3.5 Stars

There were a lot of things that I really liked about All of Us Villains, but I also felt like there were some places where it fell really short for me. I generally binge read books over a couple of days, but with this one, I didn’t feel compelled to read it all at once until I hit the 60% mark. It took me a full eight days just to get to 60%, and then I finished the rest on the same day once the action picked up.

Some thoughts:

* I loved the premise, and I thought it had a lot of potential even though the concept is not new. The “Hunger Games meets HP Tri-Wizard tournament” references are pretty accurate with the main characters having to fight to the death in a tournament using magic and curses. The idea of morally grey characters facing their own demons and each other sounded really intriguing...but the characters were definitely FAR less villainous than the title and synopsis would lead you to believe. In fact, I was pretty disappointed by how un-villainous they all ended up being.

* I didn’t realize that this was the beginning of a series (it’s noted on Goodreads, but it wasn’t noted on NetGalley), so I was surprised by the rather abrupt ending, LOTS of loose ends, and lack of resolution. This is clearly my own fault, though, and not actually a flaw of the book, but I did feel like the ending was really rushed and disjointed anyway. It actually left me double checking to make sure I hadn’t just been given a preview of the book vs the entire thing.


* I LOVE the idea of all of the magickal elements, but I also thought there was often too much left to the imagination there. The descriptions of what happens with each spell or what things look like are often vague, though the names of the spells (The Deathly Slumber, Dragon’s Breath, Pick Up the Pace, Here to There, etc.) give a clear indication of what they’re supposed to do. I guess, silly as it may sound, the magic didn’t feel all that magical.


* The story is told from alternating POVs, and though that can sometimes be seen as a detriment, I thought the authors did it well enough here. I didn’t love all of the different characters, but they were all unique enough that each POV was able to stand on its own.

I did, however, wish that the rotating POVs would have been from all seven champions and not just four of them, even if we had gotten just one initial chapter in the beginning where we got to know the backstory of each champion. The book relies SO deeply on the other four backstories and world building for the first 50% of the book that leaving three of them out made those other characters feel totally dispensable and unrelatable.

All in all, this was entertaining enough, and I will likely pick up the second book when it comes out. Hopefully, at that point, I will still remember these characters and the story because this definitely seems like one that I am likely to forget.

This is a story about blood & sacrifice.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Did you read Hunger Games & feel like you wanted some magic thrown in? Well! This is the book for you. I loved the dynamics between characters & the dark, vicious magic system. I also really enjoyed the lore & themes of sacrifice and redemption.

Thank you so much netgalley & Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the eArc!

Monsters aren’t born: they’re made. And in this otherwise normal village, they’re raised. Some of them embrace their calling, and some run from it, but they’re all cursed to repeat it regardless.

Crazy good story with epic world building and interesting character dynamics. Each champion from the seven ancient families has their strengths and weaknesses and each family is twisted in its own way. It’s no wonder they can’t trust each other.

I got to the last 5% of this book and had to deal with the fact that I would not be getting a resolution, so the twist didn’t come as a surprise, and it wasn’t quite twisty enough, honestly. But I am still very eager to found out what happens next! If you’re a fan of magic, YA, and enemies to lovers to friends to enemies to sisters to what are we now, this is for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Teen for an advanced copy preview. Warning, this book ends on a huge, huge, massive cliffhanger! So much so that I went back three times to reread the last chapter thinking I must have missed something. Told from four different view points (not seven, whew!) this read is about seven different families fighting it out for the ultimate control of magic (or magick) where each puts up a champion to fight to the death for the title. If you're expecting each character to be the utmost villain, don't let it scare you away. The characters are well done, fleshed out, complex, and intriguing. It's a good character driven storyline where the characters are the ones pushing the plot. Lots of twists and turns and great world building. I am just still not over that cliffhanger.

I LOVED this book. All of Us Villains is how I imagine the Hunger Games would've gone if the story centered on the careers from districts 1, 2, & 3. These characters come from seven of the most wealthy, powerful noble families of their land, and they must fight to the death in order for one winner to rule the kingdom (with their family) until the next tournament.

This book has the perfect ratio of plot to character development. A complaint I've often had with fantasy, dystopian, or sci-fi books is the heaviness of the plot; I didn't find that here at all. The book focuses so much on the trauma, character development, and developing relationships between these characters, which I *really* loved.

I also loved how the shades of grey morals are really investigated in this book. The title alludes to all the main characters being villains, but they're so much more than that. At times they prove to be born of their circumstances, resistant to their circumstances, or completely falling into the villainous characterization the world makes of them.

The world building and magical system of this book was super unique, and very well done. Magic is a craft to be bought, rather than something everything can do, which is a pretty unique idea. The universe and setting in which this world is set was really well-written; the authors gave so much to visualize about the towns from which they live and the actual arena where the kids must fight, which really added to overall atmosphere.

I do feel as though this book has borrowed really heavily from tropes and characterizations of popular books, whether intentional or not. The plot was very Hunger Games, and I found one sister dynamic in particular was pretty similar to Katniss/Prim. One of the characters was very similar to Kaz Brekker. Perhaps the authors borrowed from these stories, or perhaps I've just read so many books that I'm able to make these connections, I'm not sure.

As far as the audiobook, I really enjoyed the dual narration for female and male characters. The male narrator in particular was really great at inflection and acting, which made the book just *that* much more atmospheric.

I'm really glad a sequel is being made from this book, because the ending, while fantastic, left me wanting so much more. Overall I definitely recommend!!

This was an amazing read which is about seven teenagers who must fight each other in a tournament. I really enjoyed this dystopian read. I haven't read anything like this in a while. It's kind of like the Hunger Games but with magic and multiple povs. I enjoyed the world building of this book which was filled with magic and betrayals. At first, the world building was okay but throughout the story it got better as the story built. The setting was wonderfully done where it was unique and different. The plot structure was well done with many conflicts and plot twists thrown in. The pacing was a little slow for my liking but the conflicts helped lift the book. The writing was well done for the most part and it was amazing to see two authors bring this story alive.

Even though there were seven main characters, only four of them had their pov in the book. I enjoyed the different povs as you can connect to at least one character. I was disappointed that we didn't get perspectives from the other characters (as I know there are a lot) but I wish we had minor povs as I would have loved to learn more about the other. The main characters are Isobel, Alistair, Gavin and Briony. I enjoyed each of the character's as they were special and had great character development (well most of them). I wish to give more details of each character but then this review will be super long and you will hate me (haha). To keep it short, I'm pretty sure that you will at least enjoy one character's perspective. The side characters I would say were the other three competitors in the book but there were other minor characters. Also there is barely any romance in this book which I was really sad about as I’m a romance sucker but let’s hope that book two has everything I want!

The ending ends with a cliffhanger and let me tell you that I totally didn't expect it. It was such a great cliffhanger and now I need book two! This book is such a perfect read if you are still in a Hunger Games hangover and need something similar to the story. This book has all the twists and turns that you wouldn't expect while reading and will keep you on your toes. I did have some minor problems with the book like the world building and pacing but overall it was a great read. I'm hoping to get the other character's perspective in the next book after the ending. I totally recommend this book if you love the Hunger Games world and twists and turns Divergent style.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Teen for the e-ARC!

This is destined to be a mega-hit, and with good reason. It takes everything that is good about the battle royale storyline and injects it with a bevy of fascinating, incredible characters. The magic system is quick to follow and flows throughout the story quite well. And the world-building is phenomenal. Ilvernath is fully-fleshed and so vivid in my imagination. I am dying to get my hands on the second book in this duology.

rating: 4.5/5 (rounded up)

this book is basically the hunger games but with magic. A tournament every 20 years in which 7 champions are selected to compete and fight to the death for a highly coveted prize: their family’s control of high magick for the next 20 years.

This tournament felt even more gruesome than the hunger games, for a couple reasons:
- the nature of wielding magick is personal, which makes killing another champion more personal
- the characters know each other and have grown up in this world together; some have dated, some are related, some used to be best friends. The emotions brought into the tournament definitely has an effect on the outcome.

The reader also gets four different POV’s throughout this story, and my opinion about each character completely changed as I read the book. For me, the characters were the highlight of the book.

I highly recommend this one for fans of The Hunger Games, An Unkindness of Magicians, and Game of Thrones.

For a book called All of Us Villains, I expected, well, villains. What I got was a book of insecure teenagers refusing to even entertain the idea of murder thrust into murder competition.

I’ll start with the few things I did enjoy. I thought the worldbuilding was well done. All of Us Villains is set in the modern-day, in a small town where once a generation, seven families each chose a champion to participate in a fight to the death to gain control of the town’s cherished magic supply. With this coming tournament, an expose has been published nationwide that’s exposed the secrets of this town to the world, and now the paparazzi and media have gotten involved. The tournament itself has a whole host of magical laws governing the inner workings that we slowly learn about and the magic itself I found really creative and well-written.

I’ve seen this book often compared to The Hunger Games series. In my opinion, that’s a poor comparison. At least the Hunger Games kids had enough of a spine to try and kill their competition. Granted, some of these characters were blindsided by the choice to participate in the Murder Death Kill Games (not the actual name) but a handful of them have known they’d be their family’s champion for years! And yet, the only times any murder actually occurs, it occurs out of self-defense and the defender still got criticized by the group. Where’s the bloodthirsty murder? Where’s the cut-throat betrayal and backstabbing?? Where are the villains???? With multiple characters basically assigned the ‘villain’ role at the beginning of the book, labeled ‘dark’ and ‘evil’, man does that not translate to their actions.

I have a love-hate relationship with the characters (see complaints above). On one hand, for a cast of 7, the four main characters the book focuses on are quite well written. There’s Alistar, the one labeled a ‘monster’, Gavin, who was never meant the last more than the night, Isobel, reluctantly thrust into the spotlight by her family, and Briony, the golden hero. All four characters have very complex relationships with their families and with their goals for the tournament. However, again, the lack of commitment from these characters to actually do anything in this tournament was just extremely frustrating to read. There’s also this bizarre instalove romance arc between two characters that just felt so so forced, like the authors came up with the characters knowing they’d be together but never set up the foundations.

Finally, the pacing of this book felt weirdly off. It takes 40% for the characters to actually enter the tournament. Then the next 40% I could not tell you what occurred, but it was nothing to really advance the plot. Briony comes in the tournament thinking she’s got a plan to End It All^TM, but then doesn’t do anything about it til 80% in. Which is when the action actually starts to occur and suddenly there are reveals left and right and now everything has changed. I definitely think the first 40% could have been cut and the last 20% expanded to let the story breath more.

Overall, I rate this book a 2.5/5. The title told me we’d get villains and I got depressed teenagers instead.

4.5/5⭐️ Oh, I could spend DAYS unraveling this beauty. From the ominous title to the intricate magic system to the complexity of all the characters, I really just loved everything about this incredible story.

This book was basically The Hunger Games with a fantastic magical twist. The more I learned about the tournament, the more intrigued I became. It was crafted so well, in a way that gave you little pieces of the puzzle throughout the book and let you try to figure things out on your own. I already know I’m absolutely going to reread this one so I can pick up on all the little things I missed.

And oh my gosh, there are a few things I SHOULD HAVE SEEN COMING. But there were also a few things I never could have predicted. Every single character in this story gave me a moment that left me speechless. Truly, this book really lives up to its title, I’ll tell you that right now.

Don’t mind me DYING over the fact that I thought this was a standalone. It is not. And I need the sequel RIGHT. THIS. SECOND.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is like the fantasy version of The Hunger Games, but instead of fighting to get food, they’re fighting to have High Magic for their families.

It was a great read from the beginning with some things that seemed predictable but others that left me shook. I really can’t wait to see what the authors bring us next.

From the moment Amanda and Christine announced this story I was immediately intrigued. A competition/tournament and a bunch of characters that are morally gray and villainous is a perfect combination and they brought it to life amazingly well.

In the remote city of Ilvernath whenever the Blood Moon shows itself a champion is picked from seven different families to fight each other until only one is left standing. Having control over a secret wellspring of high magik that everyone thought was long since depleted would entice anyone. It's the mist powerful resource in the world after all.

This year of the tournament is different since a the seven champions ate thrown inti the spotlight of the world outside their city. This new shift in the competition allows each of them to have new information, new means to win, and most importantly: a choice - accept their fate or rewrite their story. But it's not always as simple as it seems.

This story was absolutely amazing. Following characters that are the normal type of main character was thrilling and I never wanted to put the book down. I was on the edge of my seat so often waiting to know what was going to happen next. It is such a well down story and even if the characters are the normal kind of characters that a story is centered around it's hard not to love them. I can't wait to see what else will happen for these characters in the next book.

Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Once a generation, the Blood Moon rises and the seven cursed families of Ilvernath send their strongest teenager into a fight to the death for the world's last source of high magick. For centuries they kept their bloodbath secret, until a salacious tell-all revealed the truth to the world. Now the Slaughter Seven have journalists and government agents to worry about on top of their impending deaths. Schemes fly as fast a curses as they struggle to stay alive, bring honor to their families, save their souls, or maybe end the whole brutal system. Deliciously dark, but that cliffhanger is just cruel.

In all honesty, it took me a while to get into the book since it has multiple POVs and I usually avoid books that have multiple POVs because I don’t think authors do a good job with integrating them together, but this book is definitely not one of those books. The characters are well rounded, but their flaws are evident, adding to their dynamic and the evolving plot. I’m not even sure how to put into words how much I enjoyed reading All of Us Villains but I can say that it was read all in one sitting - a feat in itself since I’ve been in a reading slump for a couple of days. If you’re on the fence about this book, I’d recommend going for it anyways.

To summarize: The Hunger Games meets magic – and does it better than the original? But that’s just my opinion.

The town of Ilvernath has a secret, one that has survived centuries. The Blood Moon rises each era, and with it, seven champions from the seven reigning magical families of the town are chosen. When the Blood Veil falls, the seven selected duel to the death until one reigns supreme and that champion’s family wins sole control of the high magick so eagerly sought. The rest of the world thinks high magick is long gone, but the magickal residents of Ilvernath know better.

But this year’s tournament will be different than all that came before. Someone from within the magickal families spilled Ilvernath’s secret and now the press and government are involved, watching the tournament play out with eagle eyes. But that’s not the only thing that’s changed: this year, the champions aren’t content to follow the rules. There’s no telling what might be broken.

This book was such a surprise, but in the absolute best way. A slow start builds to a wild crescendo that just. keeps. moving. Rotating narration of individuals from four of the seven magickal families represented, the constant shifting of allies and perspectives makes you doubt who is right and who is wrong and if you should even bother picking because your loyalties will doubtlessly shift by the next chapter.

These characters are excruciatingly, heartbreakingly complex, unpredictable and stubborn to a fault, but with attributes that will have you rooting for them even as they do undeniably despicable things – though often with good intentions. The plot is familiar and yet unique; I was constantly surprised, and oftentimes overcome with emotion with how deeply these fictional beings and situations affected me.

That cliffhanger was so sudden that I turned the (e-book) page expecting more and my jaw literally dropped in shock. I cannot WAIT to read the sequel and whatever else these stunning authors have in store in the future. Prepare to be hooked.

Not for the faint of heart, but a read I’d recommend for any reader looking to be swept away – if the content isn’t too much for your taste.

Trigger warning: gore, blood, death, murder, violence.

This one took me a while to get into. I don't love when a book needs a lot of backstories to get started. The first 40% of this book was backstory. I wanted to drive right into the action. I also found it a bit hard to connect with the characters because of the shifting POVs. I really had to focus on remembering who was who especially with all the backstories on the 7 families.

I also expected the characters to be a lot more ruthless considering it’s called All of Us Villains.

I did like the magic system and I think my favourite POVs would be Alistair and Isobel. I don't know if I care enough about the characters to find out what happens to then in the second book.

I really enjoyed this book! It was compared to the Hunger Games with magic and I can definitely understand where that comparison is coming from. I do feel that in this book though, it’s more like all the competitors would be the ones from the Capital that have trained their whole lives for this and are now competing to the death.

The book was told in multiple perspectives and I think that was such a good decision. Because of this, we got to get the backstory of most of the participants involved in these deadly games and grow attached to them. You don’t know who is going to live or who is going to die. It made it very intense since I found myself rooting for multiple people. This is a testament to good writing by the authors and making their characters great! Every time there was a scene where it was a battle to the death, I was on the edge of my seat. I think all the characters were pretty balanced too. They all had their own unique fighting styles and storylines.

There wasn’t much world exploration because the book was more self contained to the town where the competition takes place. Some might be bothered by this but I thought it was a good choice. I tend not to be a big fan of romance but liked how it was done in here with enemy-to-lovers aspects. I’m also really excited for a possible future romance that was slightly hinted at.

The end went in a direction I was not expecting which left me in anticipation for the sequel. It was my first time reading from both of these authors but I definitely won’t be the last.

4 stars out of 5

All of Us Villains was marketed as “a darker version of The Hunger Games” and those are the exact vibes I got! It follows four main characters each from a long line of magical families as they take part in a tournament where only one will win the rights to the highest power of magic. It’s multiple point of view chapters were exactly what made this book so good.

I really liked all four of the main characters, even if I didn’t fully connect to them as much as I usually like to. Their villainous nature was very much the cause of this, but it was obviously on purpose so it still makes sense. I loved how short the chapters were and how it rotated between all the characters every time. It kept the pacing close to perfect and there was always something exciting happening to hold my interest. There really wasn’t ever a dull moment in this book and that feels like such a feat.

I had issues with the magic system. I liked the idea of spell rings and curses, but it seemed like no one spell was ever used more than once? Meaning it was a brand new spell every time and I never really had a grasp on just how powerful any of them were, or even what they would do. I wish it was a bit more strict.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

All of Us Villains drew my attention with its promise of a more magical Hunger Games with morally gray characters.

I loved the sense of history and lore, with each of the major characters coming from an esteemed family, each of which sends someone into this bloody competition when the time comes. That immediately sets up high stakes that sucked me in.

The characters are definitely a highlight as well. There’s a balance between capturing the lines each character is willing to cross, while also exposing their vulnerabilities as they’re reckoning with the expectations from their families and society. Alistair is perhaps the most prone to the darkness, however it all stems from his desire to be loved and accepted by his family. Isobel battles between familial loyalty and her own fear of battle. Gavin longs to prove that his family, long considered the butt of jokes, is worth something, and will sometimes resort of extremes to achieve this. And then, there’s Briony, who has been raised for this task and at first longs to prove herself, but circumstances lead to a change of heart.

I enjoyed this book, and while I did feel at times like it didn’t go far enough in its execution of truly villainous characters, I also found it to be an engaging and bloody read, and I’m excited to see what happens next, as it seems there will be a sequel. If you like YA fantasy, but are looking for more stories with morally gray characters, you might enjoy this one.

I really enjoyed this book. It was overall a very entertaining read full of drama. A lot of the characters are morally grey which is what I would hope to see when a book title includes the word "villains". However, they are just morally grey. I suppose none of them really had what it took to be a "villain" only pretend to be one in my opinion. And well, when you have a lot of comparisons to books that have actual villains from the Hunger Games or Game of Thrones (which I think I saw somewhere), this falls a bit short. President Snow and Jeoffrey make the characters from this book look like angels. So there is some fogginess between what is morally grey and villainous. However, that is not a deterrent towards the book, just something, people may wish to know if they're looking for a "bad to the bone" book. It is a YA book though and there's only so far you can take it.

Now here's my reason for the 4 star, because it was nearly a 5 star read. There's an instalove trope. I'm sorry, I just can't. I personally do not favor instalove and it almost always kills a little bit of the book for me. GIVE ME THE FLUFF. I hope the relationship is explored more in book two. We shall see. Also, I need more information about the magic. I feel like some of the magical aspects were not explained well or maybe we'll get that information in book two. I never could figure out what the families who win do with their magic. Maybe I missed that, but I was really curious and had all of these ideas in my head that I thought the book would clear up. There's some other things that made me go "okay but why?" or "how?" Still, while the characters are not villains, they are messy and dramatic which may also be somethings folks want to know. If you're looking for betrayals and rivalries among friends and family then this story delivers on that I'd say and I would read book two in the duology. It's fun and fast-paced and I definitely could see the author fixing some things in book two for a 5 star read!