Teenagers in a deadly magical match.
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In the city of Ilvernath, 7 families have competed in the Blood Trials for exclusive access to high magic every 20 years for 800 years. The Trial is back again.
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As a whole, I enjoyed this book with its "modernized" magic system and the multiple PoVs of our contestants, as well as the overall darkness and atmosphere. Though the development of some of the characters and the choices they made could have used some more time to happen. Some things were a little too sudden.

This book is a good pick for anyone looking for: urban fantasy, YA, magic, dark, morally grey characters, minor romance, a little bit of mystery and questionable family traditions.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 4/5 stars.

The cover? I requested it because of the cover and the description. I didn't expect ANYTHING as I read it. While there are MANY POVs, they all intertwine beautifully (which, I normally don't like multiple POVs...so this says a lot). The whole premise is magical realism. There's a town that every 20 years, they have a curse where they send 7 children, one from each of a certain family, into a dome (re: hunger games) where they fight it out to the death to earn their family's right to control the remaining high magic. The magic itself requires spellstones (set in jewelry) to cast, with each spell or curse taking a stone (and needing to be recharged). There's different levels of curses and spells, and people can specialize in casting, crafting, etc. I LOVED it. It was very unique for a fantasy/magic story.

The characters are beautifully, morally grey. They are teenagers...who prepare their entire life to be the champion once the blood moon falls. They have to kill for the tournament. They are teenagers...who train with DEATH CURSES. Morally grey...so much.

The twists, the turns, the magic. I loved it. I only deducted a star simply because I would have appreciated more world building. Why are there towns where this high magic happens? How do people do spells and curses in this town? Why is it just this town? What started it? I need more world building...even if it is a magical realism book.

Also...the twists at the end...HOW DARE YOU. I like knew this was a series...but I didn't really KNOW it was a series until I hit 85% read and they had just started to realize something...anyways...

AMAZING.

If you know me, you know I love morally grey characters. Seriously, there's a reason I love Six of Crows. Suffice to say, I was incredibly eager to read this book. Combine that with the fact that this is billed as similar to The Hunger Games (a truly iconic book) and I was ready for a new favorite. Unfortunately, as seems to be a trend recently, I was a bit disappointed.

Something about this book just didn't click for me. Maybe the characters? Our story is told from four POVs, and if we're being honest, Alistair was the only character whose chapters really drew me in. It took me until around the 50% mark to be able to differentiate between the others.

I will say, though, that this book has an interesting plot going for it! After the way it ended, I may pick up the second book just to see how Alistair ended up. 😂

Overall, I think is a fairly generic fantasy, but hey! That genre seems to be doing pretty great right now!

Although this novel was not what I expected or had hoped for, I enjoyed it quite a bit nonetheless. All Of Us Villains is a story about a cursed town where every 20 years one champion is selected from each of the main seven families to compete in a magical battle to the death. The winning family gets access to the high magick for the next 20 years. This time around, the tournament does not necessarily go as planned.

Characters (8/10): I really enjoyed all the character POV’s we got. Out of the seven champions we see from four perspectives and each one was engaging. It was fascinating to see the characters grow over the course of the novel. The only thing I have to say is that I would have liked to see the characters be a bit more “villainous”. These “villains” were a bit more softhearted than I had anticipated, but despite the unexpected personalities I think it worked well for what the story required and I loved the characters in the end regardless.

Plot (7/10): It starts out your typical gladiator style battle royal (which I love) but the story develops into more. I like that it did not just stick to everyone murdering everyone and there was even some mystery. The cliffhanger at the end has been highly anticipating the sequel!

World (6/10): We do not get to see anything outside our cured little town, but the lore surrounding the town and its families is quite intriguing on its own. It would be interesting to see how and if magick and high magick is used elsewhere as well.

Magic (9/10): This magic system was brutal, and unpredictable with some terrifying repercussions and I loved it. The way magick was crafted and stored in stones to be casted so so clever. I loved that it was set up in a way that just because you were the most powerful did not mean you could beat the other champions. And there was serious risk when crafting high level curses that added to the unpredictability of the story.

Writing (7/10): The writing was engaging and easy to follow. It did what it needed to do to portray this story and to give distinctive voices to the main four perspectives.

Entertainment (9/10): While it had a slow build up, once they were in the tournament I flew through this story. I just wanted to know what happened next. Despite not being as bloodthirsty as I anticipated I enjoyed the turn it took and was hooked regardless.

Total: 7.7/10. The ending left me wanting more and I already can not wait for the sequel. I need to know what happens next!

The entirety of the fifth star is purely for Alistair bc I love him and he deserves a star.

This was quite honestly, incredible. I was so excited to read this ever since my friend, Amity, read an ARC and told me about it!! I’m SO happy it lived up to my expectations hehe, everything was so well written!! I honestly didn’t read too much about the synopsis before starting it because I wanted to experience things without too much knowledge of what would happen, and I’m so glad I did! It was a lot of fun learning about the characters, the world, and the magic system (which is SO unique!!).

AOUV is a story featuring a tournament between 7 champions from the 7 prominent families, where the family of the last champion standing takes control over the high magick available. The magic system so unique! From my understanding and poor memory, people have to craft and weave curses or charms made from raw magick into rings adorned with spellstones, and power was limited by things such as caster ability, crafter ability and strength of the raw magick. I thought it was so interesting how everything weaved together, and I loved the idea of it!

The story is told from the perspective of four champions: Alistair Lowe, Isobel Macaslan, Gavin Grieve and Briony Thornburn, in that order. This order is also, my order of favourites funnily enough! Essentially I would die for Alistair and I love him to pieces. Hands-down my favourite character, he fit the villain narrative perfectly, but we’ll see just how much of it he truly fits. Isobel gave me very primadonna girl vibes initially, but she turned out to be way more than that so I’m super happy! A few times her decisions were VERY questionable, but seemed ok. Gavin was mildly boring at the start, and he seemed to wallow in his own constant thoughts that his family was the most looked-down on, but it was SO GOOD to see him moving past that and becoming his own person. Briony was…. Honestly terrible. Like, she came across as SO selfish and it was incredibly hard to believe she was doing things for others instead of herself, but we’ll see what happens in the next book.

Each character had their own distinctive thoughts, their own voice and were so well crafted and written! My favourite PoV was Alistairs (I might be a BIT biased though hehe), but they all worked really nicely together to explain the different families, dynamics and the overall history of the world.

Initially, the story was a little hard to follow since you had to learn about a whole new world, magic system, and characters, but once I got the hang of it, I really loved it! I couldn’t put the book down, and I honestly thought this was incredible! BUT the ending came WAY too soon, I can’t believe I have to wait one more WHOLE YEAR to find out what happens next???? Waiting for the sequel to an incredible book is literally the worst 😩 Anyway, I highly recommend this, add it to your TBR!! Xo

I received a digital advance copy of All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman via NetGalley. All of Us Villains is scheduled for release on November 9, 2021.

All of Us Villains follows seven young adults, each the champion of their magical family. The Blood Moon has risen, and the Blood Veil has fallen, signaling the start of this generations tournament to the death. Each champion is seeking control of high magic for their family.

This tournament has a bit of a twist, however. Recently a tell-all book hit the world, revealing the tournament and secrets of the families to the world at large. As a result, some champions are more committed than ever to win the grand prize, while others are interested in changing the story for everyone.

While there are seven champions, not all of them are point of view characters in this story. Which is a good thing. The authors present us four point of view characters which does work to give us a well-rounded picture of the tournament, and represents the various views the champions have on the tournament itself and their place in it. For me, having four point of view characters did have a down side. I did sometimes struggle to follow the shifts from one character to another (in terms of remembering who they were and what was happening with them in the story). I did also feel that while the four main characters were given different characteristics (and were often delightfully gray in moral character), it was difficult to really get attached to any of them with the shifts in the narrator.

This story does heavily involve the use of magic. The authors have created a magic system that has some familiar elements, but with twists that are unique to the world of this story. I did leave the book with some questions about the magic, the town, and the larger world, but this didn’t really bother me. There was enough in this novel for me to follow what was happening with the magic, but enough space for the authors to continue to develop it in future books.

I’m still not sure how I feel in terms of the plot. I expected the tournament to reach some conclusion during this novel. This is not the case. The story leaves off very much with the tournament still ongoing. While there was a climactic event of sorts, it did feel a bit incomplete to me. I’m not sure if this is expected to be a duology or a series, but reading book 2 will definitely be necessary to feel any sort of closure for the story that begins here.

Overall, All of Us Villains was a solid story of somewhat questionable characters attempting to do the right thing. The question here is the right thing for who?

I heard a lot about this book pre-release, and so was very eager to read this book that was being compared to the Hunger Games and hyped so much. I wasn’t disappointed-this was a great book, and calling it “Hunger Games with Magic”, while not untrue, would be a vast oversimplification. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Alistair, and loved how they developed as the story went on.
One thing I would have loved more of though, was actual “villainy” as per the title. There’s not much moral grey or black areas to be found.
Can’t wait for the sequel!

Thank you to Net-Galley for the e-ARC!

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book! I flew through it. It follows a handful of teenagers in Ilvernath as they prepare for and fight in a tournament for control of high magic. A group of teenagers supposed to fight to the death, all of them villains? It was such a great atmospheric read for fall. The book has a longer lead up, and we get more backstory on the families and how/why they choose their champions. I like the build up and I thought it was fun to read, though it is not as action packed as the tournament itself.

There are four different POVs in the story, though the full cast of characters is bigger. I think the book did a good job in distinguishing the voices of the characters in the POVs.

I think the main thing I would say I wanted more of is world building outside of magic. There are mentions of other towns that have high magick, and it seems to be adjacent to the real world, and I want to know more on how that works.

All in all, I really enjoyed this and I’m looking forward to reading the next one when it comes out.

4.5 stars

The Hunger Games with magic!

WOW! This book was amazing! Seven families have a tournament to fight for control of high magick. While there is common magick that anyone can use, high magick is special. Hundreds of years ago these seven families decided they wanted the high magick for themselves but couldn’t agree on who should get it. They’re solution, one person from each family fighting to the death and whoever is victorious wins the high magick for their family until the next tournament.
I loved that this book included chapters from the characters perspectives. We see the chapters from 4 of the 7 champions, aka the kids competing. I do wish we got to know the other 3 champions more, with their own chapters, rather than just small snippets here and there throughout the book.
I also loved that each chapter is started off with quotes from the book “A Tradition of Tragedy”. This tell-all gets their bloody tournament on the map to outsiders of Ilvernath, where the book takes place.
I cannot wait for the next book with an ending like that!!


I received an advance review copy for free for NetGalley!

Absolutely raging because I needed SO much more! I am thrilled this will continue on but wow having to wait to find out what happens to these kids?! Unreasonable. But seriously, excellent book, such a cool concept with a public relations twist that I really enjoyed. I loved this book and am thrilled for it to be released so I can chat with others about it!

Special shoutout to NetGalley and TorTeen for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Well, wasn't this a nice lil surprise.

I've had this book on my radar for a while. In Ilvernath, during the Blood Moon, seven families offer a teen champion to compete for the chance at control over magic, but only the winner can come out alive. What's usually a private affair gets blown up by the release of a book by one of the family members that details all the goings-on, and for the first time the competition has a high press presence. This was such an interesting premise; like a high fantasy, less dystopian more family drama Hunger Games (though honestly media eating up the fact that children have to kill each other is still pretty dystopian).

This is split into four POVs, of which unfortunately I really only liked Gavin. Don't get me wrong - seeing the different family dynamics and what certain characters were really thinking during certain moments is great, but there was something about Gavin that I genuinely cared about in the way I didn't for literally everyone else.

It's not that this book was bad, it's that.... it didn't quiiite give me what I wanted. I'm not really sure why! Everything about this book was fine, I have no major complaints. But that's just it. It was fine, and I don't have much to say about it, when I really feel this should've made me more excited. I might be the only person in the world who's lukewarm about this book! Most of the other reviews I've looked at have raved about it!

There's definitely a cliffhanger ending so I might pick up the sequel and hope that colors this one in a better light. If the premise sounds interesting to you, or you've liked either authors' previous work, go for it!

Whaaaaaaat?!
That’s all I’ve been able to think for the last twenty minutes after reading this gorgeous book.
This book surprised the heck out of me. I was excited when I read the description for this book. The hunger games but with magic? Yes please. What I wasn’t expecting was how beautifully written and deeply crafted this book was. The characters had SUCH depth and dimension they walked right off the page and into my heart almost immediately. With four POVs of four of the seven champions of the tournament, each POV I read had me sweating because I could only think about one thing: only one of these people is going to walk away alive at the end of this, but I love them all. You see, they all have terrible flaws (which arguably makes them more human, more real, more loveable) but they also each had, in my opinion, a really good reason to live.
The world building in this novel was another thing that knocked my socks off. The magic system was intricate and clever and *unique*. I loved the spell rings with their different funny names that really felt like what would happened if you made magic a commercial product; advertisers are going to get cheeky with it.
This book is worth reading for the prose alone. I highlighted so many lines while reading because these poignant sentences just kept coming, one after the other.
I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of the arc of the book and where it would end, it certainly felt possible that it might be a standalone, but after that ending? I’m dying for the next one.

Thank you Macmillan and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title before publishing in exchange for an honest review!

Oh. My. Goodness. I don’t know what I was expecting when I went into this exactly, but I was SO pleasantly surprised by how quickly I devoured it. Let’s get into it.

Ilvernath is the last real SUS roving hub of high magick in the world, controlled by one of the 7 “great families” in the area. The secret is: every generation, a child from each of these families is sent to duel to the death in a tournament that lasts 3 months, or until the last champion standing. Here we meet our 7 villains, who have been born and bred to complete this tournament, no matter who they have to kill to do it. Alliances are made, some of them extremely unexpected. Power players reveal their true faces, and those faces don’t always look like what you thought they would be.

I DEVOURED this book in about 3 settings. The champions have such distinct personalities, which I often find to be the biggest mistake authors make in multiple POV stories, making them all seem to similar. I loved Isobel and Alistair, and I loved the way their motives shifted and changed. Every character here is a certain amount of morally grey, which is only to be expected in the circumstances they are in. The action begins fast, but the magic system, which is one of the most unique and developed I’ve ever read, is explained flawlessly and naturally. This is a very quick read, and for the best reasons.

I am sad to say that toward the end there were only a few small details that have caused me to knock this down a half a star (I’m considering this a 4.5 star read). (SPOILERS TO COME HERE): Namely, the motivation for Isobel to use her death spell on Alistair at the end is really quite flimsy. I could see this making sense if there was more time spent developing and illustrating that Alistair would not let them destroy the curse, but it had all happened in a matter of pages from him being very on board with this exact thing, and all he was asking for was time. Isobel had been so dedicated to keeping him safe up until that point, and I can’t reconcile this choice with her previous notions. This seemed like a plot driven choice, and a poorly executed one. This, however, is literally my only complaint.

I LOVED this book. I can’t believe that the reader is left hanging where we are, and I’m going to be on the absolute edge of my seat looking for the release date of the second book. This really was hunger games meets magic, while still being so incredibly unique and developed.

I was underwhelmed by both Ace of Shades and The Devouring Gray, so I definitely had some doubts going into this one.

Luckily I was very pleasantly surprised by an engrossing and enjoyable read that felt relatively original given The Hunger Games-esque premise.

The morally grey protagonists are done pretty well for a YA novel, not perfectly when the writing falls back to teenagers acting like normal teenagers, but still better than average.

I'm definitely curious where the authors will take the story from here and look forward to the next installment. 3.5 stars rounded up.

Objectively I don't think it was a bad book, it was just definitely not my thing.

There were too many pov's and only Alistair's story interested me if I'm honest. The middle felt like a lot of filler with nothing that really happened, I know because I kind of scrolled through it and didn't seem to miss much.
Because of the many characters having similar names and also switching it up with last names it was so tedious to try and remember which character was which (especially when it wasn't that interesting to begin with).

There were some nice twists and it's a great concept but I think it's one of those books that should've been a series to actually remember all these people, or should have less characters.

Since I recently read the 'three dark crowns' series, this one just felt like a copy. Also a lot of pov's, kids trying to kill each other to win power and they're magic kids who can be evil while not all of them want to fight. Maybe I would have liked this book more if I hadn't already read something so similar.

“Maybe it’s you who should be afraid of me.”

4.5 stars for All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. This is a story about 7 teens who are forced to compete against each other in a competition to the death due to a centuries old curse. Definitely hunger games vibes but with a much different vibe, background, cast, and execution (literally and figuratively :D). I really enjoyed this book and devoured half of it in one sitting. I absolutely could not put it down!

In my opinion the characters were the best part of the book. I really enjoyed the multi-POV of the four main characters Alistair, Isobel, Briony, and Gavin. They are certainly complex and I’m here for it! There was so much to learn about each of them including their motivations and desires and it really kept things intriguing. Because of the multi-POV everyone is pretty well developed: each with their own backstory and different reasons for wanting to win this competition. Throughout the series I found myself rooting for each of them at different times. You will definitely find something in each of them to love. I did occasionally get confused at which characters POV I was currently reading, especially in the dialogue heavy areas. But I often have that problem in multi-POV books and I don’t think it was a reflection of the writing. In fact, I thought the writing was beautifully done!

The story is set in the town of Ilvernath which houses a bunch of magical families and even fun spellmakers and spellshops. I would have loved a map because it helps me with imagery but it's not necessary to understand the world as it is just an isolated town and pretty simple. I just think it would have added to the fun. The magic system is quite unique but I did have a little trouble understanding it at first, especially how the spells are made and cast. However, I did finally catch the gist of it once the plot and competition got moving. These are some of the reasons why it felt just a little short of 5 stars for me.

There are plenty of plot twists and turns through the competition to keep you entertained. Some of them could be deduced if you are any good at catching foreshadowing, but the aftermath of these twists definitely proved to be shocking. Be prepared for a cliff-hanger as it does end somewhat abruptly and things are NOT wrapped up. But what more would you expect for a story about villains?!

I recommend this book for fans of morally-grey characters, fun magic systems, and competitions. It also set up a VERY slow burn enemies to lovers romance that I imagine will be fleshed out more in the next book. It is absolutely a fun book for fall with its dark, gory, twisted vibes! But be prepared to be mad (in the best way possible) that you have to wait for the next book to be published.

CW/TW: violence, death, foul-language, strong negative emotions

e-ARC provided by Macmillan-Tor/Forge (Tor Teen) and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

“In every story his family told, the villains won. They crossed the lines no one else would. They struck when the hero least expected it.”

Having read books by both of these authors, I was ecstatic when I heard they were teaming up to write a series together. That the main characters were villains? I could barely contain my excitement – morally gray characters are my favorites.

Monsters couldn’t harm you if you were a monster, too.

This quote represents the philosophy of some of these families when it came to bestowing beliefs upon their children. Talk about your twisted parenting styles. From a young age, a few of these seven characters knew they were the chosen champions of their family. If that title was up for grabs, some of them even campaigned for it. They were extensively trained in spells and magic, knowing that they may eventually face their friends, boyfriends, or girlfriends from the other families in the tournament and have to kill them.

Control of high magick is what they’re fighting for, and I liked that no one completely understood how it worked or the consequences of every spell. Throughout the story the characters learn maybe everything isn’t as they were taught, and there’s a complex puzzle to be solved. A way they don’t all have to die.

Seven participants in the tournament and four POVs are a lot to keep up with, but each of these characters is distinct and well-crafted. I have to say Alistair, the predicted champion, and Gavin, the underdog, are my favorites. Alistair’s story is especially tragic, and I just wanted to hug him. Gavin wants to show his family and the rest of the town he’s not a loser and makes some bold choices to prove it. Just when I thought I knew these characters, game-changing twists had my head spinning. Considering they’re all villains, I should have known better than to make assumptions.

Wicked, dark, and full of surprises, this is an addictive series, and I won’t rest easily until I get my hands on the next book. Highly recommend!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is an absolute firecracker of a book.

Set in an alternate world (that seemed to be inspired by Edinburgh/Scotland, though I might be wrong), ALL OF US VILLAINS is a brutal combination of magic and modernity, where teenagers can fight to the death over ancient curses AND have to deal with the social media fallouts. Ilvernath has seven such teens, seven champions who are given one goal: claim this generation's high magic for their family, no matter the cost.

I won't go into all the characters and subplots, because there are a LOT and I don't think I'd do them proper justice. All you need to know is that Foody and Herman are master writers; every line sings with all the lyricism and sharpness of broken glass in the moonlight. The magic system is SO fascinating, and despite heavy heapings of moral grayness, every POV character was fantastic to follow ... like, somehow I found myself rooting for everyone? Even though they were all terrible humans?

The short: I'm furious that Foody and Herman left us on a cliffhanger like that. I'm furious I'm going to have to wait a YEAR AT LEAST to figure out what happens with [redacted x1110]. Those last few chapters pack twist after twist, so haters of cliffhangers ... beware.

A pulse-pounding, bloodsoaked, masterfully written YA fantasy with a modern edge. I'm so ready for this series.

I'm not going to try to describe this one, because someone already wrote a perfectly good explanation and there's a ton of worldbuilding - the curse and it's trappings that sort of make up the backbone of the book are pretty complex. The bright side of that is that any sort of qualms you have around the premise are addressed. The book is narrated by four different characters so there's also a lot of character development to do, and I found myself not so patiently waiting for the action to start in earnest (and it eventually does). It's definitely one of those books that felt very "part one" - things were just getting going by the end.

This was certainly a creative, entertaining read that has the fight-to-the-death stakes of The Hunger Games with all the teen angst of a CW show. It's very Three Dark Crowns, actually. While that's not exactly my thing, it was a fun read that I think teens will love. 3 Goodreads Stars - I liked it.

All of us villains turned out to be even better than I expected. It reminded me of the hunger games at times with the teenagers fighting each other but with magic instead of weapons. With the whole world knowing about the tournament now thanks to a tell-all book, the tournament is a little different this year. Once the veil falls over the stadium no one can see what’s happening with in other than the chosen champions.

All of the characters have a different reason for why they are competing. This book is written from four different points of view. I feel like this is part of what made the story so good. All four of them have totally different reasons on why they are the champion for their families. They are all pretty unique when it comes to their characters and I really liked watching the growth each character made through out.

All of the events throughout the story really pull you in. I had a hard time putting it down just from the storyline alone. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next and who might make it out alive. This is not a standalone novel and does end on a cliffhanger ending. I think the second novel will definitely worth that ending though.