All of Us Villains is an epic fantasy story, with phenomenal world building and characters.
I thoroughly enjoyed the dark atmospheric elements of this book and cannot wait for book two!

All of Us Villains is what it promises: a bloody and deadly game where everyone is villainous (in their own, unique way.)

I found the characters to be the most compelling part of this book. Never have I ever alternated between liking and hating a character so many times during a book, and never have I felt this way for every single character. The author did an amazing job crafting each character's personality and goals, which becomes clearer and more solid as they have to face one challenging situation after another. The characters are very complex, consistent, and diverse. Still, one thing I would have probably like to see more is character development, either in a "good" or "bad" way (these words take on new meanings after this book) because I find them all to be quite predictable towards the end of the book.

The game itself is quite interesting. The magic system somehow makes a lot of sense, which means it's also quite predictable, but that doesn't make it less fun. The same goes for some twists that happen towards the end. I was not surprised by anything, but I enjoyed seeing them unfold anyway. And I think they set up a great stage for the sequel, which I cannot wait to read!

4.5 stars
“We’re raised to call them champions, but I would argue there’s a better word: sacrifices.”
I am not excited that this ended in the middle of the climax of the story! There are cliffhangers, yes, but this story is far from being done. Do I love that? Somewhat. Do I hate it? Yes!

This story is a darker version of Hunger Games that involves magic. Every 20 years, a curse requires 7 families to offer a competitor to play in a tournament. The one remaining contestant will win “high magick” for their family for the next 20 years. It is highly coveted, therefore, the contestants (teens) kill each other for this glory.

Anybody who knows me well knows that I love HG. I get it, it’s not for everyone (teens killing teens rarely is!) but I eat it up. I love the intrigue, the psychology, the strategy and the drama.

“Our families kept this secret for centuries. Seems to me that means, on some level, we all know that what we’ve been doing is wrong.”

There are so many things wrong with this tournament that it made a great drama! Thank you to @torteen and NetGalley for sending me one of my highly anticipated books of the year. It releases November 9, 2021.

Engrossing. Exciting. Intriguing.

A story about a town where every 20 years seven families choose a champion to slaughter one another until only one is still standing for the control of a magic well.

The moment you pick up this book you're immediately immersed.

The characters are the highlight of the book. I appreciated the author's precision and detail in setting the main character's dynamic with their families members and among the other champions before the plot took a relevant step in the narrative.

My heart fell for all of them. They all had to put on a mask to protect themselves and their respective families.

The character's constant duality of fulfilling their desires, meanwhile, wanting to survive is an interesting concept many can relate to. Their personalities were so distinctive, one wouldn't know how they could work among themselves. Their primal need to be cruel and ruthless is also a fascinating aspect that makes the book engrossing and captivating.

Even though the pace towards the end of the book felt rushed, it was the only appropriate conclusion for the characters. I can't wait for its sequel and

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

‘For if you loved the hunger games’ isn’t wrong. It’s got the same vibes and that intrigued me. It had a slow start but once the tournament began I was more invested, unfortunately that didn’t win me over. I wanted more drama, more tense scenes, more battle, but it felt like most of the book was characters deciding if they wanted to be allies or not. I don’t think all the POV were necessary either, it could’ve been told in a different way.

I was intrigued by the premise but what really annoyed me was that it just ended randomly? Like with absolute no resolute or real ending. I didn’t know it was a series, and whilst there was a slight cliffhanger, there’s then a random last chapter, so now if I was really invested I’d need the sequel but I don’t think I will bother.

A shame because I was really hoping to love it!

A triumphant tale of villainy.

First and foremost Hunger Games being pitched as a comp title truly was a proper fit. After all, when you think of teenagers locked in a deadly battle to the death, I think Hunger Games is the first thing that comes to everyone's minds. That being said, while this book is similar in that regard in other aspects it is wholly different.

In that, prior to the start of the book, the tournament was not a spectator sport. The champions and their families were not governed by any overseeing body. They were all tied together by a curse. This fight was a tradition they upheld in secret. It was a fight for power - for magick. With a K. The world-building was both interesting and elusive, in the sense that I was given enough to sort of dip my toes into things but then I'm also still wondering how everything has been held together for this long.

Fortunately, this book is quite character-driven. Thus, our narrators really helped carry this book as I actually cared about what happened to them. So I wasn't upset that the world wasn't quite as fleshed out, and I think more of it will be revealed in the next book as the characters continue to unravel the inner workings of the curse.

My Character Rankings:
Alistair > Isobel > Gavin > Briony

Alistair Lowe: My precious, wicked, boy. He deserves the world, and I want that for him. But mostly I want his family to choke on their own blood.

Isobel: A very, very close second favorite. Our girl is the nationwide social-media darling/face of the tournament that absolutely does not want all the attention. Hell, she did not even want to be the champion. But wears her mask well and when faced with challenges she does not give up or back down.

Gavin: Poor, poor Gavin. He's a Grieve. The apparent lowest rung on the seven-step ladder. Under-estimated, under-valued, he enters the competition with something to prove. And he's willing to do whatever it takes to win. To prove that he matters and that he is someone to fear.

Briony: My absolute least favorite. She is simply too starved for glory. Even when she claims to be selfless I cannot bring myself to believe her.

Many of the events towards the end truly left me quite surprised. And for me, that's rather delightful because I tend to see twists coming.

All and all, a solid read. Probably one of my favorite books I've read this year.

A book to keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last sentence. 🦹‍♀️🧙‍♀️🔮

#AllofUsVillains centers around 7 elite families who compete in a Blood Moon tournament every 20 years where the victor takes the high magick back to their family.

As the moon rises, the bloodshed begins and there can only be one winner. Can these champions win the honor for their families? Or are they realizing they would rather rewrite their fate?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and really wish it kept going. It needs to keep going! The spooky elements along with the fight for freedom was just the recipe I needed for spooky season. A cross between Hunger Games and magic, you’ll enjoy every bit of this book.

Thanks @netgalley and @torbooks for letting me read All of Us Villains! You can grab your copy on Nov 9th!

Book Title: 𝓐𝓵𝓵 𝓞𝓯 𝓤𝓼 𝓥𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓪𝓷𝓼
Author: Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman
Genre: Fantasy Fiction / Urban Fiction
Rating: 5 stars

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan- Tor/ Forge for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Review: Now this book just landed on 𝕄𝕪 𝔽𝕒𝕧𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕖 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟙.

Described as Hunger games meets Harry Potter but it is more than that. It's story has a very unique magic system, characters that you will love despite being ruthless villains competing in a vicious blood sucking competition and packed with jaw dropping twists, too many OMG, WTH moments that I just can't wait for November to get a physical copy of book and reread it.

Although the world building is somewhat lacking the magick system was very unique, and having an interesting history that keeps you wanting for more. Marked by the Blood Moon every twenty years, in the city of Ilvernath - seven families send one champion to a gruesome, do-or-die, vicious blood- sucking competition for a chance of obtaining immense magick power. Think Hunger Games but more gruesome and champions using death spells and fatal potions.

This book consumed me, I couldn't put this book down, there is just something addictive in the characters of All Of Us Villains. It follows the POVs of four characters, whilst all of them are ruthless and commit heinous acts for different reasons, you will find your self rooting for them. I like how each POV's allows us to understand where each of the champions are coming from, their family relationships and goals in competing in the said vicious tournament. Lowes Alistair for once is my favorite, he is just the definition of a cold-blooded, calculated villain. :)

I love all the deceptions and mistrust you get even from the start and all those moments where I'm just WTF?! This book really got me at the edge of my seat and it I have a really good feeling that the next book is going to be more gruesome and villainous!!

Overall, this book is exciting, entertaining and superb! Easy to read and perfect for binge-reading.
I recommend this to all readers out there!

Thanks to Tor Teen, the authors, and Netgalley for an e-arc of "All of Us Villians" in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was quite excited when I was approved for this e-arc because that one line that made me think “this could be a really cool book” was: You Fell in Love with the Victors of the Hunger Games. Now Prepare to Meet the Villains of the Blood Veil.
I loved the THG books and I’m a sucker for deadly tournaments and quests in books. I just love reading about them.

This tournament is a magical one. Every 20 years, the 7 high families of Ilvernath send one of their own to fight in a deadly magical tournament. The prize is complete control over the town’s resources of high magick, the most powerful substance in the world - one long thought depleted.
But this year everything is different for someone within the inner circle of the families has published a book, telling the world about the scandalous and bloody happenings in Ilvernath. The 7 champions are thrust into the spotlight and the whole town begins to suspect that this tournament will be unlike any other.

I want to start by talking about the book’s strong suit: the characters.
We have
Alistair Lowe
Isobel Macaslan
Elionor Payne
Carbry Darrow
Finley Blair
Innes Thorburn
Gavin Grieves

They are all still quite young but very determined to win the tournament. Some simply want to make their families proud, others see it as a chance to escape the horrors of Ilvernath forever and some just want a taste of power.
While the characters weren’t as diverse as I had hoped (all of them are white, there are one or two where it was mentioned in passing that they are queer), they each have very different reasons for partaking in the tournament and their unique character traits and perspectives made for an interesting read.

While the book doesn’t include a perspective from every champion’s POV (the reader only gets to read Alistair’s, Isobel’s, Gavin’s and Briony’s POV), I still think it was a good and necessary choice to split the narrative because that way the reader is granted exclusive insight into the characters’ thoughts and feelings.
However, the ever-switching POVs made for a confusing start and it took me a while to get comfortable with the different characters and the concept of magick. Thus, the build-up was rather slow and I didn’t think it was very engaging but once the tournament started I was well and truly hooked.

Now while the tournament itself was super interesting, I was a bit let down that the novel fell short of its own self-advertisement. All the promo consistently talked of the champions as “villains”, however, they are rather morally grey teenagers who, by the middle of the book, don’t want to kill each other and instead start working together to end the curse. After that, I felt like the stakes dropped relatively quickly.

The characters’ villainy simply fell short for me. I wanted more deaths, more blood and gore, more gruesomeness. Basically, I wanted the stakes to feel as high as they were in the first and second Hunger Games round but they weren’t. There are only seven main characters. Some of the characters are romantically involved. I think you can guess that the authors aren’t going to kill more than 2-3 characters, otherwise, there wouldn’t be anyone to write about.
I wish the authors had included more disposable characters, more deaths, just more downright evil actions executed by the main characters so we could call them actual villains. Sadly, they rather resembled morally grey teenagers who all enter this tournament quite blood-thirsty and ready to kill but end up agreeing not to kill each other :(

All in all, I still quite liked the book because the idea of a magical tournament and selected champions fighting for magic is quite unique. I do wish the stakes would have been higher and some other bits just need to be improved (the cishet relationship melodrama, the hinted-at but never executed mlm thirst/attraction between Alistair and Gavin) before I could rightly give this or the second book five stars.

All of Us Villains surprised me. I knew that I was going to enjoy reading it because I'm a huge fan of Amanda Foody, but what I did not expect was the pure nostalgia. I cannot even decipher why exactly nostalgia hit me like a bus while reading this book. Maybe it's because AOUV is compared to The Hunger Games a lot, but I felt this giddiness to continue reading.
Also, this is 110% on me, but I did not expect this book to actually bring the darkness out of these characters. I expected some villainy and morally grey choices, but within the first 100 pages all of these narrators are making severe decisions/ having insane revelations about their realities. Each time I read, my mouth just dropped further and further to the ground under my feet! I'm so stunned but in the best way possible. It was a welcome surprise.
Anyway, I love all of these characters for entirely different reasons. Isobel and Alistair filled my romance heart with gleeful angst— UGH THE END. Briony's eternal drive felt reminiscent of other favorite ambitious characters of mine. She's so hard to peg at times because one second she's willing to destroy everyone, and then the next instance, she's chaotically trying to save everyone. It's so hectic and contradictory. I LOVE IT. Finally, Gavin took the longest for me to warm up too. He, in my opinion, has the most evil intentions (a bit ironically haha), so I was on the fence for quite some time. Ultimately, I do enjoy his insight because he's going to be such an interesting character in the sequel, especially with his giant magic situation that started at the beginning before the Blood Moon began.
Overall, AOUV is a dynamic, addicting read. I couldn't put it down unless I absolutely had to, and I'm really annoyed that I have to wait a year or so for the sequel! I want to follow this cast more, and I definitely want to unravel the curse surrounding this phenomenon every decade. Here's to everyone chaotically messing the Blood Moon up more!!!

Each family has something to prove or to gain. The book is told from the different POV of the tournament. They are all in different class settings but each characters story pulls you in immediately and it was fun going back and forth learning more about them and how they feel about the tournament. I kept thinking about this book when I had to put it down! It’s dark but entrancing! … edited to say I was thankful to receive the full ARC and oh my gosh… this book deserves all the attention. There is sincere internal confliction going on between these characters that I love even more now… it literally kept me on the edge of my seat, and the last several chapters are intense!!! Highly recommend! Thank you @netgalley for getting a sneak peak and then the full version! I still cannot wait to have the physical copy on my shelf!

5⭐

Firstly, I'd like to thank NetGalley and Tor/Forge for accepting my request for the e-ARC of this book. This is an honest review that is solely based on my experience while reading the story.

I have no words for this. I truly am shocked I enjoyed this book so much, that I am willing to buy a physical copy of it (watch me pre-order it soon). I pick this book up during the time that I was not expected and end up finishing this one first, instead of the other book that I'm currently reading.

SUMMARY
This story is about a remote city called Ilvernath which finally brought to light when a book about its cruel tradition, is published. This caught the attention of every side of people; protestors, tourists, media, and they all come flocking to the city just to witness the curse unfolds. Each of the seven families need to send a champion to participate in the tournament, a bloodbath to determine the winner who in the end will be gifted the high magick. What's more interesting is that, each family has its own history; the Lowes as the strongest, the Grieves as the weakest and the family members are taught to believe and lived up to the reputation brought over centuries. But, this new generation has something more in their mind than just killing and winning. They want to rewrite their history.

'Monsters couldn't harm you if you were a monster too.'

1. THE MAGICK SYSTEM
- I'm so glad that the magick system is uncomplicated. As the story goes, I come to understand how the magick works; they need to have an object to store the magick, like a gemstone and craft a curse into it. The gemstone that is filled with curse can be used for offensive or defensive based on its function. When the gemstone runs out of magick, it needs to be refilled. Also, curses have different levels, and the higher the level, the more powerful the curse is. All of the curses has simple name which makes it easy to know what its function is, for example 'Shrouded from Sight' and 'The Reaper's Embrace'.

2. THE CHARACTERS
- The story is told by 4 different POVs from 4 different families. The Lowe, the Macaslan, the Grieve and the Thorburn. From each of their POVs, history and their family's tradition are told. We had a glimpse of how they had been raised and how it affected their perception and confidence for the tournament. I love how every characters has their own soft spot and kindness which lead them to not immediately fight against each other when the tournament starts.
-Alistair Lowe really love his brother, the only person who understands and helps him go through the nightmare told by the grandmother. He would fight anyone who dare mess with his brother, just to protect him. He was told to be a monster, but is that all he is?
- Isobel Macaslan was left to choose between her mother side or her father's. She doesn't want to be named 'champion' of her family but she has to accept all of the attention for her to feel like she belong somewhere.
- Gavin Grieve wants to rewrite the history where the Grieves family is always the first one to die. He wants everyone to see that he hasn't give up and is willing to sacrifice anything in order to be the last one standing. He's going to fight against all odds and be the one to slay the Lowe.
- Briony Thorburn knows that she will be chosen as the 'champion' for her family. She has longed for the day to finally carve her name on the Pillars and be the winner. But little did she know that things may not be on her side.

3. THE STORYLINE
- It is well-written. That sounds like an understatement... Let me say it. THE STORYLINE IS SO GOOD! It is slow at first because the tournament hasn't started yet and all family are preparing their champion. But when the time has come, I get thrilled. I was shocked mostly by everything that happened in the story. Just when I thought things will get better, it takes turn for the worst. I just can't get a rest! I'm literally jumping around because I'm so nervous for what will happen. I keep questioning, "What in the world just happen here? How come it turns out like this?" What I didn't expect the most is how it would end. All of them clearly hadn't been the same person as they was before, and their goals has changed. I've also read some review that said this book reminds them of The Hunger Games and honestly, I agree! But, what makes this more exciting is the fact that it has magic and dark history.

Overall, this is a really great experience. I am so delighted that I was given the chance to read this book and now I'm "patiently" waiting for the sequel. I really want to know where this road will lead them!

'...if the families compete in the tournament to win magick and glory, why, then, does it feel like a punishment?'

This book promised to be a magical, more violent and even darker version of The Hunger Games and it definitely delivered.
All of Us Villains takes place in Ilvernath, the last remaining city with high magick. This high magick is maintained by a terrible curse; every generation, teenagers from seven powerful families compete to the death for control of the magick. But this year there’s a twist the families have never encountered before. After a salacious tell-all book was published, the whole world now knows about the horrible competition and the town is flooded with reporters, tourists and protestors all adding to the pressure placed on the shoulders of the families’ champions. This is a thrilling and magical tale of love, friendship and family that really took me by surprise!
The writing hooked me from the very beginning. It was really captivating and alluring. It wasn’t exactly flashy or lyrical but it has so much phrasing that stuck with me immediately.
The story was told through multiple POVs which I really enjoyed. I found myself equally interested and invested in each different storyline and character which is really rare for me. There were so many twists and turns along the way that kept things feeling fast-paced and high stakes.
The writing and setting lended themselves to creating such a great atmospheric and mysterious vibe that made for a perfect fall read. The magic system was really interesting with divide between common and high magick with how they were used inside and outside of the competition. The surreptitious use of high magick combined with great world building made for an absolutely enchanting and spell-binding book.
I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book! This one was left really open-ended with no solid conclusion so I’m expecting the sequel to pick up right where this left off.
Thank you so much to NetGalley, the authors and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

**Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC copy and I am happy to leave this review.

All of Us Villains is a dark, emotional tale about seven teenagers at the center of a lethal curse over their families and small town. Told in multiple POVs, we witness the discord and struggle they go through in trying to make sense of the situation they are thrust into and themselves.

The POV characters are deep in motivations and wounds that drive them to succeed despite the odds. At the same time that they are fighting one another for their lives, they are exploring relationships and examining themselves. Because this is a first in a series, we watch them progress and figure out what they need to do to save themselves, but not resolve the situation, yet. I will be looking forward to any follow-up books!

The world is loosely based on present day, but with enough magical differences to make it new and exciting. Magic is an everyday part of this world. The curse that prevents all but one family from holding the power over the strongest form of magic was kept a secret until just before the story begins. Now there are 'paparazzi' crawling all over to cover the story of the curse and watch as it plays out. The many threads of intrigue and family solidarity make for a complex plot with many twists and turns.

All of Us Villains is solidly paced and keeps the reader engaged with the movement between characters. Because they are all in the situation together, wondering what the others are up to builds tension all the time. I really enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it to YA readers, especially those who like a bit of a dark shade to their stories.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC
This book was amazing! The characters, the plot, the romance were all on point! I really enjoyed all the different POVs I find it so fun to see what different characters are thinking, feeling etc. I love books with some sort of competition and this one does not disappoint!
I would definitely recommend to a friend :)

This book was SO good. I was hooked right from the start. The POV switches were done very well and they helped keep the pace of the story going. I thought it moved fast, which was good because there was tension building all over the place with every POV becoming more and more detailed with every switch. I found myself rooting for pretty much every main character because I'm a sucker for suffering MCs. I just felt for them all because they all had something that made them someone to root for. They're all going to do their best to stay alive through their circumstances and their relationships are so interesting and at times just plain complicated; between each other, and their familial relationships.
The magic system was new and intriguing to me as well. I liked that the magic was easily attainable and common to everyone and that it was just part of life. I really enjoyed the history to this magical world, the country, and of course the seven families.
I also think that one thing done very well was that the protagonists were very well-written in that they were well-rounded, they were all gray in some way. They truly were all villains and I personally can't wait for this book to come out.

Thank you SO MUCH to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was one of my most anticipated books this year and while it wasn't quite what I expected it was full of grey morality and chaos and AHHH I cannot freaking wait for book 2 seriously, that ending??

The world building and magic system are so cool and well planned out. I love the idea behind the tournament and the champions and what the whole thing entails. I felt very slightly robbed as there was a relationship I was rooting for which got smashed to pieces by what felt like an insta-love connection but I'm not sure how both of those relationship possibilities will fare in the sequel considering how the book ended so i'm not giving up hope entirely..

Also I would die for Alistair Lowe. Just saying.

Magick and Mayhem!

In the city of Ilvernath, there was a well of high magick which was thought to be gone from the earth. In each generation a champion was chosen from each of the seven cursed families. The tournament and the vein of high magick were a secret until last year when someone from one of the seven families wrote a tell all book about it and now the reporters and cursemongers have descended upon the town. Those chosen champions fought in a tournament to the death and the winner bestowed his family with the right to control the high magick.

Allistair Lowe - the Lowe family wins 2 out of every 3 tournaments and Allistair is the favorite to win. The Lowes are hated by all in Ilvernath, though Allistair and his brother Hendry often sneak out of their mansion and go into Ilvernath to get away, to drink and to see what goes on in town. Allistair is a villain but wants to win so that Hendry doesn’t have to mourn him.

Isobel Macaslan - when the reporters and cursemongers came to town not long after the book, “A Tradition of Tragedy” was released, they immediately named Isobel as the champion often Macaslan family and she became an unwitting media darling. Though her family hadn’t yet named her as their champion it was pretty much a done deal.

Gavin Grieve - the Grieve family were the bad name in town. They were usually the first to die in the tournament and no spellmaker has ever allied with the Grieve family. Though Gavin had made a point to study hard, lift weights and prepare himself for the tournament as best he could, he was at a severe disadvantage because he basically had to train himself.

Briony Thorburn - she knows she is the best choice in her family to be the champion. Her family has a series of trials to find out who is worthy of being the family champion but when it comes down to the last trial, she finds a corrupt government has made a deal with her family and her sister is chosen over her.

“He tilted his head up, stared into the hazy sky. In less than two weeks, those clouds would turn the crimson color of high magick, like a red-tinged shroud draped over Ilvernath, and the tournament would begin. The Blood Veil would lighten a little bit with every champion’s death, until at last, when only one remained, true day and night would return and seemingly wash all the blood away, just like that.?”

I voluntarily read & reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

Hunger games with magic indeed.

A deadly curse takes place with every new generation in Ilvernath. Seven champions are selected from seven families, who must fight to the death in order to win exclusive control over high magick for their families - the most powerful resource in the world. It's told from four POV's from four champions. We learn their desires, traumas, agendas, vendetta's, clouding who I wanted to win, while getting frustrating at others for their decisions. Each character is morally grey - they have no choice but to be.

All of Us Villains was addictive, after five chapters I couldn't put it down, and finished it in one sitting. I loved the writing style so much, it beckoned me into the story and made me want to keep reading. I did expect more villainy, however, it ended so strongly, with so many intersecting points marking the descent into a villain. I do wish it was darker, but it is classified as young adult, which may have stopped deeper exploration into darker, more eerie themes.

I don't give 5 stars too often, but this book deserves it. It's that bloody good.

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Teen and Netgalley for the ARC 🥰

I’m a simple person. I see descriptions of a book that say a The Hunger Games type competition with magic and Game of Thrones family dynamics, I read it. No questions asked.

Makin’ Magic

Magic is my literary crack. So, when a book has good magic going on, it gets major brownie points. The magic system in All of Us Villains is interesting. Sure, there are foggy elements, but while I do need more explanation than ‘it’s magic’, I don’t always require a complete scientific breakdown for a system to work. Here, spells & curses are crafted using recipes with specific ingredients and either common or high magic. After, they’re placed inside a vessel, e.g. a ring, until they’re cast by the holder. Spells have different power classes and this impacts their difficulty to craft and cast. Those made using high magic are far stronger, bumping up their class, which is why control of the town’s supply is so desirable. Here, magic fantastically walks the line between requiring planning/skill and still being flexible enough to use quickly in intense situations. You can tell the authors spent time thinking about how it would function within their world and this is great considering how crucial it is to the story.

I should mention though, when it comes to the world-building beyond this, things are hazy in spots. It can be difficult to understand how the broader world functions beyond the competition. This is especially the case when you consider the tell-all book revealing the competition to the world.

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble

AoUV spends a good amount of time leading up to its competition. As a result, the book has the space to properly establish each of its major characters, their families, and the tension between them. Yet, it doesn’t linger long enough to kill the anticipation. The competition kicks off around halfway, at which point I was excited for some fast, furious and brutal magical conflict. However, after a few pages, the pacing slows down a lot and focus shifts towards alliances, collecting artifacts, and the personal obstacles facing certain characters. While I didn’t mind this exactly, I wish there’d been a couple more actively aggressive competitors present to raise the stakes for the others earlier on. In other words, there aren’t any deaths for some time, so don’t expect a bloodbath right from the get-go. Although, things do eventually pick up again making for some exciting scenes, one involving a giant sea dragon and another a river of blood.

Alongside the champions fighting it out, the arena also has a few magical extras to keep things interesting – landmarks and artifacts. Landmarks act as bases of operations or strongholds for whoever claims them first. Each has its own unique benefits, so champions need to strategise wisely about which to target. Then we have artifacts. These appear in the competition at random times and bestow special abilities upon the user, such as a cloak that protects the wearer from offensive spells. I loved the idea of these (especially where one’s appearance would force champions into conflict to try and get to it first) and am keen to see more of them in the sequel.

Break the Curse

You might (not be) surprised to hear that the book also involves a ‘break the curse’ plotline. I can’t say much because of spoilers, but my feelings are mixed. I really like the direction being taken into the sequel with regards to the plot itself. However, there’s a connected subplot that arises late in the book which I found frustrating as it seems like it’s only introduced to force a conflict between two characters.

Champions with Something to Prove

For me, one of the best parts of AoUV was its characters. The book is written in limited third person from the perspective of four of the seven champions, and each has their own distinct personality, family backstory, and goals. Our cast consists of: Isobel, a talented spellcrafter pressured into representing the shady Macaslan family after being named champion by the media; Alistair, of the powerful and sinister Lowe family, raised to win from birth and taught to be a monster to survive; Briony, who has always dreamed of being the Thorburn champion and achieving hero status by winning; and lastly, Gavin, the champion of the weak and dismissed Grieves who is desperate to prove himself and regain respect for his family, whatever it takes. All four were compelling leads and I really enjoyed spending time with them. Still, I can’t help but wish they’d been slightly more “villainous” at times to increase the twists and drama.
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All of Us Villains is a fun and engaging YA fantasy read that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy as much as I did. While there are things that could be improved upon, I highly recommend picking this up if it interests you. I know I’ll be looking out for the sequel next year to see how everything wraps up.

4 STARS

**Thank you to Netgalley & Tor for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review**