A world where families send champions to fight to the death is not new. However, the magical aspect of this made it a great read. Plenty of action and character building where things don't end with happily-ever-after. I felt like this one ended almost before it got started.

Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

"All of Us Villains" by Amanda Foody and C.L. Herman is a thrilling and darkly magical collaboration that will leave readers spellbound. The story immerses you in a high-stakes, deadly competition where young sorcerers vie for ultimate power and control. Foody and Herman's writing is sharp and vivid, creating a world where treachery and ambition reign supreme. The characters are morally complex, adding depth to the narrative as they navigate a twisted game of strategy and survival.

The book brilliantly explores the shades of gray between heroes and villains, blurring the lines of right and wrong. With its intricate world-building, intricate magic system, and a cast of compelling characters, "All of Us Villains" is a gripping tale that keeps you guessing until the very end. If you're a fan of dark fantasy and morally ambiguous protagonists, this book is an absolute must-read.

I loved the atmosphere of this book - it was dark and twisty and perfect for the time of year I read it in. I wish that it had been filled with more morally grey characters - which are great to have with a book so focused on killing. The characters were interesting and kept my attention but they weren't mindblowing - which was a bit disappointing. All in all this book was entertaining and definitely a fun experience!

"All of Us Villains" is a mash-up of "The Hunger Games" and "Harry Potter." In this town, every so many years, the children of the great families have to fight (essentially to the death) to determine which family will have supreme power. Over generations, this has created a dark family class system of sorts, and children growing up in its shadow are molded with the knowledge in mind that they are being trained to be killers. Our story here follows one of these Blood Moon battles, rotating between the points of view of different participants.

What's good: One of the characters appears to be what I refer to as a Baby Snape--a depressed, anti-social, morally grey, Gothic-flavored character. Obviously, I love him.

What's iffier: As always with YAs, I'm taken out whenever anyone refers to a young adult as a boy. Don't ask me why. It's just a mental ick for me. In addition, the first book is not a complete story unto itself, so FYI for those who can't commit to more than one book.

I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just give this for my ultimate conclusion: I bought the sequel the second I finished this.

With gratitude to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

really enjoyed this book. I liked all the different POVs even though that was a bit confusing in the beginning.
That beig said th first 25 percent were a little confusing but once I got into it and understood the world more and the got to know the people better, I really enjoyed it.
Loved all the different characters and how different they are from each other.
Overall, I thought it was a good start to the series and I'm interested to see more in this world.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into this book once I picked it up. I do think it’s a me problem as I know others have loved it.

Adored this! The characters were nuanced and intriguing, and I was instantly drawn in by the accessible writing style. Although the pacing at the start was a little all over the plot, it soon picked up and I was hooked right to the end. Can't wait for the next book!

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc! I am currently in the midst of working on a post and/or review in regards to this book that will be posted on my IG account! Thats where I do my reviews at as well as on GR & Tiktok! Thank you so much again!

I love tournament-themed books! The tournament in this book was one of a kind. I like how everything plays outs, the twist and turns. I also like the idea of the prize, the control over the secret wellspring of high magick, is a cool idea. It was fun. If you like Young Adult fantasy, LGBTQIA+ romance, battling in a tournament; then this may be a read for you.

OMG THIS BOOK. Okay I will admit I went into the book sure I wasn't going to enjoy it. I was feeling burnt out on YA fantasy but I decided to give it a chance considering the concept sounded so interesting. Boy am I glad I did. The book was dark and fun and kept me on the edge of my seat. I look forward to reading the sequel.

The premise sounded so, so interesting and it’s written by two of my favourite authors so I was really excited to read it!
Sadly, it didn’t pull me in quite like I had hoped for it to. There were so many POVs, which made it hard for me to get into the story and differentiate characters.

But the plot and story idea was very original and I’d still very much like to continue with book 2 (especially after THAT ending!!)

I’d also like to mention that the writing style was really great and I LOVED all the plot twists (that I didn’t see coming) and scheming.

In Ilvernath, seven cursed families have the ability to wield high magic. Every two decades, under a blood moon, each family must submit a member to participate in a tournament to the death. Killing is the only way to win, but sometimes kids raised to kill find it's harder to be a villain than they imagined.

I really really tried to give this one a shot, but the more I read the more confused I got.

I hate not reading my netgalley arcs in full before providing a review, but I can’t afford to waste time on a story I’m not connecting with.

I felt like I was reading a sequel to a story I hadn’t yet read. To me it felt like the authors expected me to already know about the world and the characters, and I didn’t think they did a good job of explaining the world building or magic.

The characters were also unlikeable to me and I felt like I couldn’t connect, or figure out why I cared about whether or not this person was champion, or why this specific family had their legacy in the competition.

It was too drawn out with way too much mumbo jumbo in the beginning of the book that felt irrelevant and lacked the ability to create a coherent plot.

I do appreciate being given a copy to review but this one wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, and Tor Teen for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely LOVED this book. Even though I found that sometimes the plot could be a little slow or at some points it seemed a little similar to other books that I have read, I absolutely loved all of the POV characters and I could not put this book down.

I thought that Alistair, Isobel, Gavin, and Briony were all really interesting main characters and there was never a POV chapter where I was dreading to continue because of who the POV character for that chapter was. (That sometimes happens to me when I read a book with multiple POVs. There is usually always one where I want to skim that chapter to get back to characters that I actually care about!) I do think that Briony or Gavin were my favorites to read but I genuinely did enjoy reading this entire book.

Overall, I thought that this was a really great book and I am looking forward to reading the sequel!

I was so excited for this book, that I ended up buying the second book for this before even reading it. I'm a fan of both authors so I thought I'd really enjoy this one.

I was really into the story in the beginning. It's been a while since I read a challenge/ competition book. I was invested in the story in the beginning however by the end I just lost my focus. I'm not sure what it was but I couldn't get the book to hold my attention. It me a couple of times reading this to get through it. I'm so sad because I really wanted to like it (as stated with buying the second one right away.)

I'm very sad about this book. I really like both these authors and wanted to read the second book. However, I'm just not invested in the story and don't want to continue on with it. I will continue to read books by these authors. I also am down to check out another series by these two. I think they might be working on something else together which I'm excited.

The concept of this one sounded so good but All of Us Villains ended up being quite disappointing. It's supposed to be about the tournament but it takes forever until we even get there in the story. I didn't really care about the characters and the pacing felt so off, so I've unfortunately had to accept that this book is just not for me.

DNF @ 53%

This was pretty enjoyable. Not particularly one of my favorite reads, but I enjoyed my time reading it. The atmosphere was phenomenal! Also liked the prose/writing style throughout. The plot definitely gave my Hunger Games vibes. I'd say what kept this from being pushed from liking to loving the book is that there was nothing particularly surprising in plot. The big "a-ha!" moment was a bit anticlimactic, and the plot wasn't as twisty as I had expected.

Omg this was a much darker book than I excpected from these two ladies but I really loved! It wasn't a 5 star read because I kept thinking it would be like the hunger games competitions but it wasn't it was better! In the beginning learning all of the characters names & their magic they had was a little confusing for me but once I sat down to finish this book it was really good! Might be picking book 2 up!(:

For some reason, Amanda Foody's books are just hard for me to follow. I was hoping a collab book would help but it didn't.