This was an interesting story to date. The multiple shifts of perspective took getting used to, but it gradually got easier to follow. I felt like this was a "Hunger Games" mixed with some "Harry Potter". A very interesting mix.

Pitched as the Hunger Games with magic, this is going to have readers on the edge of their seats!
Super dark and gritty with morally grey characters you can't help but love?! This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 and it did not disappoint – I loved this book! Will 100% be picking up a physical copy where this book is released.

I’m going to give it to you straight. If Hunger Games, Beautiful Creatures, and Red Rising had a magical love child it would be this book.

Brilliant. That’s the long and short of it. When the book started and suggested there would be seven characters vying it out in a magical Hunger Games-like battle, I was worried. Seven characters is a lot. Would there be enough character development. Would I be able to keep them all straight. Would I fall in love with one character and get bored with the others.

I had absolutely nothing to worry about. The authors took their time. They developed a great backstory while creating characters that I absolutely adored…even though they are all supposed to be villains.

Volunteer as tribute, cast a spell, give yourself over to the game or do whatever you have to do to add this book to your TBR list. You won’t be disappointed.

What I Liked
There was so much to like. Great character development, great setting, great backstory. This is book one in a series and I cannot wait to read book two. Better yet, to see this turned into a movie.

I like YA Fantasy but it’s not my first go to. It’s gotta be good to earn a nod from me. And just in case you can’t see it from where you are sitting, I’m practically a bobble head typing out this review.

For a story I couldn’t put down, an entire cast of characters I loved, and a satisfying yet intriguing ending, this book easily earns five stars.

Thank you to the publishers and author for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
I really enjoyed this book!
I loved the Hunger Games vibes in it and if I'm being honest I found it even better then the Hunger games!
I definitely can't wait for the sequel!

So good! I devoured this book in a day or so.

Light spoilers: all of the characters are unlikeable. But with a name like all of us villains what more are you to expect?

A cardre of children raised for a once-in-a-generation slaughter fest. The prize is more power for their families. The cost? Only one survives. It’s a generations old curse that they must participate in- if they the curse will pick someone at random.

All of them have different ways of dealing with it, and the results end up being truly mixed in success or failure.

I can’t wait for the second book in the series!

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Teen for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely devoured this book. It was described as Hunger Games with magic and I was already hooked. But the authors took that premise and made it their own. The writing was vivid and detailed so that it felt like you were with the characters during the action. Of and this book have it all. Magic. Alliance. Betrayal. Surprises and twists that keep you reading to the end and leave you wanting more. Each character shines on their own and each have their own unique perspective and agenda to fulfill.

The moment you get to the end of the book…and you’re… Calvert confused. And then you realize that it’s only the end of book 1 and it’s a series. I never like that moment, but at least it made sense why I was super confused.
This book is being marketed as the next Hunger Games. I can see that and I’m there for it.
I’m enjoying getting to know the main characters and I’m intrigued to know more… when ever book 2 might come out.
I received this book from NetGalley and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to review.

Give me book 2 and give it to me now!

A magical Hunger Games is already going to be a great sell for readers. But I do think this has more depth than Hunger Games. Is some of the pacing a bit slow as we have to get introduced to the characters, setting and story? Yes. Is it utterly predictable who will die? Yep. But there is something about the blurred lines of good and bad that make this truly captivating.

For Libraries: The hype of this book is going to be huge around publication time, so you are going to want this book. Plus, it's good!

Every 20 years the seven “pure blood” families must send in a member of the family to fight to the death. They do so to maintain or gain control over high magick which is only available to the winning family. Otherwise, only raw magick is available which can be strong but when high magick is used it causes the spell’s power to double. I found the setup of the story and the environment to be fantastic. This book has four point of views which follows four of the chosen champions. POV stories can be hit or miss for me as when used poorly it makes reading through an unlikeable or boring character a churn. This book didn’t have this issue. The characters and their backstories are interesting. You fear for them as you start to like them but know this death tournament can only end in tears. Only one can be victorious — if more than one survive at the end of two months the curse kills them all and punishes the families to 20 years with no one having access to the high magick. This is a brutal world. No one can be trusted. No one is safe. If you’re ready for a Hunger Games type story with magick, some romance, and a ticking clock with betrayal and fear then definitely pick this up. I’m only sad now that I have to wait so long for the next book.

I loved the magic system the authors created for this world! Diving into it, I thought it would be a standalone, and as the book was about to finish I realized how much bigger the world was! It definitely calls for a sequel, which I’m already looking forward to!

I ended up loving characters I hated in the beginning, and hating some I liked in the beginning. Each of the champions have a unique and interesting story underneath them that I can’t really choose a favorite.

Overall, it was a really fun, fast-paced book to read, and I feel like it has been a while since I’ve had so much fun reading a YA fantasy. It’s like… The Hunger Games with dark magic and all of them villains.

This was a fun blend of Hunger Games meets Harry Potter's pure blood families. I liked that the characters, as a whole, were multi dimensional. No one was truly a pure villain, but definitely no one was good, I hated that it ended with a cliffhanger of sorts, so I'll be over here impatiently waiting for the next book in the series.

So I thought I had at least a few more pages to read. Turns out I was wrong. That is exactly where the book ended.

I was pulled into the story immediately. Each character is amazing to read. Sometimes I find the multi-POV approach a little lackluster and I end up not enjoying certain characters' chapters as much, but here I was completely immersed into the story no matter whose point of view I was reading. Each character's head was interesting to be in, and all of them had different goals and desires. Their backstories are all quite different too. I cannot wait to see what else might be revealed in the second book, because it is clear a lot of these characters still have many secrets! I'm also excited to see which characters why might get a bit more of eventually.

And can we please talk about that magic system?? I think it is so clever! It is complex and captivating all at once. I love how even though there is a straightforward way of casting spells and curses, they each have their own components and each character has their own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to magic. I like that the use of some of the magic also has a price that the caster has to pay. It's a really well-thought-out and unique magic system.

This book was incredibly captivating and now I have no idea what I'll do with myself while I wait for the second book. Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman are true artists when it comes to storytelling and I would never hesitate to pick up their books.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and to Tor Teen for the eARC.

My expectations for this one were set so incredibly high, I'm not surprised it failed to reach them. When a book markets itself as a bloodier Hunger Games with morally grey characters, i expect greatness. This was definitely good, but it wasn't great.

I think my main problem with this definitely stems from the title. It declares every one of its characters a villain from the first page. So, when they weren't exactly villainous, I was disappointed. I didn't want alliance and romance, I wanted betrayal and hate. There were two characters with villainous tendencies, and they were definitely my favorites. The rest were just slightly darkened heroes.

I did love the ending of this though. I hadn't realized it wasn't a standalone, so I was definitely surprised by the lack of resolution. Now, I'm desperate to get my hands on the next book, as it seems the characters will finally be reaching a breaking point.

Although I didn't particularly love this one, I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for the next book. This had so much potential, and even though I didn't love it, I can definitely see it making a splash in the YA world.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book is every Morally Grey Character fans next new obsession, it has just about everything you could need. Morally grey characters going against each other, teaming up and possibly falling in love. Also, if you are a fan of THG you will need to pick this up, all the vibes from the hunger games but with magic.

Each character has it’s one unique reason for why they are where they are and just how far they will go. They all had their uniqueness about them, the characters were the best part of the whole story they all just really shined and had such depth.

My favorite was Alistair, I love me a guy whose depicted as a monster but deep down he’s anything but.

The world building was lots of fun and definitely intriguing, I loved the way the authors showed each aspect of the town and how they all revolve around this tournament and just how important magic is to each and everyone of them.

I honestly feel like this book has a little bit for everyone, I can’t wait for everyone to read it because I need some theories about that ending.

I really enjoyed this book! Dare I say, it was my favorite read of 2021 so far? I think it might be. :)

The characters are ALL morally gray. The setting is lush and creepy. The premise is just Hunger Games enough to hook me, but with a zesting that belongs to this world alone.

For me, the characters of Alistair and Isobel stood out, and I hope we get so much more of them in the second installment. I'll be interested to see how the authors take on the challenge of the second book, knowing the huge twist at the end!

If you like darker fantasy with a fresh set of magic rules, this could be just the book for you.

ARC REVIEW

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an arc of this book! I have no words for how incredible this is. As it promises, it is a much darker Hunger Games story, with morally grey characters (borderline villains) and a dark premise. Despite how villainous the characters get, you still can' held but root for them, which is where the magic in the book lies. The worldbuilding is stunning and the corruptness of the characters is dark in the best way. A must read!

There's an enormous amount of setup to this book (it’s at least 40%)before the "Hunger Games" element that every blurb about this book is sure to mention. We get tons of background information about the POV characters, of which there are four, although I would say that only one, MAYBE two are necessary or interesting perspectives. Once the actual Hunger Games happen, we start moving at breakneck speed (and not in a good way). We get the barest amount of information about Relics and Landmarks and other rules of the tournament, and the contestants are in constantly shifting alliances that change every five pages. The romance is entirely unearned, and there's somehow nothing compelling about the stakes. We see some violence and bloodshed, but it's obvious from the outset who is expendable to the authors and who isn't, making any deaths as boring as the rest of the story.

I think a lot of the issues come down to pacing, but I found myself continuously putting this book down to pick up something else. It took me almost a month to read because I never really felt drawn to it. I think the circumstances of the story are interesting, and I do think it'll find its audience, but I found it a bland, convoluted version of the ever-popular "teen murderdome" story that lacked any real heart or true interest in its own characters' motivations.

All of Us Villains takes place in Ilvernath, a town, where seven magical families compete to the death every twenty years for the winners' family to be able to use high magick until the next blood moon due to a curse. The seven families each put forward a competitor and only one of them can be victorious.

The story was very fast-paced due to the multiple POV's it has been written in. Generally, I do not like multiple POV's, but as the story advanced I minded it less and less. The story is very character-driven and thus the multiple POV's allows you to go more in-depth into each character and learn their motives and backstories.

The world-building was done very well, in my opinion. The story contains an abundance of magick, curses, spells, and more, but I did not feel confused about any of the fantasy aspects at any moment while reading. Even the mechanics of the curse for the competition were all explained properly and made sense.

The only point I can say was lacking for a book that is titled All of Us <I>Villains</i> there really was not much villainy stuff going on. Most of the characters are just in it for their families and wanting to prove themselves, but no one is really evil. Maybe just morally grey at best, but do not expect any antihero characters. Furthermore, the pacing of the story was very rushed towards the end, but hopefully, the uncovered things will be explained further in the sequel.

In the end, I am very excited for the sequel, even though it probably won't be published for a very long time from now. I found myself really excited reading this despite its shortcomings and I am hoping the sequel will be darker and live up to the potential that it has been set up for.

Ok where can I start, this book was amazing I loved the characters, the plot, the magic system. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending.

This is the story of 7 old families which once every 20 years send one of their kids to a competition in which they have to kill each other, kind of like the hunger games but instead of 12 districts, 7 families. The last person standing is the winner and his/her family is granted high magic which is basically magic that is more powerful than regular magic. They will have this magic for the next 20 years when the blood veil will fall and the competition will start again.

This story is narrated from 4 points of view Alistar, Isobel, Gavin, and Briony.

Alistar Lowe’s family is the family that has won more times, every 3 tournaments the Lowes had won 2. He was raised knowing he was going to be participating in the tournament, ever since he was little he was told stories of monsters he would in the future become. But as the tournament starts he discovers that nobody wants his family to win again.

Isobel Macaslan was never really close to her father’s family the Macaslans, she was closer to her mom one of the best spell makers, and never wanted to compete in the tournament but after being betrayed by her best friend she becomes her family’s champion and has to compete in the tournament.

Gavin Grieve's family has never won a tournament before, but Gavin as the least favorite son has no choice but to participate, he means to go by any way and make any sacrifice to win.

Briony Thorburn’s family is told to be the heroes of the story they want to win the tournament to help Ilvernath people have a better life. Briony is the perfect champion, she has been preparing for this her whole life but as her family decides to choose her sister as champion instead of her things start to fall apart.

This story is amazing everything in it is. If you are a character person or a plot person. If you liked the hunger games, or if you didn’t. READ THIS BOOK! this is by far the best book of 2021 and one of the best books I ever read. And I can not wait for the sequel.

Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an arc of this amazing book.

Final ratings:

Concept: 4.5/5
Main characters: 5/5
Character development: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Pacing: 5/5
Dialogue: 5/5
Ending: 4.5/5

Overall: 4.9/5

All of Us Villains is an an eerie, villainous, and magical spin on the Hunger Games. Every twenty years, seven villainous families choose a champion to fight to the death for the rights to control the high magic in the lands for the next twenty years. This year’s tournament is a little different, seeing as how a book has been published about this secret tournament and now the cat is out of the bag and this once sacred affair is publicized.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. There were multiple viewpoints throughout the novel. In the beginning, I thought the increase in view points would lead to confusion, but the authors did an amazing job of creating a cohesiveness between viewpoints and creating characters that it really worked.

The story line was great. Twists and turns, plot twists were amazing and kept me hooked. I do have to say that I found myself rooting for two characters in the beginning and then ended up changing my mind at least two or three times throughout the novel.

The ending! I would have expected nothing but that ending. But I want and need more now!!!