All of Us Villains is the first book in the young adult fantasy by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. This is a great read for those looking for a dark, character-driven fantasy. All of Us Villains is full of fantasy with magic and plenty of twists. Fans of The Hunger Games will not want to miss this one.

4.25 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley, Tor, and Macmillan Audio for an arc of this book!

Every 20 years, the blood moon rises and seven families put forth a champion to compete in a tournament. The prize for winning? Exclusive access to High Magic, the most powerful kind. Losing? Death.

This book was delightfully dark! I loved that there are 4 different character pov's. Sometimes multiple pov's can kind of confuse a story and lessen the character building, but I think it went really well for this one, especially as the start to a series. The characters were all unique and different levels of morally grey, which I found interesting to read about. I also liked to see the way they all interacted with each other.

I love the idea of the competition here and what they have to do. I liked the way the characters tried to thwart expectations in this.

I think some of the magic systems could have been better fleshed out, but I have hope for the future of this series to do just that! And with that ending--I am ready for the sequel!

Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, Blood, Gore, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

After suffering one of the worst reading slumps in recent history, All of Us Villains reignited my love of reading. It is as if this book were written for me as it is a smorgasbord of all my favorite dark tropes: morally gray characters, ruthless families, enemies to lovers (and lovers to enemies), a corruption arc, and a goth cursemaker wearing too much eyeliner who I am probably much too obsessed with.

All of Us Villains is told in the third person perspective of four main characters: all of whom from one of the seven notorious families of Ilvernath who send one champion into a magical tournament to the death to control high magick for the next twenty years. High magick that the world thought was long depleted until a tell-all book on the families, the tournament, and the curse that keeps it running was published the year before.

“Most associate high magick with other distant brutalities of the past: pillaging, plague, and lawlessness. But in Ilvernath a piece of that history lingers, every bit as threatening as it once was.”

I love when books quote from an in-universe history book to enhance the worldbuilding, and the fact that “A Tradition of Tragedy: The True Story of the Town that Sends Its Children to Die” plays an integral role in this generation’s tournament adds an extra touch that tickles my fancy. The book brought the dirty secrets and traditions to light, changed how the main characters are viewed by their friends and townspeople, and catapulted their town into stardom with tourists and paparazzi.

✨ Alistair Lowe is the typical dark and broody bad boy who was raised to be the villain by his family; said to be ruthless and favored to win.
✨ Isobel Macaslan was the first champion announced – like 9 months early – and catapulted into stardom that she didn’t really want.
✨ Gavin Grieve just wants someone to believe in him; his family has never won the tournament and his family stopped trying.
✨ Briony Thorburn is a high achiever who has always wanted to be a champion, believing in her destiny as a hero.

But our characters are not what the book and their families’ histories would make them seem. They each have their own complicated history and relationship with the role they were born into, as well as history with one another that adds to the tension. Everyone is basically doing their best for survival and honestly they are written so well that the reader can’t help but root for all of them.

“Survival can make villains of any of us.”

The growth and development of the characters so far is amazing for one book with the four POVs. Seriously: this book is a prime example of multiple POVs done right. The narrative is tightly woven and each perspective shift enhances our understanding of the world and the characters. How their preconceived notions are challenged and how they grapple with that new information. How they each struggle to survive and who that leads them to become. We have both a redemption arc and a corruption arc, and let me tell you that they are delicious.

The worldbuilding is amazing and vast. I love how it is introduced slowly and unveiled in a way that expands the reader’s understanding without ever becoming boring to trudge through. The magic system is intricate but explained well and has clear rules and limitations.

Betrayals and shifting alliances in an already high stakes tournament environment kept me glued to the book, unwilling to put it down. The number of times that I screamed ‘no’ are plenty as this book tugged on my heartstrings like I were the authors’ marionette. And here I am begging for more because I need book two in my hands immediately.

Highly recommended to fans of dark and morally gray fantasy. Lots of thought went into the development of this world, its history, and the magic system so fans of immersive worldbuilding will be intensely satisfied. While not quite a cliffhanger ending, it definitely leaves you wanting the next book immediately.

It's been so long since a book gripped me from the get-go, and All of Us Villains is definitely an engrossing read! It's the magical Hunger Games/Battle Royale book that you didn't know you needed, but wow, it is a powerhouse! I can practically imagine this as a movie or a Netflix series, it's that good.

The unique magic system draws you in, the tournament hooks you, but its strength lies in its characters. Who do you root for? You'll find yourself torn in different directions, and that's a good thing. Highly recommend!

All of Us Villains is excellent in concept but struggles in execution. The conceit sounds dramatic and exciting -- magic and murder are always a winning combination, and with the added element of fairy tale deconstruction, Villains sounds on the surface like a fantastic ride.

Unfortunately, what it mostly is is dull. The prose is repetitive, often repeating information we've been told two or three times for no discernable reason, and the story moves painfully slowly. The novel does not resolve the plot, clearly leading up to a part two, and it is hard not to feel like it could easily have been one book if the authors had simply written with a modicum of urgency.

The characters are hard to distinguish from one another, all with similar speaking patterns and without any clear differences in character beyond the most superficial. With an instalove romance that feels oddly forced, All of Us Villains simply does not work. In spite of all the mysteries set up for the next book, the odds of me picking up, even to assuage my moderate curiosity, are slim to none.

Thank you to Tor Teen and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not a fan of fantasy. In fact, it’s my least favourite genre and I’m not a fan of third pov either so one is more shocked than me with the rating of this book. I don’t know whether it was the cover or the blurb which which kinda compelled me to sign up for the arc of this one but I’m really glad I did cause this book was so amazing!

The book revolves around a tournament which happens once in twenty years where 7 families would put forth a champion to compete in the tournament to the death. They winner would award their family exclusive claim over high magick till the tournament happened again.

Till last year this whole thing was a private affair but someone wrote a book called “A tradition of Tragedy”
which made everyone (public) aware of this tournament.

So basically, there’s lots of lies, betrayals, magic, darkness, sacrifices, killing, morally grey characters and blood which totally screams of the things I love so I’m not shocked at all that I enjoyed this book so much.

Rest assured, this book was a pleasant surprise. I really didnt know who I was supposed to root for but yes, i already had decided on my favourite character when I read the first line lol (*wink* Alistair *wink*)

I really enjoyed the third pov too! It gave me so much to think about and know more about the other characters. I loved how everyone had a motive to win - may it be because of family pressure, media pressure, wanting to prove everyone wrong - it made me want to root for everyone which wasn’t really possible because only one would be left alive.

The characters were very refreshing to read. I loved Briony’s theories, Isobel’s confidence, Gavin’s eagerness to prove everyone wrong and Alistairs villainous yet kind heart and his love and loyalty towards his brother.

The writing style was phenomenal. The writing flowed flawlessly and the world the book was set in was wonderfully described and made.

Overall, this book was a pleasant surprise! The ending killed me and I can’t wait for book 2! I need it like RIGHT NOW.

<i> Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an eArc in exchange for an honest review. </i>

This way for magic and monsters, curses and spells!

I'm not a fan of multiple POV books, but these authors executed this well and I didn't mind so much. The world building was done well, no huge info dumps. The pacing was just right (for me anyway).

I cannot wait to get my hands on a finished copy!

Too many characters that I don't like. The Battle Royale thing is played out, we've seen it over and over again.

Reading this book was such a letdown and it was perhaps one of the most difficult books for me to finish this year because I was just not enjoying a single page of it. Reading it was very frustrating and tbh most of my notes on this are just complaints. I was very intrigued when I read the premise because the plot sounded good, also I loved The Hunger Games when I was a teenager so it really piqued my interest when I found out that this would have kind of a similar concept but with magic and a cast of morally grey characters. Except that wasn't what really happened. Honestly this book could've been great if it was actually executed well but... alas. The thing is I actually liked the first half of this book more than the second half even though it was basically just an exposition. That said, with the amount of time spent on that, the magic system shouldn't have been as vague as it was to follow once the tournament actually started. Moreover, this book suffered from too much telling and not enough showing that it got so so annoying for me. I was constantly rolling my eyes whenever I would read about the characters talking about how wicked and cruel they are and blah blah because I couldn't take them seriously. It was like the authors were trying way too hard to convince me that these characters are morally grey to the point where they forgot to actually show it. The romance also happened so randomly ??? Like, I know it was literally shoved in our faces that those two characters would be the love interests from the very first chapter, but they literally had 0 to none connection and chemistry (also they were so wrong for marketing this as a "queer thg" when it has nothing to do with the romance and there's only one character who was truly queer). Tbh I basically just skimmed this book when I reached the 80% mark because I wanted it to be over already. It had those moments where it was finally getting compelling but then it would literally just derail right after and I'd go back to being frustrated. Anyway, this is obviously an unpopular opinion but this book did not give what it was supposed to give and that was disappointing.

HOLY COW! This book was not at all what I expected, and I mean that in the very best of ways! I anticipated yet another riff on the magical tournament trope and while yes, there is a magical tournament, it isn’t for the faint of heart. This is a YA grimdark tourney to the death where only one can survive, because if a winner doesn’t rise in three months time then all the contestants die. All of Us Villains stands out from the crowd and is definitely one of the best YA books I’ve read all year.

The story starts off by slowly introducing us to our contestants, how they're dealing with tournament preparations, and showing the reader how different this tournament is compared to those long past. You see, someone wrote an exposé on the town of Ilvernath and the seven families who vie for control of the last high magic in the world. It aired all the dirty secrets and now the world has their eyes on Ilvernath and the "Slaughter Seven" as they've dubbed the teens who are about to fight to the death. Paparazzi, reporters, and even a few meddling government representatives are constantly lingering about. As if it's not difficult enough, the teenagers who may have to kill their classmates, cousins, or even a boyfriend or girlfriend in the coming months also have to put on a good face for the world.

The characters are a varied bunch, though all are skilled enough at magic to give their family a chance for success. Alistair Lowe was raised to be a monster and the Lowe's win two out of three tournaments, so he's clearly one to watch out for. Isabel Macaslan was touted as the first champion, just after the scandalous book was released to the world and everyone snubs their nose at her for seeming too eager and desperate for attention. Briony Thorburn is/was Isobel's best friend who's wanted to be champion since she was little and sees herself as a heroic figure. Finley is Briony's ex-boyfriend - they broke up because Briony told him she'd kill him on the tournament. I mean, that's pretty harsh, but at least she was practical. Gavin Grieve is the most likely to die on the first night. The Grieve's aren't strong magicians and he can barely cast a class five spell. Grieve is desperate to win and it definitely shows. The other two champions are less memorable- Elionor Payne and Carbry Darrow are cousins and aren't given too much page time. 

The cast is excellent and between the champions themselves, their families, the media, and the spellmakers there's plenty of drama to go around. And I mean PLENTY. It's juicy stuff that will horrify and fascinate you by turns. Like, these families are hiding some shady stuff that even the exposé didn't reveal and honestly, this book is even better than adult fantasy in that regard. 

I loved this book and I can absolutely see myself re-reading this before the next installment comes out (whenever that may be), so I'll probably pick up a hard copy. As you get further along in the story, the title will 110% make sense - this isn't a jolly happy story, it's basically a tragedy but it's so good! The book ends with another reveal that wasn't entirely surprising because that particular character was suspicious AF from the get go, but MAN do I need the next book soon!!! Highly recommend you check this out and don't let the YA label deter you too much!

What works
First up, All of Us Villains handles exposition really impressively. Each chapter begins with an excerpt of the tell-all book mentioned in the above summary meaning we get valuable background info that doesn’t bog down the actually story. Great choice.

Also, even though they may behave horribly at times, the characters themselves are really likeable. They’re complex, with motives that shift as the story unfolds. The idea that everything is a story and that they can always change said stories or even the story is cool.

All of Us Villains is some really dark YA, with an intriguing plot. I really, really wanted to know what was going to happen, and the narrative momentum made this a quick read.

Finally, this might seem small, but the authors employ the phrase “died by suicide,” the term mental health advocates prefer. It’s so, so important.

What doesn’t work
While Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman have drawn their characters well, their world-building isn’t quite there. I didn’t understand if this story takes place in an alternate universe or in the future; and if it takes place in the future, where is Ilvernath? On that note, the authors could have handled the characters’ interpersonal relationships a bit better. I’m fine with the insta-love trope; however, when you omit even the paltry week’s time the characters spend getting to know one another from the narrative, what’s left?

The other big issue I had definitely affected how I read All of Us Villains … but that was totally on me, since I hadn’t realized this was the first book of a duology. I kept expecting this to lead to a more satisfying conclusion. It became obvious at about the 70% mark that there was no way the story ended in one book, and I was able to relax into it a bit more.

There’s some ableist language about mental health that goes unchecked. Yuck.

Should you read it?
Just to get this out of the way, if you couldn’t handle the kid-on-kid violence of The Hunger Games, you absolutely should not read this book. But, if you can read that kinda horror, I’d say yes, All of Us Villains is totally worth a read. I do hope the sequel rectifies some of the issues I have with the first book, but since I still want to read the sequel that means, on the balance, All of Us Villains is worth recommending.

One final note: All of Us Villains is shelved as LGBTQ+, and while there is queer character representation, queerness doesn’t come up much. So don’t go in expecting this to be a LGBTQ+ book, exactly. (That’s not a knock against the book, by the way).

Well, I just read something interesting. It is not new to put children up to meet their death in a harrowing battle. This goes back to ancient Greece. This new take on it was interesting and intriguing. Families who control magic get found out by the rest of the world just as they are readying for the once in a generation tournament. Well, that's awkward. The tournament gives these 7 kids 3 months to kill each other. We get to know several of them. I did have a hard time differentiating a few characters for about half of the book. They melted together for me but eventually pulled apart. With the suddenness of the ending, I feel like I cannot truly know if I like this until I get a a chance to know where it goes from here. Good start, though.

I really enjoyed this book! I think it's important to know going into it that it isn't a standalone, as that makes it more understandable when it takes a little while for this magical Hunger Games style tournament to actually kick off. I really appreciate that we got this slower start because seeing our protagonists interact with their families is so important for explaining their behaviour throughout the rest of the book, but I can see why the pacing wouldn't work for everyone.

Our four main characters have been encouraged all their lives to kill or be killed which obviously is not going to leave you with a healthy, well-adjusted teen, but I cared for all of them - though some took a while to warm up to. Even when I caught myself thinking 'this is a little melodramatic', enough time had been spent building up the characters' families and pre-tournament lives that I could understand the characters' thoughts and actions. And because every other reviewer seems to want to mention it - despite the title, none of these characters are out and out villains, though they are morally grey, given the fact they're willing (to varying degrees) to murder other teens. Personally I think it would be boring and one-note if any of these kids were the villains everyone wants them to be, and that's what makes them so intriguing and easy to root for despite their mistakes and bad decisions. I loved following them and I tore through this book just to find out what would happen to them.

I also really enjoyed the world of this book. We never really leave Ilvernath but I felt I got a good sense of the world of this book, or at least the atmosphere of it. It's a dark fantasy world that is a lot like our own, but the existence of magick means some things are very different and some more subtly different. I really appreciated that it didn't stop the story to explain everything about the world and magick in detail but just trusted the reader to pick up on the important parts and go with the flow. There's the specter of the tournament hanging over the whole first half of the story and then there's the threat of brutal murder throughout the second half, so it kept me hooked to the story and I read it in 2 days. I feel like that's the best way to read this book because it keeps the momentum going, whereas if I'd put it down and come back to it after a few days, it might have been harder to slip right back in.

I'll definitely be picking up the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I was immediately drawn to this book, as I love villains, so when I was given the opportunity to read this book from the publisher and NetGalley, I squealed with joy and dove right in.
This story is told from the point of view of four teenagers who are part of a curse that has held their families victims for centuries. The idea is that the winner of the competition will have access to the last of the world’s High Magick, something people are willing to kill for…literally. Truly, these teens have been raised as lambs for the slaughter under the belief that their trials are a holy and their possible deaths are on the same level as that of heroes of old. The problem? These kids don’t have want to just go along and play their assigned roles.
The story bounces from each main characters’ point of view, which gives the reader the ability to see how they feel and their inner desires. I personally love Isobel, but all of the characters have my heart.
I loved every moment of reading this book and the twists had me on the edge of my seat. And that ending! The ending has me DYING for the sequel! This book really makes you think about what makes a villain a villain, but also what makes someone a hero.
While this story is meant for young adults, I found the characters very mature and it was easy to fall into their head spaces and world. I highly recommend this book and think it will be a popular story.

I think this book was fantastic. My all time favorite series is Hunger Games, and this certainly gave me nostalgia from that. Usually I hate when books are based off the Hunger Games and it's a direct copy but I think this author really took it to a new direction and mixed it up! I'm excited to own the hard copy so I'm able to annotate. Definitely recommend!

This book was on my "most anticipated releases of 2021" list but sadly didn't end up living up to the hype.

The pacing is all over the place, especially at the beginning where it takes way too long for the tournament to start. I guess that this time was supposed to be used to introduce the reader to the characters, which brings me to my next point: weren't all of these characters supposed to be morally gray/ villainous? This book constantly tells you that the characters are "bad" but it doesn't show any of that.
I was generally dissapointed with the way that these characters were written because I expected all of them to be really angry about their situation, especially when they find out that there might be a way out of this game.
Speaking of the characters, wasn't this supposed to be queer? I certainly did not feel represented by any of these characters.

Overall, I feel like this book should not be compared to the Hunger Games at all. Not just because it's neither thrilling nor emotional but also because the "romance" in the Hunger Games makes sense to me in it being faked (or at least partially faked) for the sake of survival, but in this case ... oh boy. I'm sure romance would be the last thing on your mind when you have to fight for your survival but in this book we get the "I can fix him" trope. For what? To kill him later on?

The ending was honestly my favorite part, even though it was all over the place, because it twisted the story around a little bit.
Sadly, this was a dissapointment for me and I won't be picking up the sequel.

I really enjoyed this book! It’s well written and the main characters are fully fleshed out. Each chapter jumps between character’s perspectives, but it’s written in the third person. Believe it or not this is my first time reading a book with magic that had actual spells, like here’s a spell I cast to heal myself, here’s a spell to make you tell the truth, here’s a spell to bounce your magic back to you, etc., and that was a lot of fun. It was interesting to see that most of the “villains“ in the book are really the families who have shaped and molded and forced these kids; it’s not the kids themselves...well, it’s not *most* of the kids 😉
The book ends on a big fat cliffhanger, so now I am eagerly awaiting the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley & Tor Teen for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The tag line for this series is Hunger Games with Magic-sold. Give this to me like yesterday. For me, the reason Hunger Games was a big draw is not only the drama of pitting teenagers against teenagers for one to win; it is also the heart and soul that comes from the characters from the circumstances they have been placed in. In All of Us Villians, the prize is control of high magick, and the test is held within the stories that the seven families have fed their children since birth. There are seven landmarks, seven relics, and a whole set of rules that surround this curse that plagues the town and one contender who should not even be there wants to end it all. The secret of this curse has been hidden from the world, but now a tell-all book has leaked every delicious fact of it—all eyes on who will win at the end of the three-month competition. I was on the edge of my seat, devouring each page, wondering just who was going to betray who. Could the curse be ended, and who wrote the tell-all book teased at the top of the chapters. All of Us Villians is delicious, dark, and worth every minute of reading time, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

What kind of book is this?
This is a dark fantasy story set in a realistic world, if magic had been an intrinsic part of our world. There are seven elite families who control a source of powerful magic, but everyday citizens can use and wield much less powerful, common magic.

Spoiler-Free Summary:
All of Us Villians will aptly be compared to The Hunger Games because the majority of the story is focused on a deathmatch-style tournament contest which is held once per generation. The purpose of the tournament is to determine which of several elite families will control a source of powerful magic for the next several years. Of course, the tournament and its participants are not entirely what they appear to be.

General Ideas (Spoiler-Free):
This is definitely a dark fantasy story with gore and cursed magic. The descriptions of specific curses are rather gruesome and the story could potentially be classified as horror, though the overall story is a magical mystery. If the predominant use of dark, corrupt magic is appealing (think an entire story about Slytherins) then this book will certainly appeal to you. The story seems to be a standalone, but that is not the case. There is a sequel and the plot threads are not fully resolved.

Overall, All of Us Villians was a 3.75 out of 5 for me. I found the world unique and the magic system compelling. I found the characters lacking in depth and their motivations questionable. The four narrator PoV may have detracted from my ability to become invested in each character’s plight. Likewise, everyone is so moody and broody that there was little contrast between the characters to inform their actions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Teen for providing an Audiobook and eARC for this book for me to review.

All of Us Villains is a Young Adult Fantasy novel, the first half of a duology, from authors Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. It's a book that will be reminiscent of a lot of other works for frequent readers, with elements of classic YA standouts in The Hunger Games/Battle Royale (a bunch of teens are forced into a competition to kill each other) while also featuring elements that reminded me of Kat Howard's adult work, An Unkindness of Magicians. So it's a book attempting to cover pretty familiar territory, which gives it a high bar to clear.

And well, All of Us Villains is fine, but it doesn't quite do anything particularly unique or interesting, and it suffers from a bizarre choice of ending that make it feel like the book is one half of a book just cut in two. The four main characters are decently well done and enjoyable, as is the magic-based world: where a more powerful special magic is only available to one of seven families who wins a cursed battle to the death every so often, where the champions are teens who have their own relationships and reasons not to want to kill or to die, etc. And the prose reads decently well so as to make it never seem slow or unenjoyable. But the book just doesn't do anything to distinguish itself, and that ending is just incredibly unsatisfying.
---------------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------
For years, the world though High Magick was a thing of the past - a magic far more powerful than the common magick everyone else wielded, one that had helped kingdoms rise and fall. But in the city of Ilvermath, to a few families and assorted others, it is known that High Magick still exists: in the hands of one of seven magically-talented families, who battle ever generation in a cursed tournament for the right to control this resource for the next few years....a battle, that is always to the death. It's a tournament that has always been secret....until this year, when someone released a tell-all book exposing its existence to the world.

Suddenly the seven families find themselves celebrities, and everyone wants a piece of the contest and the high magick that is its prize. But for the teens who would be champions, the tournament is their darkest fear - where they will be forced to kill their friends, or more likely be killed themselves. It's an event where their families will try to make them into monsters and do unspeakable things, and those who seemingly have no chance will do anything for the chance to survive.

And it's a cursed event that some will want, for the first time, to change, and to end it once and for all. But when ending the cursed tournament will require cooperation from those who will otherwise be better off killing you, is it really even possible?
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All of Us Villains has a setup that's fairly well done. You have a world where common magick isn't unknown, and people can craft spells into items they can then use common magick to cast, at various levels of difficulty and power (with more powerful spells and curses requiring greater sacrifice to perform). There's high magick, which lets your spells be extra powerful and thus is incredibly valuable, and so the idea of a bunch of families squabbling over it all makes a lot of sense, even if it's not an original idea. And then it throws a loop it all by making the whole tournament exposed to the paparazzi and the world, forcing the horrors of a tournament of teens killing each other into the light, and exposing our teenage protagonists to celebrity and pressure like never before.

The book focuses on four of the seven champions, for better or worse - it does make it clear that the three other teens aren't likely to survive this story, or else we'd actually see scenes from their own points of view. First there's Alistair Lowe, the latest expected champion from the family who usually wins the tournament, and who are known to be evil monsters....but really doesn't have the heart to be the monster his family wants of him. Then there's Isobel Macaslan, the girl who didn't want to be a champion but was forced into it by the actions of others, for whom betrayal has left her without hope, resulting in her desperately trying to win even as she starts to develop feelings for one other champion. There's Briony Thorburn, the girl who wanted desperately to be champion only to be denied, and who realizes now what being champion would do to others, so she selfishly tries to find a way to destroy the tourney. And then there's Gavin Grieve, the boy from the family expected to lose immediately, who makes a deal with the devil to obtain the power to possibly win...only to realize the power isn't what he expected, and neither is his own feelings. The quarter are all messy in their emotions and relationships, whether that be in friendships, romances, or whatever but well they're teens, so that makes a lot of sense.

The thing is that while they're all well done, none of them are anything that really transcend the archetypes they're fit into, and they all feel very done before. And that's also true with the rest of the plot, as things develop, and we have alliances form, all in ways that well...will feel like many another book before it. And there's one character who's an obvious antagonist from the beginning, who the book tries to act like it's a surprise near the end when it's finally revealed (and several characters clearly are near figuring it out midway through but never come to that final conclusion), which just doesn't really work.

And then there's this book's ending which....there's a trend in YA at the moment towards duologies, and so many of them feel like someone decided to chop a book in half and sell it twice, without any concern as to whether that first book is satisfying on its own. And that's exactly what happens here, where the ending is less a series of cliffhangers and more just a "stop" right as characters finally realize what's going on and make choices - and well those are the moments that you want to carry your book, they shouldn't be your cliffhangers...but they are here. It's what takes a fine if unremarkable piece of YA fantasy and really makes it hard to recommend, because no one is going to be satisfied with just this book. Alas.