Wow, this book. It was amazing to say the least. The concept, characters and plot are everything that I hoped for and more. Gotta say I didn’t expect like half the things that happened (I would say that’s a good thing though). I feel like all of the character perspectives that we get really show the story in such a great way because they’re all so different and I didn’t get anyone mixed up, all of the pov’s definitely had clear voices. I can’t get over that ending, I’ll be upset by that for a while. Can’t wait for the next book

Title: All of Us Villains
Author: Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Rating: 4.0 out of 5

The Blood Moon rises. The Blood Veil falls. The Tournament begins.

Every generation, at the coming of the Blood Moon, seven families in the remote city of Ilvernath each name a champion to compete in a tournament to the death.

The prize? Exclusive control over a secret wellspring of high magick, the most powerful resource in the world--one thought long depleted.

This year, thanks to a salacious tell-all book, the seven champions are thrust into worldwide spotlight, granting each of them new information, new means to win, and most importantly: a choice - accept their fate or rewrite their story.

But this is a story that must be penned in blood.

This was a pretty dark read. Every time I though I liked a character, they did something awful, stabbed someone in the back, killed someone…Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about this read. It’s well-written, with strong characters and lots of action, but it’s just so dark.

Amanda Foody lives in Boston. Christine Lynn Herman lives in Brooklyn. All of Us Villians is their new novel.

(Galley courtesy of Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Teen in exchange for an honest review.)

Good but not great. I believe I am not the target audience for this book. I wanted to love this book but there seemed to be something lacking. The characters didn't seem to stick to me, there were some I liked but none I loved. I believe Ilvernath, where this story takes place, could have been described more. The comparison to the hunger games is only loosely in my opinion, this book doesn't have any of the nuisance or messages that the hunger games had, so it makes for an unfair comparison. The length of the novel could have been shorter.

This book was captivating but a little all over the place. Having so many characters with conflicting interests is always fun but it takes a lot of time getting used to the voice of each of the characters and it's just hard to keep up with. I would have liked it better if we concentrated on three-four main characters and didn't have so many POVs.

3.5 stars rounded up, because I honestly don't know what to rate this, or how to properly review it. This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and while it didn't live up to my expectations, it didn't exactly let them down, either.

The story is simple: 7 teenagers fight to the death in a tournament to control the high magick living in their city. Except, this book didn't have a whole lot of fighting, and it was pretty easy to figure out who was going to be killed early on. So, while I was hoping for a lot more action, this book is actually more character-driven than anything. Which isn't a bad thing, it's just not what I expected at all. So, I was back and forth between "I like this/I'm not feeling" the entire time I was reading it.

With that being said, the writing itself is good. I think the author's voices blend really well together. I can definitely say the ending left me wanting to read the sequel though, whenever it comes out. I also hope the LGBT rep is more explored in the next book, too.

My suggestion is to just give this a try yourself, because I know a lot of people seemed to love it. This book just wasn't personally what I wanted it to be.

When I began this book, I felt an immediate connection with each of the characters in different ways. Although the characters are supposed to be at odds with one another, I found that they were intertwined in more ways than one. Seven well-known families in this magical society have been cursed to send a champion into battle with hopes of winning high magic. However, the characters have different reasons for entering the tournament and I found myself excited to learn that not all of the characters were villains. I believe the author did an amazing job playing on familial relationships, friendships, and emotional ties to bring light and love into this book. However, I thoroughly enjoyed how dark some of the scenes were. I distinctly remember reading a battle scene alone in my room and feeling frightened at a spell that Alistair casted. Amanda Foody’s writing was lyrical and very descriptive. I was able to picture some of the most frightening scenes in the book inside of my head vividly! *Minor spoiler alert* Could you imagine a spell being casted that engulfed everywhere around you in uncontrollable waves and creatures that wouldn’t stop chasing you? The description of how threatening the shark with millions of sharp teeth was terrifying for not only the champions it was casted on but also the caster! Amanda thoroughly described the magic system throughout the book as well as describing how each spell worked. This was definitely a 5 star read!

So the comparison between We Were Villains, and The Hunger Games is spot on. A bunch of kids sent into an arena to kill each other, yeah sounds familiar.
However, in this book the “contestants” have magic, and there is certainly no Katniss. This story is told from alternating points of view. Not all seven champions are represented, which does sort of spoil who the important characters are, but it also makes the story more interesting I loved learning about each of the families and how the magic works. The world-building in this is excellent! And the way it’s done is incredibly engaging.
There are still so many mysteries in the book and surprises among the way. Just when I think I know one character they do something completely unexpected.
I loved getting to know these characters and as the book progresses my loyalties changed. None of them are perfect, and each character has some major flaws. But there is also good in all of them, and it was also interesting seeing how they all interacted with one another.
This book is part of a series and I cannot wait to see where this story goes!

So. This book. Take the Hunger Games and zoom it in on seven characters, all Career-style players with a historic stake in the games. Then mix in some of the structure of The Atlas Six, and sprinkle in a bit of V E Schwab’s Vicious here, a dash of The Inheritance Games there, and just a touch of Goblet of Fire to really round it off, and you’re starting to get the picture of All of Us Villains. For bonus points, slide in some LGBT main characters, as well.

Be prepared for a slower start and a more thorough introduction than some books of this style, the first 35% or so more akin to The Atlas Six’s gradual introductory style than that of The Hunger Games, where you find yourself at the action almost immediately. I struggled a bit with this as a reader who prefers a faster-paced start, but in truth, it was probably the best structure for the book. With seven characters in the tournament rather than 24 or 50 or more, you don’t want any character to be a background-less token that won’t be missed, so giving them stories and lineages off the bat makes sense.

I’ve seen some say that they were disappointed by certain characters being more misunderstood than truly wicked, based on the expectations set by the title. I get the thought, but I don’t want potential readers to be put off by this distinction! As we see from the beginning, these teens are painted as - and raised to be - villains for their whole lives, but they’re also being used as pawns and sacrifices for their families’ greed. They see themselves as villains and murderers and are expected to behave as such, whether or not that’s who they are.

Ultimately, I actually think this book didn’t cop out where many other YA titles do. I’ve read many a YA title that promises to be high-stakes & deadly, yet hardly a character has a scratch on them by the end. The same isn’t true of this book. The truest villains, perhaps, are the adults, and fear, and greed, so don’t go in expecting all seven teens to be ruthless antagonists throughout, but still prepare for deadly curses, selfish choices, and unwilling sacrifice. The world-building and character dynamics are intriguing…and I’m certain that BookTok will get its hands on the aesthetics soon, with its blood-red moon, its ancient sword, its magically-defended castle, its tucked-away cave and stacks of spell-rings and relics.

I withheld a 5 on this because I did feel like the story was trying too hard to convince me of certain things outright. YA can get away with this a lot more than adult can, but at times I felt a bit beaten over the head by how often the same phrases/concepts were textually repeated. Hopefully the next installment will have established this well enough to ease up on it a bit.

Still, I look forward to seeing where this story goes and will plan on picking it the next book whenever it’s out in the world. Give this one a shot if it sounds up your alley :)

This book! Definitely loved this and couldn’t put this down. I loved the idea and how each character was a little despicable but I still liked them all. Really fun book! Definitely in my top reads of 2021. That ending! It was a race to the finish and I was so there for it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

3 Stars

Arc received from Netgalley for an honest review

At the start of All Of Us Villains, I was instantly entranced in the characters and world. I was getting so amped for the game aspect of the book to start which is why I loved the beginning so much. It made me feel on edge, and gave me insight on all of the characters before the plot really started.

With that said, I think the characters were my favourite part. I wanted to read more about them, I was curious what drove them forward and who they truthfully were in comparison to the way people saw them outside the games.

Once the plot kicked off though, I wasn't as interested in the story. The writing was well done, but I wasn't finding myself driven to keep reading. This may have been my own fault due to being in a bit of a slumpy mood. I felt like I was dragging myself to continue to read even when I felt I should have been more invested in the tournament portion of the book.

I'd like to return to this book and read it again because it has a lot of incredible potential. It's such an amazing take on magic and the way it's performed that I can imagine many people enjoying this book and picking it up for themselves. I'm definitely going to try reading it again in the future.

This book was incredibly disappointing for me. Marketed as "a bloodier Hunger Games," All of Us Villains tells the story of Ilvernath, a land where every generation, the seven most powerful families volunteer a champion to fight in a tournament to the death. The winner's family earns exclusive control over Ilvernath's high magick. The book follows four of the seven champions volunteered for this fight.

I had several issues with this book, the first being that it wasn't even remotely a bloodier Hunger Games. While The Hunger Games does have more characters in the arena and thus more opportunity for bloodshed, this book barely even had fighting in it between the characters. And while a couple minor characters did die, but I still wouldn't put it remotely on the Hunger Games' level.

Another issue I had was the pacing. The book is supposed to follow this tournament, but this tournament doesn't even start until the 40% mark of the book. In my opinion, the first 30% of the story wasn't even necessary--it was just a lot of backstory that might've been important for the authors to know, but wasn't necessary for the reader to know.

Along with the title being "All of Us Villains," the book tries to beat you over the head with the idea that these are morally grey/villain characters, but their actions truly show the opposite of that. None of these characters want to die, none of them want to murder each other, and they all actually show a fair amount of humanity. There's nothing morally grey or evil about them, really--they all just are desperate to survive and end the tournament without killing each other. Now, if the book hadn't been about ending the tournament and each of these characters entered the arena desperately wanting to win for one reason or another and were genuinely willing to slaughter each other to make it happen, that would've made them morally grey, and it would've fulfilled the premise of the book (not to mention, it would've been a much more compelling story).

Lastly, the magic system just wasn't well explained or established. Despite all of that time that the book took to finally get into the actual story, we really don't learn anything about the magic system at all. There's different levels of magic, but it's never explained what those levels mean, why some characters can cast higher level spells than others, or how a character would even go about increasing the level of spells they can cast. It did have potential to be an interesting magic system, but it fell apart for me when there were just no explanations at all.

This book had a lot of ambition comparing itself to the Hunger Games, and ultimately, it didn't live up to that expectation.

I was given an ARC for this book on netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I finished this book a little later than the realse date, but I absolutely LOVED it! I definitely want a physical copy of this book. The writing is impeccable, with lush descriptions and witty one liners that had be cracking up. You can’t tell that it was written by two authors as the writing flows beautifully throughout. The multiple POV's in the book really helped everything flow much better and make it easy to understand the full story. The plot of this book is very Hunger Games meets dark fantasy. This book was so evil but amazing! I absolutely loved the characters and where the author took the story. The plot of the book is very complex and enticing. I loved the plot tists because they always occured the least when you expected it to. Over all the plot was 100% amazing and super intersting. The charcetr deveopment was one of the best i've ever read. The way all the chracetrs grow with each other, but at the same time don't complelty chnage thier entire personality. The characters were all morally gray, and yet I couldn’t stop rooting for them. This book ends on such a good cliffhanger; I am so excited to read the second one when it comes out.

Woah hold on a minute! The Hunger Games with a dash of Game of Thrones style with magick plus bloodier and more ruthless? So much yes! It took all of half a hearbeat after reading the synopsis for me to decide I MUST get in on this one as soon as possible. And I cannot tell you how grateful I am for this book.

Every generation, at the coming of the Blood Moon, seven families in the remote city of Livernash each name a champion to compete in a tournament to the death, the winner claiming exclusive control over more than anyone can fathom. Imagine this scene playing out with extremely well developed characters that draw feelings and bonds with certain characters whether you want to or not. There is a little something for nearly everyone; In other words, if the synopsis appeals to you in the slightest you will find this book extremely worthwhile.

All of us Villains is a deliciously devious beginning to what is sure to be a must read series for the masses, with the ending suggesting so much potential for the next book I'm already antsy for the story to continue!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Teen, and the brilliant minds of Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman for granting me an arc in order for me to share my honest opinion. I cannot thank this team enough and I may be preordering a physical copy of this as soon as possible because it's an absolute must have!

All of Us Villains
by: Amanda Foody & Christine Lynn Herman
Pub. date: November 9, 2021
Date reviewed: October 12, 2021

Many thanks to Macmillan/Tor-Forge & NetGalley for allowing me access to this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Ok. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this one.. I’m a bit confused & feel like vertigo has set in. All of Us Villains was a fun read, although a bit inconsistent at times. I don’t usually read books about magic & spells & the like but I did enjoy this one & will Definitely be looking forward to number two. All of Us Villains gets 3 of 5 stars from me.
#AllOfUsVillains #NetGalley

So before I begin the proper review, let me just:

JKFHGSKJDHL ASGDHJSF

Okay, I’m good.

Every generation, seven families send their teenaged champions to fight to the death in the Blood Mood tournament in hopes of controlling the rare resource of high magic. While common magic is readily available, the use of high magic is all but reserved for the family of the winner.

As the champions scramble to find sponsors who’ll help them craft spells and charms for that winning edge, families’ greed and prides cause them to make some fatal mistakes. And soon the champions find that there is more at stake than their own lives.

Tor was kind enough to send me an advance copy of All of Us Villains, a joint novel by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. There was literally so much hype around this book; many of my friends over on Book Twitter were also raving about it weeks before the book was released.

Dystopian stories have kind of fallen out of style over the years—I was a teenager myself when The Hunger Games was released—but All of Us Villains makes a convincing case for the revival of the genre. The way the story combines this dystopian narrative with fantasy scratches an itch in my brain that I didn’t know was there.

With so many characters, it would be near impossible to focus on each champion without the book becoming an epic. Instead, the story follows just four of them, with the remaining three popping up in the others’ storylines. Sucks to be those three, I guess, but needs must. The main four have their own distinct narratives and arcs and it wasn’t difficult to tell them apart from each other, an issue that I tend to have in ensemble stories.

I actually really did love All of Us Villains apart from one fatal flaw in its storytelling—and here there is a minor spoiler—and that was there is a sequel. That is not typically a flaw in and of itself, but my main qualm with this book is that the authors were so excited to set up the sequel that the first book was left unfinished.

None of the characters’ arcs were finished by the last page; it was set up such that we were right after the story’s climax but I personally felt we were still in the early stages of everyone’s storyline. In fact, I was so stunned by the ending (I did kind of see it coming because I was keeping an eye on the page count) that I had to double check I didn’t receive a faulty copy.

Hence my earlier keyboard smashes.

Is All of Us Villains still a good book? Absolutely. Would it have been better had the authors just punished everything as a thousand-page novel? Personally, I would say yes, but some of you might enjoy the delayed gratification.

Nevertheless, I am so excited for the sequel and I’m crossing my fingers for a release date soon because if I do not get to find out what happens to Alistair I will personally fly to America and… cry.

I gave this book a 4 star rating, but it teeters on 4.5 because WOW I loved this book and I’m so sad that I HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL TO COME OUT TO LEARN MORE. I’m really enjoying all the characters and their changing personalities because multiple times throughout this book I would think “Oh, I really hope they don’t die” to “I wouldn’t mind if they died, they’re being awful” back to “PLEASE DON’T DIE”. A lot of people are saying they wished these characters were a little more morally gray, but I disagree. I think for 14-18 year olds (or whatever the range is), they are as morally gray as we can expect from teenagers in the modern day who grew up knowing they were going to be lambs for slaughter. I highly recommend if you’re a fan of the Hunger Games or Harry Potter series, but I think most people will love this if they are into any type of adventure story with life or death as the highest of stakes.

Hunger Games with magic is right! This book has an epic magic system, that combined with this cursed tournament where seven teenagers have to fight to the death makes for a very intriguing story. The characters really stood out to me as they each have different perspectives on the tournament and their complicated families history in the tournament. Isobel and Alistair are my favorites. I loved their dynamic and their relationship. I'm excited to see where the next book takes us.

*Thank you to NetGalley for the arc of this book!*

All Of Us Villains is a tale of seven young, morally gray characters doing what they must to win a magical tournament that will benefit their families for the generation to come. Think The Hunger Games but with curses.

I enjoyed several aspects of this book. The character development, a unique magic system, the overall wicked vibe. I did however find it took longer than normal for me to get through. There were some definite pacing issues for me, and I found it to be a little soft for a book that very clearly is meant to be about villains.

With that being said, I’m invested enough to want to know what happens next and will be down to continue the series as it comes out!

Every generation the Blood Veil hits the town of Ilvernath. Seven families are trapped in this curse, but only one wins the prize. Each family names a champion to fight in a tournament to the death. The last champion standing wins full control of the high magick for their family until the next Blood Moon rises.

No one outside of these seven families knows about it—well that is until this year. Someone has released a tell-all book about the families and the history of the tournament. Now all the champions are put in the spotlight and tourists are drawn to the town of Ilvernath for the upcoming tournament. This newfound publicity has given each of the families insight into the others. It also has caused quite a stir—some are intrigued by the tournament, some think of them as monsters.

This book is told from 4 of the 7 champions perspectives. I love multiple POV books as they provide insight you never get from a singular POV.

One criticism I have about this book is that I found myself only caring about Alistair. I found the other characters to lack personality or depth. Yeah we get it you want to win, but what else? Yeah the Lowe’s always win and you think their cruel— okay? Alistair was thought to be the monster by everyone, but his character is so much deeper than that. I loved seeing his character arc through the tournament.

Another criticism I have is that the last 10% of the book felt rushed. I felt like too much happened in those last few chapters and a lot of the character development I had seen was thrown out the window. The ending was also super predictable, which was a let down.

Overall I really loved the build up of the tournament as well as the writing from multiple POVs. I’m really excited to read book 2, even though I didn’t like the way the plot turned.

ALSO TO MY THG FANS— THERE ARE EVERLARK PARALLELS!! MY EVERLARK HEART ♥️ I would definitely recommend picking this one up just for that

This book had a lot of promise in both premise and character development. I loved the concept, and the writing was very solid. There were two main aspects of this book that knocked down my star rating: the main romance and the ending. I will be the first to admit that romance is not my favorite genre, but normally I can enjoy it as a sideline to the plot. In this story, the romance seemed to frequently be no more than a road block to plot advancement, and made me start rooting for them to be split up more often than not. In regards to the ending, I can appreciate a cliffhanger, but this book literally just stops in the middle of the action. There is a difference between a solid hook to continue the series and an unfinished novel, and frankly this fell into the latter category for me. This book would not hold up on its own. All of that being said, I enjoyed it overall and appreciate the unique premise of the book.