I LOVED this!!

The basic premise is that the ruling family determines their heir each generation through a series of magical trials that date back to a magical agreement between them and one of the powerful tree spirits that protected them.

I love magic trial concepts anyway, but the world-building around it all is what made it such a satisfying read. It's simultaneously creepy magic fairy-tale woods vibes, but also 1920s flappers and gangsters. It's knights sworn to oaths, and also magic made into circuitry and electricity, and also a murder mystery.

And then the characters - I loved that each of the POV characters have their own arcs going. Even when they're against each other, you're rooting for them all to win.

Nora - the heir apparent. I love her growth from spoiled but clever to genuinely understanding the people. She's basically Batman

Lotte - the hidden heir coming to claim her birthright, who learns how to play the game but be true to herself

Theo - poor knight who just loves his brother and is stuck with a terrible deal 😂

August - the everyday guy just trying to survive and gets swept up in way more of this than he expected

And honestly I loved the whole cast of secondary characters too, everyone had their own schemes going. The twist was delightful and I really want to see how Hamilton manages to tie all this together.

Thank you Netgalley for introducing me to a new favourite author!

Fantasy, magic, trials with crimes and mysteries to be solved?! Sign me up, The story is gripping and pulls you in by chapter one and is a true joy to watch all the threads that are weaved through the story start to pull to create an intricate story told through the POV of Nora, Lotte and the journalist.

I did find myself either really rooting for the character or rooting against them as their characters developed and the choices they made however I absolutely adored Nora, I think she is a fantastic FMC and I truly feel not knowing too much about this story is the best way to go in to this. You will be in for a gorgeous, magical, YA fantasy surprise.

A fairytale in the Grimm style, with dark shadows lurking in the woods on the outskirts of town. I loved the writing, even though was often eerie and somewhat unsettling. A brilliant read.

For fans of Divine Rivals and has a blend of This Vicious Grace. The stories are very different but I found myself having the same vibes of both of these books which felt nostalgic and new at the same time.

Tha.ctual story was fun, a heiress finding herself in competition with cutthroat family members to win her Grandmother's status and the family wealth. With fun side romance with the bodyguard of the family, this somewhat contemporary fantasy had lots of fun twists.

Alwyns writing has a very specific note to it which I find reminiscent of the rebel of the sands trilogy

A brilliant concept with an intriguing plot and plenty of world-building to hook you into the story. I enjoyed my time with this novel and can't wait to read more!

Fantasy, magic, family power struggle with mysteries and crimes to be solved. I really didn’t expect to spend the day between the covers of this book. But it grabbed me, and that happened. There is a cliff hanger, and I see in GoodReads there are books two and three to come. Not soon enough for me I expect! Thank you to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

It took me a little while to get into this book, but once I did, I enjoyed it. Thank you to the writer, publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

I really enjoyed this book and thought it really picked up by the end and I did hope there would be a bit more to the trials part of the book given so much was made of it. I really enjoyed the political side of the story and in particular look forward to seeing more from Nora’s other grandmother and how characters cope with the new normal.

I absolutely adored this book and couldn’t put it down! Fast paced and so exciting to read, I read it within a couple of days, and started it again right away! Absolutely brilliant!!

This book was absolutely fantastic. 
This is the first book I read by this author, but I can say it won't be the last, and I intend to read all her previous works. That's how much I enjoyed this one. 
The story was gripping, I couldn't put it down, I just needed to know the answer to all those mysteries. I connected with all the main characters, and I was so invested in their story that after finishing the book, I just can't stop thinking about them and what's going to happen. I need the next one like right now. 
By the end of the book, following the lead of all the clues you follow together with the characters, I reached the same conclusion as the characters just a few pages before them, which to me is perfection. If I cannot imagine even a little, the twist usually makes no sense, and if you figure everything out way before the characters in the book, they just appear plain and unintelligent. None of that happens here. The balance was perfect. With still some bits that caught me by surprise at the very end. 
It was a remarkable read I will be adding to my shelves, and crossing my fingers for some beautiful hardback editions to come out too

The Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton had a lot of hype on Goodreads – it seems to have been a postponed release since 2020 and a lot of people were waiting with vigorous anticipation, so I was excited to request the ARC.

When one of the rich and famous Holtzfall’s dies, the spot of heiress is wide open, and a time-honoured tradition of the virtue trials is enacted. Daughter of the fallen heiress, Nora, believes she will win this contest easily, but when a secret family member emerges with their eyes on the prize, the competition becomes a lot more serious…

The Notorious Virtues jumps perspective from Nora to Lotte and journalist August, along with a few side characters as well. They all have their unique narrative voices though to keep things from being too confusing. There’s a lot of characters to get to know and the world is quite 1920s in style, but with fantasy elements. I enjoyed the folklore stories which interweave with the main storyline to show how the trials came about and how the family originally gained power.

I would say the one thing I was quite disappointed with were, ironically, the trials themselves. I was expecting lavish magical trials, but the first one comes and goes without even the characters knowing they were being tested. Another one, later in the book sounded exciting but all of them lose their memory and so we as the readers don’t really get to experience it properly which was a shame. There were some which were a little more interesting but in general, if you are expecting Triwizard tournament or The Hunger Games level of trials, this might not be the read for you. Due to this, some of the middle part of the book did feel like it dragged, slowing the pace down.

This book very much ends on a complete cliff-hanger, so be ready for a wait for book 2. I’m hoping that in the 5 years some were waiting for a release of the first book, the next one (and maybe more after it, if it’s a series), will have been written and edited by now so hopefully it won’t be too long to wait.

Overall, The Notorious Virtues is a solid fantasy read, but the trials themselves take a bit of a backseat which is a shame. Thank you to NetGalley & Faber and Faber for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was amazing. It was a bit slow at the beginning but about halfway through it really picked up and I was racing through it. I found myself with very strong feelings abut most of the characters, either really rooting for them or against them. I cannot wait for the next book to be able to continue the story!

Mixing fairy-tale and folklore with a more modern fantasy twist, The Notorious Virtues is a fun read of family politics and duplicity. Magic, civil unrest and the opportunity to grasp the 'throne', with cousins pitted against each other to prove their worth.

Nora and Lotte are strong female leads, dealing with maternal loss and alienation in isolation until they learn to trust each other. All that they have ever known is thrown into question as their world gradually dissembled revealing long hidden secrets.

With a sprinkling of romance thrown in for good measure, this is a captivating YA read.

What an amazing fantasy .....a whole world unlike ours. There does remain, of course, greed, thirst for power, abuse of that power. With an extra dash of magic and majesty, this place is unfair (of course, it is based on human nature, after all). The family in charge of everything, has all the wealth and power and so many terrible secrets that not even they know them all. The knights, sworn to protect the family for life, do so without question. Now date decrees that a new heiress must be judged by deadly trial, and named. But the peasants are revolting and rotten truths are clawing their way to the surface. I'm ready for the next book!

Alwyn Hamilton knows how to write that's for sure.
This fantasy novel weaves its spell from its opening page to its last tantalising scene.
Characters leap from the page and the twists and turns of the unfolding tale are cleverly paced throughout the narrative..
How refreshing too, that Nora and Lotte are the resourceful heroines, both a little flawed, but both solid gold when they need to be.
The two would be heiresses would seem to be pitted against one another as they struggle to gain the rings they need throughout the traditional trial set to find the true heir to the Horstfall dynasty headship.
What unfolds, however, is a much cleverer story altogether and to reveal any more would do great disservice to anyone wishing to read the book for themselves
August, the journalist is an enjoyably sparky foil for Nora but, sadly, Theo, set up perhaps for Lotte, is a little too two dimensional, in this part of the series at least There is obviously more to come in the Horstfall saga and more secrets perhaps to unravel.
I am very much looking forward to Alwyn Hamilton's next instalment
Thank you to NetGalley and Faber for an e arc of this title for which. I have given my honest opinion

I really, thoroughly enjoyed this tale of a magical contest between family members to become the next Heir of a dynasty. Secrets, betrayal, magic, class, capitalism, romance, magical beings, tests, wooden rings - I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this, and think it was well worth the wait from its initial announcement. but I really, really hope it doesn't take quite as long to get the second in the series - I can't wait to find out what happens to the girls next!

Loved this book and can’t wait to read more.

Nora is a great lead, I was totally with her from the start. Some great twists along the way too, a compulsive read.

I started reading this book with no knowledge of what was to come and I have been left absolutely captivated by this story of an amazing blend of fantasy, political intrigue, and family drama.
This story is multi-pov and was written seamlessly. It shows four different people from four varying backgrounds living different lives that somehow overlap and intertwine: a knight bound by oath, a reporter just trying to get his next best story, a girl rich from her heritage, and a secret cousin who has only ever known the countryside, just being brought to light for the notorious Veritaz trials.
Unlikely friendships blossom, betrayals from those least expected, new love, and murder. No one could predict what would happen.
Hamilton details such invigorating world-building that I haven't read in years, so immersive and descriptive you could've been right there with the characters walking through Walstad, inside of their minds as each of their thoughts tick.. The stark contrast between the opulent lives of the upper crust and the struggles of the Grims adds depth to the story. Each new revelation only leads to more questions for the characters, and you; each and every word draws you in further. And the ending just killed me, leaving so much room for interpretation and theories on what happened, hopefully, a big enough gap for a potential follow-up in this series.

With a fresh take on an urban fantasy complete with trials eerily reminiscent of the Hunger Games, The Notorious Virtues was a surprisingly fun read about magic that is passed down a bloodline and won by the worthiest.
Things I enjoyed:
The characters were well written - even when I didn't like them, I understood their motivations and enjoyed reading about them. Nora and Lotte, especially, stood out to me from the very beginning.
The novel method of trials was refreshing to read about.
The multiple POV style also pulled in some political commentary about the distribution of magic being related to classes and how weighted votes maintained power within the upper classes, which I didn't expect to see in a YA-ish book and which supplemented the narrative very well. There was also underlying thematic notes about the role of media in maintaining appearances and how the royals would be nice to beggars only during Trial season, just because they hoped to gain something, that was pleasantly satirical.
THAT ENDING. Alwyn Hamilton knows how to leave us hanging.
The one thing I didn't like:
There was one character of Asian-equivalent ancestry who was important to the narrative but was mainly referred to as an "exiled desert princess" and similar exotic terms that just felt...odd. Considering the book was about power inequalities and the difficulty of maintaining status for non=royals, this bit felt very out of place.
All in all, though, I enjoyed this and encourage you to give it a read.

Was not expecting to like this so much! What an amazing book! Cannot wait for a physical copy to read over and over again