*4.5

this book has had an iron grip on me for the past 4 days and you know what, as it should

all of us villains, if i can best describe it, is like a magical hunger games. every generation, the seven wealthiest families name a champion to compete in a tournament to the death. the winner's family gets a supply of the most powerful magic.

there's quite a bit of worldbuilding in this book (the tournament doesn't actually start until 25% in), but i honestly thought it was really intriguing. as someone who enjoyed the twisty games of amanda foody's ace of shades series, i thought learning about the intricacies of the tournament was very compelling. the tournament itself is quite interesting and has such an extensive history, and the magic system in this book is also pretty cool.

the biggest strength of this book is the characters. the book is told from 4 POVs. each of the main characters has a unique backstory, motivation, and character arc. i know it might seem like everyone will be brutal and villainous and totally evil, but each character straddles a delicate balance between heroism and cruelty. some want to be heroes more than others; some can't help but want to claim the villainous title that seems to be destined for them. but each character has a little bit of both in them.

the book gets a lot darker as it goes on [as do the characters], but it also begins to deconstruct the facade that each character puts up at the beginning. these characters are complex and really undergo so many shifts in motivation that make them more compelling to read about. they all have their reasons for being in the arena. [i will say though, with 4 POVs and constantly changing motivations and ideas, it's sometimes hard to connect with the characters and keep track of who's doing what]

that being said, i thought the plot was really interesting. this book has a good balance of character development and fast-paced plot. the plot has many twists and turns, and it really picks up once the tournament gets into full swing. lots of *mouth open in shock* moments. there's also a lot of setup for the sequel LOL we have a cliffhanger on multiple fronts

now tell me how we got a whole rivals to lovers arc in this book...a whole one bed moment...a touch of lovers to enemies.....we had time for all that and ykw i enjoyed it. i really did.

With a magical villainy twist, ‘All of Us Villains’ is the perfect product child of 'The Hunger Games' and 'Battle Royal'. It tells the gruesome tale of Ilvernath, where an ancient curse unfolds: every generation, seven families name a champion among them to compete in a tournament to the death. The winner awards their family exclusive control over the city’s high magick supply, the most powerful resource in the world. After the release of a tell-all, people around the world flock to the city to bear witness to the heinous and once guarded tournament.

Filled with interesting world-building (that should have been more flesh out but considering that the characters was in the midst of the tournament, perhaps in the next novel as they branch out, readers will have a chance to explore the world), a unique assembly of (bland) wicked characters (because of their backstory, Alistair and though minimal, Hendry stole my heart), the different level of magick and spells, and tournament itself that depicts a fight to the death—I can understand why this was a high anticipated must read for 2021.

And as much as I wanted to be one of the readers that lived and breathed this book, ‘All of Us Villains’ didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Sure it was an average read but there were numerous issues that prevented this from being anything worth wild.

One: The usage of the word ‘villains’. A villain is the opposite of a hero who desires to commit acts of cruelty and immorality. None of the characters minus Elinor (total baddie) fit into the role.

Two: Not as gruesome as I hope. Barely any deaths considering its plot. I wanted true violence and ruthlessness. I need someone to write the adult version of this. I need more villainous and bloodthirsty characters that just don’t give a fuck. Ugh. I might have to write the damn book myself.

Three: The cringe-worthy romance between Alistair and Isobel. Like why? it’s more so eye-rolling than sweet and the story would’ve been better without it. If anything, the themes of friendship would have better suited this novel than the enemies turned lovers trope. I personally didn’t believe it fit with the story and only made me want to skim their scenes altogether.

Four: Novel didn’t pick up until the 40%ish mark when the actual competition began. It made the first half long and boring. I was ready for the action to begin and just when I thought about putting this book to rest, bam! It finally began but it definitely shouldn't have taken this long.

Five: Boring AF characters. Nuff said.

Nonetheless, I was able to overlook some of these annoyances with the distractions of events leading up to the semi-decent twist in the end that had me lingering at the edge of my seat. The abrupt ending left me with more questions than answers in regards to the curse maker Reid, deathmatch, high source of magick and lastly the families, more so the Lowes—now I guess I have to wait to read the sequel so see how this unfolds. Fingers crossed it’s more enjoyable.

Amanda Foody won me over with the Ace of Shades trilogy and I also LOVE villains so this one was immediately on my to read list. For some reason, I don't like tournaments much in books but I was still invested as I read through this one! Can't wait to see more.

Dark magic, cursed families, powerful artefacts, ennemies to lovers and a potential found family trope ? Of course I was in !

Every blood moon, each of the seven families in Ilvernath has to choose a champion to fight as they’ve all been cursed. Only one of them can survive to allow their family to hold the high magick until the next tournament.

However this time is a bit different. Someone wrote a best seller about these different families and their curse. People are coming from everywhere to know more about it. They are surrounded by the press and tourists and it gets harder and harder for some family to find sponsors to cast the spells needed for the incoming fights.

I loved the multiple points of view and how we got to learn more about the characters and families through their preparation before the tournament.

It’s dark and intense, there are betrayals and blood. I can’t wait for the second book!

What a book and what an ending! I need the next book. If you are a fan of dark fantasy, but that could possibly be read by upper middle grade...this is your book! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for sharing this book.

2.5/5 Stars

I wanted to love this unfortunately it just wasn't for me. a lot of people seem to compare this to hunger games and maze runner. I was honestly never interested in those books but the synopsis for this book had me intrigued. Unfortunately it just wasn't for me. I thought the writing was alright, and the story was okay. I'm going to preface this as a completely me problem but it really just took me forever to even get invested in the book ( which even at the end I wasn't really invested). I felt bored waiting for the plot to move along and all the POV seemed to mesh together at some point. I think in the end like I said this just really wasn't the book for me. I have a lot of friends that I think will absolutely adore this book and I can see why they would. My recommendation is if you are at all intrigued to give it a try!

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC! I loved the world the authors created in this book. The book constantly had me on the edge of my seat, eager to read more and find out what happens. The characters are well written and the world is well developed.

Was it what I was expecting? No. Did it get me out of a months long reading slump? Yes.

The town of Ilvernath has a secret—it is the last town on earth that has access to high magick. Magick that is awarded to one of seven families through a deadly curse. Every 20 years, each family must choose a champion to fight, with the winner being the only one to leave with their life and access to the high magick. The time has come again for the curse to claim it’s victims, but these champions bring about unexpected twists that could change the tournament forever.

Wow, that was a ride! In the first chapters I was convinced that this would be nothing more than a younger feeling ripoff of the hunger games, but I was actually pleasantly surprised. Yes, the teens have to fight to the death still. But that’s about where the similarities end. There’s magic, there’s sabotage, there’s romance. I really couldn’t tell where things were going to end up in the end.

The characters were…okay. They were all interesting enough, but some of the romantic plots felt forced. I don’t think all of them were necessary to the story, and functioned more as a label draw than anything. I did enjoy how different all of the contestants were—none of them felt like caricatures or stereotypes of Typical Teens. The perspective shifts weren’t too confusing, although for some reason I couldn’t keep Isobel and Briony straight for the life of me.

My issue really came in with how it all fit together. You’re telling me in all of the years of this curse, none of the contestants have ever had a *complicated* relationship before? Somehow THIS is the only generation of, let me remind you, children that has second thoughts about murdering six people? I didn’t quite buy it. And as another reviewer pointed out, the title is pretty misleading. You can’t really call a bunch of kids who are cursed and all have tragic backstories and various degrees of trauma from said curse “Villains”. Not to mention most of them are actually pretty nice?

The magic system/ tournament rules were a little complex but not too difficult to keep up with. The story definitely ended abruptly. It almost felt like someone just grabbed the manuscript and said “okay time to publish!” Rather than it being an intentional cliffhanger.

Those issues aside, I did really enjoy the journey. It managed to get me out of a slump, was fast paced, and pretty entertaining. Overall would recommend if you like magic, twistiness, and romance.

Rating: 3.5/5
Pacing: fast
Intended audience: YA
Content warnings: murder, gore

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and authors for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I gave All of Us Villains 4/5 stars. Here's why:

This book had everything I needed. Morally grey characters, villains you can love, unique magic, enemies to lovers, and The Hunger Games vibes. I really enjoyed it overall. The plot was fun, Alistair was a fantastic character, and the way things progressed was great.

The only thing is, I didn't really care about anyone other than Alistair. I think this book would have been 5/5 stars if we had strictly followed his POV. Everyone else just seemed to lack the depth he had. There is so much more to him than wanting to win.

I also wish it were a bit longer. The last bit of the book felt rushed, and I wish everything had a little more time to play out. It made the ending predictable and character growth suffered.

I'm excited to see what happens in the next book! I recommend if you're a fan of The Hunger Games, villains, and the enemies to lovers trope.

I enjoyed the story and I ready to read the next book since this one left me wanting to know what happens next. I liked the magic system, but could do with some more world (city?) building.

Imagine The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins but with magic and you've got All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. This was such an unexpected surprise. The concept of a magical tournament in which a champion of each family competes to the death was intriguing. The execution of the concept fell a bit flat for me. Its downfall, I believe, was the over abundance of characters. I enjoy an ensemble cast of characters, when all those characters have different personalities and voices. All of Us Villains introduced four different perspectives, changing each chapter, and every voice sounded exactly the same. With all of the perspectives, I felt that I wasn't able to get to know any one character the way I would have liked. Thus, I didn't care about the characters or what they were going through because I couldn't make that connection with them. However, the writing was spot on. Whenever you have two or more authors in the same work, I am always trying to discern which scene was written by which author. All of Us Villains was written seamlessly. The two authors' writing styles came together to build a fast paced, tense story that I was able to finish in one setting. That ending truly immerses readers in its grasp. I have no choice but to continue in the series to find out what happens next. I can't wait for the sequel!

It feels wrong to call this book fun because, you know, it’s about kids murdering each other but I had such an enjoyable reading experience with this.

The magic system was well explained and easy enough to understand but was still complex enough to add a good backbone to the rest of the story. It’s a very modern system where spells and curses are bought and sold commercially through jewelry (mostly rings). Each holds a finite amount of magic but can be recharged.

We begin the story shortly before the upcoming tournament where seven families select a “champion” to represent them to win the prize that grants them 20-years of control of “high magic”, the most powerful magic of all. The catch? Everyone but the winner will die. The champions are all teenagers who have trained for this moment their whole lives.

This tournament is special because a tell-all book recently exposed the previously close guarded secret of the tournament. Now the whole world knows about the arcane practices of the seven families. Each chapter starts with a short excerpt from the book, which I found really really interesting.

Each of the characters were equally as interesting and the perfect amount of unhinged. The book is told in multi-POV and I found myself caring about each of them equally. I still had a favorite of course (Alistair) but I didn’t feel like any of the POV’s was a drag to get through, which almost always happens to me with multi-POV stories.

There are themes of generational trauma, familiar pressure, power, control, and ethics. I thought some of these were pretty surface level and I would have liked to see more depth around them. I’m hoping book 2 will really dive into the tough stuff.

Amanda Foody has quickly risen to one of my favorite authors over the past year and I was so excited for her co-authored book to come out. And I can safely say that this book did not disappoint. Not only was this book bring up nostalgic feelings from my Hunger Games phase (that I revisited while reading this book), but it was a refreshingly different story. I've been pulling myself out of a reading slump and this book was definitely much needed. The writing was addicting, the story was exhilarating, the characters were well-developed and exciting to read from, and the whole book overall was just fantastic. I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel (hopefully coming out this year!)

Really high hopes for a book with a cool premise and the bold claim to be the next Hunger Games .

Complete review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4299563208?book_show_action=false

This book is like the Hunger Games but with magic, and in stead of competing for entertainment they compete to control all the high magick until the next blood vail falls.

7 families raise their kids to compete, they choose their champion wisely, the one they think is most likely to survive and then on the night the blood vail falls these 7 champions fight to the death until only one is left. This year will be different, the outside world is interfering and things are no longer a secret thanks to a tell-all book published. Will all this mean it will be the bloodiest year ever or something else entirely.

I really enjoyed book, it was interesting to read. I don't want to talk about the main plot more because this is a book you should go into knowing very little about. You get chapters from the perspective of 5 of the 7 champions, and they switches are very seamless. I am interested to see how this all wraps up as this book ended with a bang.

Also, Alistair Low is a secret cinnamon roll and should be protected at all costs.

dnf @ 22%

this is one of those “putting it down for now, not forever” situations for me. i was intrigued by the tournament and the families involved, but having four pov characters just made me care less about all of them and it started leaning a little too “trendy ya” for my tastes. but i’m willing to admit i may just be being a grump, so i’ll give this one another try in a few months before making up my mind.

All of Us villains is definitely a novel about villains and I was so glad for it. We need more books about morally grey and straight up evil characters.

The characters in this novel are definitely the heart of it. You will love these characters but hate them simultaneously -- they're so distinct and dimensional, which isn't something you always get in YA books. I love how complex they are.

The plot revolves around a game and a powerful magic system, which was fascinating. It was a bit predictable but still enjoyable.

3.5!! I really did enjoy this book! I loved the concept and I'm always game for a high stakes competition - especially when magic is involved. My gripes with the book were 1) the pacing. It absolutely draaaaaged in some spots and I wish it wouldn't have because the story could've moved forward way more than it did in this book! Gripe 2) absolutely did not have to be split up into more than one book. In my opinion this story could've been wrapped up so nicely in one book and frankly I would've enjoyed it way more. We're left with a 2 cliffhangers and like I said, they're unnecessary. BUT if you're into magic, competitions, family rivalries, I would definitely recommend.

So I read that this was in a Similar vein of The Hunger Games which is what piqued my interest and lead to me requesting this book and while I did enjoy it, it was the best book I have read.

This follows a group of teenagers who are part of magical families and everyone generation they must fight to the death in a tournament to see which family gets to control high magic, the most powerful magical source in the world. Usually this is a tournament that is kept secret from the rest of the world however, a book was recently released outing this tournament to the rest of the world, and those taking part this year have to not only deal with competing in the tournament but they must deal with the eyes of the world being upon them to.

There are many aspects of this book that I enjoyed, for example I found the magic system and world building to be really interesting and I find multiple POVs always add an extra layer to a story that I love. However I did feel that even with the multiple POVs the characters felt a little flat to me, we are told way more about their personalities than we are shown and I wasn’t that invested in the actual outcome of the tournament.

Overall, I gave this 3 stars.

ALL OF US VILLAINS is a super spooky, hard-hitting fantasy story that reminds me of both "THE HUNGER GAMES" and "PAYBACK'S A WITCH". Definitely one of my favorites and a book I will need to purchase for my personal library.