my favorite part, even though it was all over the place, because it twisted the story around a little bit.
Sadly, this was a dissapointment for me and I won't be picking up the sequel.

I really enjoyed this book! It’s well written and the main characters are fully fleshed out. Each chapter jumps between character’s perspectives, but it’s written in the third person. Believe it or not this is my first time reading a book with magic that had actual spells, like here’s a spell I cast to heal myself, here’s a spell to make you tell the truth, here’s a spell to bounce your magic back to you, etc., and that was a lot of fun. It was interesting to see that most of the “villains“ in the book are really the families who have shaped and molded and forced these kids; it’s not the kids themselves...well, it’s not *most* of the kids 😉
The book ends on a big fat cliffhanger, so now I am eagerly awaiting the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley & Tor Teen for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The tag line for this series is Hunger Games with Magic-sold. Give this to me like yesterday. For me, the reason Hunger Games was a big draw is not only the drama of pitting teenagers against teenagers for one to win; it is also the heart and soul that comes from the characters from the circumstances they have been placed in. In All of Us Villians, the prize is control of high magick, and the test is held within the stories that the seven families have fed their children since birth. There are seven landmarks, seven relics, and a whole set of rules that surround this curse that plagues the town and one contender who should not even be there wants to end it all. The secret of this curse has been hidden from the world, but now a tell-all book has leaked every delicious fact of it—all eyes on who will win at the end of the three-month competition. I was on the edge of my seat, devouring each page, wondering just who was going to betray who. Could the curse be ended, and who wrote the tell-all book teased at the top of the chapters. All of Us Villians is delicious, dark, and worth every minute of reading time, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

What kind of book is this?
This is a dark fantasy story set in a realistic world, if magic had been an intrinsic part of our world. There are seven elite families who control a source of powerful magic, but everyday citizens can use and wield much less powerful, common magic.

Spoiler-Free Summary:
All of Us Villians will aptly be compared to The Hunger Games because the majority of the story is focused on a deathmatch-style tournament contest which is held once per generation. The purpose of the tournament is to determine which of several elite families will control a source of powerful magic for the next several years. Of course, the tournament and its participants are not entirely what they appear to be.

General Ideas (Spoiler-Free):
This is definitely a dark fantasy story with gore and cursed magic. The descriptions of specific curses are rather gruesome and the story could potentially be classified as horror, though the overall story is a magical mystery. If the predominant use of dark, corrupt magic is appealing (think an entire story about Slytherins) then this book will certainly appeal to you. The story seems to be a standalone, but that is not the case. There is a sequel and the plot threads are not fully resolved.

Overall, All of Us Villians was a 3.75 out of 5 for me. I found the world unique and the magic system compelling. I found the characters lacking in depth and their motivations questionable. The four narrator PoV may have detracted from my ability to become invested in each character’s plight. Likewise, everyone is so moody and broody that there was little contrast between the characters to inform their actions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen for providing an Audiobook and eARC for this book for me to review.

All of Us Villains is a Young Adult Fantasy novel, the first half of a duology, from authors Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. It's a book that will be reminiscent of a lot of other works for frequent readers, with elements of classic YA standouts in The Hunger Games/Battle Royale (a bunch of teens are forced into a competition to kill each other) while also featuring elements that reminded me of Kat Howard's adult work, An Unkindness of Magicians. So it's a book attempting to cover pretty familiar territory, which gives it a high bar to clear.

And well, All of Us Villains is fine, but it doesn't quite do anything particularly unique or interesting, and it suffers from a bizarre choice of ending that make it feel like the book is one half of a book just cut in two. The four main characters are decently well done and enjoyable, as is the magic-based world: where a more powerful special magic is only available to one of seven families who wins a cursed battle to the death every so often, where the champions are teens who have their own relationships and reasons not to want to kill or to die, etc. And the prose reads decently well so as to make it never seem slow or unenjoyable. But the book just doesn't do anything to distinguish itself, and that ending is just incredibly unsatisfying.
---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------
For years, the world though High Magick was a thing of the past - a magic far more powerful than the common magick everyone else wielded, one that had helped kingdoms rise and fall. But in the city of Ilvermath, to a few families and assorted others, it is known that High Magick still exists: in the hands of one of seven magically-talented families, who battle ever generation in a cursed tournament for the right to control this resource for the next few years....a battle, that is always to the death. It's a tournament that has always been secret....until this year, when someone released a tell-all book exposing its existence to the world.

Suddenly the seven families find themselves celebrities, and everyone wants a piece of the contest and the high magick that is its prize. But for the teens who would be champions, the tournament is their darkest fear - where they will be forced to kill their friends, or more likely be killed themselves. It's an event where their families will try to make them into monsters and do unspeakable things, and those who seemingly have no chance will do anything for the chance to survive.

And it's a cursed event that some will want, for the first time, to change, and to end it once and for all. But when ending the cursed tournament will require cooperation from those who will otherwise be better off killing you, is it really even possible?
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All of Us Villains has a setup that's fairly well done. You have a world where common magick isn't unknown, and people can craft spells into items they can then use common magick to cast, at various levels of difficulty and power (with more powerful spells and curses requiring greater sacrifice to perform). There's high magick, which lets your spells be extra powerful and thus is incredibly valuable, and so the idea of a bunch of families squabbling over it all makes a lot of sense, even if it's not an original idea. And then it throws a loop it all by making the whole tournament exposed to the paparazzi and the world, forcing the horrors of a tournament of teens killing each other into the light, and exposing our teenage protagonists to celebrity and pressure like never before.

The book focuses on four of the seven champions, for better or worse - it does make it clear that the three other teens aren't likely to survive this story, or else we'd actually see scenes from their own points of view. First there's Alistair Lowe, the latest expected champion from the family who usually wins the tournament, and who are known to be evil monsters....but really doesn't have the heart to be the monster his family wants of him. Then there's Isobel Macaslan, the girl who didn't want to be a champion but was forced into it by the actions of others, for whom betrayal has left her without hope, resulting in her desperately trying to win even as she starts to develop feelings for one other champion. There's Briony Thorburn, the girl who wanted desperately to be champion only to be denied, and who realizes now what being champion would do to others, so she selfishly tries to find a way to destroy the tourney. And then there's Gavin Grieve, the boy from the family expected to lose immediately, who makes a deal with the devil to obtain the power to possibly win...only to realize the power isn't what he expected, and neither is his own feelings. The quarter are all messy in their emotions and relationships, whether that be in friendships, romances, or whatever but well they're teens, so that makes a lot of sense.

The thing is that while they're all well done, none of them are anything that really transcend the archetypes they're fit into, and they all feel very done before. And that's also true with the rest of the plot, as things develop, and we have alliances form, all in ways that well...will feel like many another book before it. And there's one character who's an obvious antagonist from the beginning, who the book tries to act like it's a surprise near the end when it's finally revealed (and several characters clearly are near figuring it out midway through but never come to that final conclusion), which just doesn't really work.

And then there's this book's ending which....there's a trend in YA at the moment towards duologies, and so many of them feel like someone decided to chop a book in half and sell it twice, without any concern as to whether that first book is satisfying on its own. And that's exactly what happens here, where the ending is less a series of cliffhangers and more just a "stop" right as characters finally realize what's going on and make choices - and well those are the moments that you want to carry your book, they shouldn't be your cliffhangers...but they are here. It's what takes a fine if unremarkable piece of YA fantasy and really makes it hard to recommend, because no one is going to be satisfied with just this book. Alas.

I was sorely disappointed by this book. All the taglines I saw said this was a queer Hunger Games with morally-gray to just bad and evil characters killing each other. It was... not really any of these things.

The Hunger Games part I can get, that is if we say everything is like the Hunger Games when teenagers are forced to fight and kill each other in order to survive. Sure, it had that, but it also lacked the motivation and reasons that the Hunger Games had to really drive home that point.

And queer? If we call any book queer that has even the slightest queer rep in it, then yes this was queer. But I would not call it a queer book. It had queer characters who's identities were so subtle and underplayed that I wouldn't have even noticed if I didn't go in reading it knowing it was supposed to be queer. There is NO queer romance in this, just minor pining from one character and subtle references to another character being bisexual. It was lackluster and felt very baiting.

This book did start out good. The pacing felt fine as we were slipped into this dark world of magic and old families vying for the same terrifying power. Then it just dragged on and on and on and we don't get to the Hunger Games part until the 50% point. And after waiting so long to get to the action I was upset to find that the action was planned and it mostly involved even MORE talking and boring scenes.

The magic system felt bland and under developed. I think the magic in Carry On felt more realistic and interesting than what was happening in this books.

And tension I was supposed to feel was so watered down because we had FOUR narrators and it could have been done with two. Honestly we just needed one, but I'm trying to give the authors a break. Because of these many jumps in narration I felt like we never got to see the characters really develop into anything other than their framework. And considering these four narrators are always near each other it wasn't really necessary to have all their perspective. Might as well just have added the other three participants in the battle and maybe I would have cared a little when some of the died.

On top of all of this the authors had the audacity to not make this a stand alone, which I just don't understand. There are so many loose ends that did not even need to exists in this book. I'm honestly shocked this managed to get past the editing stages.

Anyways, save yourself the time and don't read this book.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for an early review copy of this book!

I was so excited for this book. Dark, grim, characters that all have interior motives set in a Hunger-Game-like arena and only one comes out alive? I am totally into it. The cover is beautiful, the synopsis pulls you in and you know the authors have delivered before.

Well, for the most part this story was entertaining. But I had a few points I would like to make that, sadly, left me feeling underwhelmed and not attached. It took about 40% of the book to even get to the game which made it feel a little draggy. And once we got to the game, it wasn't what I expected. It was a lot of characters making alliances, falling in love and not a lot of action.

I never really got attached to any of the characters. I felt like they each had like "a thing" and that was it for their character. Alistair’s point of view was probably my favorite. With his "I am a monster" but him actually having a cinnamon roll core. He probably had the worst thing done to him in this book and things never got better for him. So I did get a little attached to him.

But Gavin? No, he needed to go to a counselor to get that chip off his shoulder. Isobel? Gosh she was betrayed in this book, but nothing she couldn't handle. Briony? Deserved everything she got. She set herself up for failure and I do not feel sorry for her.

At the end of the game, if you like broody, dark-ya fantasies this book is going to rock your socks off. I just.. it was a little slow for me and I felt like it was missing some depth and dimension for me. I am eager for the second one because cliffhanger alert, I need answers lol.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen for the ARC of this book.

Oh man...at 80% through this book I was thinking it was a standalone and I was enjoying it immensely and bummed it wasn't going to be a series so I checked and found it was a series, hooray! And then I was immediately thought "oh no, I'm 80% through and there is no way everything gets wrapped up in this book....it's going to end with nothing resolved isn't it?!" Ugh....but I can't wait for the next books! There is so much character development and twists - it really kept me entertained and wanting more (which is saying something given my current life circumstances).

The beginning of a series that combines a unique magic system with the Hunger Games? Yes please and thank you.

This is a story that is quite broad in its scope. It has a lot to keep many readers happy. There’s magic, blood shed, a unique tournament, fascinating characters with complex histories and lots of unexpected twists! This one will keep you on your toes! It also finished off on a cliffhanger, leaving me desperately waiting for the next installment!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Tor for the opportunity to read this book in advance!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TWs: death, blood, gore, abusive family, violence, curses

I absolutely adored 'All of Us Villains' and the world it introduced the reader to. Ilvernath, the setting for the book and for the entire Hunger Games style tournament among seven warring families, was richly described with an incredibly strong history behind it. It left the reader knowing that everyone in the town had become desensitised to the incredible violence that occurred every twenty years when a curse called the Blood Veil fell. The families all have different motivations for trying to win but it all comes down to the same idea: they want the strong magic that is withheld except for by the winner of the tournament. The multiple perspectives from the different champions was so entertaining, I especially enjoyed the parts with Alistair Lowe and Isobel Mascalan as they learned that the tales told by paparazzi about each other weren't necessarily true. Briony Thornburn and her need to be the champion was a huge motivator for her and I loved her gradual realisation that her selfishness (while effective in surviving) was actually ruining other people's lives. The highlight of this book for me was the character of Gavin Greave, who went from unknown and destined to die to accessing a form of magic that is incredibly dangerous. I loved how the authors showed his reasons for becoming the way he did, the mental blocks he jumped over to justify his behaviour, and I can't wait to see where he might go next. The ending was fast paced and full of twists, ending at a pivotal point for all of the characters remaining. This is definitely one of the best books I've read this year, the sequel can't come soon enough as far as I'm concerned!

This cover draws you in . It prepares you to be ready for the upcoming tournament. Look at all the spelled and cursed rings on my fingers .. beware , or lose your head and most likely your life.

This book is so compelling. I was immersed immediately after starting . A magical tournament starts between 7 families when the blood moon rises. The winner must defeat all others to control magic until the next blood moon. This is a fight to the death , play dirty at any cost . Ah , I have your attention .! The characters were complex , gritty and knew how to play hard. I can’t wait to get a physical copy . Dark , attention getting!
Loved it

Every 20 years, the Blood Veil falls. And each of the seven magical families sends one champion to compete for control of high magick.

Alistair has been raised to be a villain.
Isobel was thrust into the spotlight.
Gavin wants to be different than his family.
Briony has always known she’d be a champion.

I absolutely loved this book. I was hesitant because I don’t love villains and antiheroes...except in the right circumstance. And this was absolutely the right circumstance. The characters were just villainous enough to make the story work, but I also learned to love them.

This was ABSOLUTE perfection. I am still internally screaming after finishing it. I can't get over the emotional rollercoaster that I went through with this book. I loved characters. I hated characters. It was the absolute perfect mix of everything I need in my books.

All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman is the first book in the new young adult fantasy series by the same name, All of Us Villains. As with most fantasy series the books are best read in order starting with this first book and continuing on as the series will pick up the story from book to book. The story in this series is one that is told by changing the point of view between the various characters.

For centuries there has been a tournament in the city of Ilvernath once every two decades to determine which of seven families will gain control of high magick. Each of the seven cursed families choose a representative to send into the tournament to fight to the death with only one remaining the victor. This has all always taken place in secret until this year when reporters have swarmed the town after details were leaked of the upcoming tournament.

Much like the Hunger Games the participants in All of Us Villains are tossed into a battle to the death but these characters aren’t the innocent children that readers sympathized with in the Hunger Games. That being said though the ‘villains’ were all chosen from their families and each had their own unique reasons and personalities they brought to the battle and it was fun getting to know them in the story. As much as it seems like this one is a remake of the Hunger Games the story is different and took on it’s own identity fairly quickly. Once the games began the pages flew by waiting to see how it would all unfold in this first book of the series.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Every twenty years a blood moon rises over Ilvernath.

A beacon which means a deadly tournament is about to take place. Seven representatives. Six sacrifices. The reward is sole access to all of the high magick left in the world.

A centuries old secret kept by seven families, until a damning tell-tall brings scrutiny to Ilvernath. The tournament is now infamous and the pressure to win is higher than ever.

With chapters dedicated to each champion, you learn the gruesome history of the tournament that taints this town. Their strengths and weaknesses and the connections they build to obtain the most dangerous spells.

Packed with complex characters, lots of blood and violence and a super fun and unique magic system, this book ends on cliffhanger that will have you counting down the months until book two comes out.

For readers who want the brutality and gore of Battle Royale, the world building of The Hunger Games and a creative magic system like Mistborn.

All of Us Villians comes out November 9th. Thank you to NetGalley and TorTeen for an ARC of this title.

I was lucky enough to receive an Advanced Readers Copy of “All of Us Villains” by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. This book has been generating quite a lot of buzz in YA circles, so I eagerly jumped into the fray to see if it lived up to the hype. The answer was, yes (for the most part). The novel had a fascinating concept and very cool worldbuilding. I love fantasy books that take place in modern settings, so this novel hit the spot in that regard. The magic system was incredibly fascinating and I would have loved to know more about that. I was promised villainy and morally gray characters, and I found that in droves. All of the characters were very interesting and I liked that they were all villains despite their different personalities, backgrounds, and definition of what exactly a villain is. Due to the perspective chapters being limited to 4 of the 7 champions, we do miss out on some perspectives that could accentuate the novel. Some of the characters felt a little too similar in their descriptions relating to appearance, and as far as I gleaned from reading it they all appear to be white characters. In the sequel, I would like to see more diversity in regards to characters' race. Speaking of the sequel, with the cliffhanger ending there is certainly a lot of material for one! I felt like the second half of the book unraveled so fast that it was hard to grasp what was going on. A more gradual unraveling of the world we were just getting accustomed to would have allowed readers to have a keener grasp on the second halves' events. This was to the point that the plot twists seemed unsatisfying and the cliffhanger did not stun as much as it should have. I eagerly look forward to the sequel to see how it is resolved. In conclusion, this is a fascinating story with interesting characters and mind-bending magic. It just lost control of itself in the end. I cannot wait to see where it leads next.

All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman is a high-stakes fantasy that puts a unique twist on the concept of the tournament to the death. Depicting a competition where players fight through curses, this one contains morally grey characters and a well developed magic system. This is a great read for those looking for a dark, character-driven fantasy.

Each generation, seven families nominate one champion to compete in a fight to the death. Only, instead of fighting with weapons, they fight with curses. Should a family’s champion win the competition, they earn the privilege of controlling high magick, which everyone else in Ilvernath believes is obsolete, until the next games. This year, however, the secrets of the tournament have surfaced, bringing reporters and spectators to the games for the first time ever. Now, with all eyes on the tournament, the competitors have a choice to make—continue on, or put an end to the games forever.

❀ WELL-DEVELOPED NARRATORS

This book contains four different narrators, and each is well developed. As the tournament progresses, we follow Alistair, the champion with the highest chance of winning, Isobel, who never wanted to compete in the first place, Gavin, the underdog, and Briony, who stole the opportunity to compete from her sister. While there are many characters to keep track of, each is distinct, and the authors do an excellent job outlining their differing motivations. These characters are also complex and morally grey, as the title suggests, although I wouldn’t necessarily call them villains.

❀ UNIQUE USE OF MAGIC

One of the elements that impressed me the most was the role of magic in the book. The concept of a fight to the death through magic is unique, and the world building details such as the characters purchasing spells from a store brings dimension to the story. I especially enjoyed the consequences of using magic, as it may backfire if the characters make curses themselves. While I found that the world building could have been stronger, the unique use of magic made up for this.

❀ AN ORIGINAL FANTASY

All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman is an original fantasy with magic and plenty of twists. The tournament is brutal yet engaging, and each of the competitors is well developed. The use of magic is particularly well executed, bringing a unique angle to the story. Fans of The Hunger Games will not want to miss this one.