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I was really excited about this one (did you read that description, it sounds amazing!) and it just didn't hit the mark for me. The beginning was slow, then the middle hooked me and I was pretty into it, but then the end went in a direction that I really didn't like. I enjoyed my time overall but I don't plan to read the next one, so I gave it 3 stars.

The writing and the atmosphere are really the strength of this book. It definitely had that dark, creepy feeling and was a good fit for the week leading up to Halloween. The writing was also incredibly thoughtful. I was confused at the beginning with some characters being referred to by first names and other by their last and then I realized that it's actually that under one of the points of view, all of the champions are referred to by their last name because he was raised to know his competition by the traits of their family, not as people. This intricacy of the writing and so many other little gems were just so thoughtful, it was a pleasure to read.

The magic system played into the spooky atmosphere and was certainly unique. I did get a little frustrated with the magic system as it never felt fully explained and I have so many questions about it. Even something basic like whether everyone in the world can do magic or is it some subset never seemed clear and I went back and forth.

I really hope the final physical copies of this book have some maps and charts and stuff. I really would have liked a map of the playing field, list of landmarks, etc. I didn't decrease my rating based on this but if I had a final physical copy and this was included, it may have increased my score as some of this wasn't super well explained and I found myself a little confused.

My biggest issue with this book is the number of points of view, 4 was just too many for the first book in a series that's 400 pages long. From what I could tell, each of the four got equal time so that's only 100 pages per character. This left all of the characters feeling not quite developed and with such big gaps between being back in a character's head, it felt choppy. Characters had big changes in motivation or feelings and it was only seen through the eyes of another character and by the time you got back to them, you missed the whole thing. The POVs was also part of the reason the beginning of the book was so slow, we had to separately meet each character and find out how they became a champion.

Alistair was definitely my favorite character and I think I would have had a much better reading experience if the entire story was told from his point of view or maybe him and one other. Four was just too many and unnecessary to tell this story. Although each character did feel a little underdeveloped, I did think they were solid characters and I liked the differences in them and that they didn't really remind me of any other characters.

All of this aside, I was really into this book at about 300 pages in. I was expecting a climactic ending and that I'd want the next one right away. I didn't get this. Instead, I got a really bizarre twist where suddenly multiple characters did things out of character or totally undid the growth from the rest of the story and went back to square one. It left me confused and disappointed. I was so invested in Alistair and just hate what the authors did to his character at the end, it totally undid the middle of the book.

So I won't be picking up the next one and ended up at 3 stars. I'd definitely consider picking up another book by either of these authors though as the writing and overall idea were really good.

*I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

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Thank you to the publisher, Tor Teen, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Every twenty years, we send seven teenagers into a massacre and reward the one who comes out with the most blood on their hands”

In the remote city of Ilvernath, the seven leading families each name a champion to take part in a tournament to the death every twenty years when the Blood Moon Rises. Only one will survive and gain the prize for their family – exclusive access to a cache of high magick, powerful and extremely rare until the next tournament. The cursed cycle has continued, generation after generation for centuries, but this year, with a tell-all book leaking the secret tradition to the world being published right before the tournament is due to start, the champions are under a media spotlight as reporters and spellmakers have descended on Ilvernath en masse. This offers them new information and avenues to victory, but the stakes are also higher than ever. This tournament will be unlike any other before it.

I received a sample of this book earlier this year and I knew within the first couple of chapters that this needed to be on my TBR. Simply put, I would describe this as Hunger Games with magic, and a bit of Game of Thrones tossed in for good measure. The world building was really good and none of it felt like info dumps despite how much information was there. The magic system was a fascinating one, and along with a unique plot and some epic magical duels, this book was an engrossing read right from the beginning.

Curses and tournaments and magical battles aside, the cast of characters are undoubtedly what make this book. There are no heroes to be found among the champions of this tournament. Each has their own reasons and motivations to win, and it was strange to find that I didn’t have someone to root for until well beyond the halfway mark – because each is as bad as the next. Once I got past that very odd revelation however, it was so very easy to become invested in each of their storylines despite not really liking any of them.

Alastair Lowe has a reputation of being cold blooded, calculating and ruthless, traits that have assured the Lowes frequent victories in the past. Isobel never expected to be chosen as the Champion of the Macaslan family, but as she is the strongest, her family sees an opportunity to gain power through her victory – though Isobel herself is torn between family loyalty and the desire to flee and seek out a different life. Briony Thorburn, on the other hand, fully expects to be chosen to represent her family, until she’s not and must watch her younger sister take the honor she has trained for all her life. Gavin Grieve is widely considered to be the weakest champion, and his family is more or less a laughing stock in the city, having never won a tournament before, but this is his chance to change everything and prove his worth. Each of these four champions have their own POVs which gives us a very good idea of not only their mindset but glimpses into their past and what led them to this stage. While some of the champions have been raised with this sole aim in mind and are more than willing to do what it takes to win, others are reluctant participants with no other choice. It was also interesting that many of them knew each other from school and some were even friends before being forced to cut ties – and this also plays a significant role in the arena as the tournament proceeds. Alastair was definitely my favorite, with Gavin a close second, but I really couldn’t stand the others, especially Briony, who was nothing more than a glory hog despite all her claims of being selfless.

The pacing was initially quite steady, and the build up to the tournament actually starting was excellent, but once the tournament actually started, the pace began to feel a bit choppy. The passage of time was also a bit hard to grasp for me since one chapter is full of action, and in the next, weeks seem to pass with barely a mention of what happened it between. However, what really prevented this from being a 5 star read for me was the characters, who, while wonderful, were not nearly as villainous as I expected. I was hoping for ruthless antiheroes, but one way or another, they instead turned out to be just doing what their families told them to, essentially martyring themselves in hopes of winning the tournament. By the end of the book, I feel like only Alastair and Gavin even somewhat fit the description, thought I was certainly ready to scream with how long it took them to get there. As for the dynamic between the characters, well, suffice to say, I was expecting more Hunger Games and less ‘let’s team up to stop this and save everyone’, which ultimately didn’t work and devolved into what felt like an endlessly repetitive cycle of forming alliances and backstabbing each other.

Amanda Foody set a very high standard to match with the finale to The Shadow Game trilogy last year, but this book has definitely lived up to it and more, despite a few highly frustrating points. I can’t wait for the sequel, especially after that shocking twist at the end that I had only barely begun to suspect, no to mention the place at which each of the characters find themselves in at this pivotal point in the tournament. This was a brilliant start to a new series and it is one I would highly recommend!

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Firstly just this cover, WOW, love it so much. All of us Villains is an awesome twisted fantasy book! Could not get enough of this. Its a mashup of Hunger Games and Addams family and evil magic!

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Does anyone need any more convincing to pick this up after reading "Hunger Game BUT WITH MAGIC"? because I really didn't. What really did piss me off though is that we had FOUR POV characters and it made it IMPOSSIBLE for me to put this book down because I kept needing to get back to so-and-so's POV to know what happened. And don't even get me started on the last 25% of this book that really made it impossible for me to stop. This was definitely a fast read for me.

So every 20 years, seven major families must send someone (a young adult? pretty sure there is an age range but I can't recall what) to compete to the death to earn the family access to HIGH MAGIC! Rare magic that, outside of these families, is thought to not exist and awards the winning family with unimaginable power. There is an arena and magical landmarks for "bases" and magical items that fall from the sky. Competitors use boring ole "normal magic" through rings or jewelry to gain the upper hand. But this year is different - what was once a secret has been published in a TELL-ALL book about these families and their competition. So this year looks a little different with media and governmental influences.

The premise was so intriguing and I loved learning about this magic system (although I admit I'm still not 100% certain I understand it and do wish we got a little more explanation there) and how this story really does drop us into the DRAMA of the competition and the media frenzy. I loved all our POV characters in their own ways and their motivation and desires for being in the competition and their journey to accepting what it may mean to either die or live when the price is the death of their peers.

The first character we meet is Alistair and his brother Hendry Lowe. Their family currently holds high magic and generally dominates the competition. Alistair is "the one to beat" but also shoulders the high pressure from his family to meet their murderous expectations. He is introduced as this character who "has death on his mind" and accepts his role as "a monster" but also is just a total softy with his brother so consider me sold immediately. All the characters have this very dichotomous mindset or personality that just adds a layer of empathy for the role they must fulfill for their family that it is really hard to root for any one person throughout. Although at times this dichotomy lends itself to characters motivations shifting throughout the book which was, at times, frustrating to read.

Overall, I highly recommend this if you're looking for a darker YA read, enjoy unique magic systems, complex or grey characters, competitions, and... sorry to say this.... cliffhangers

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Teenagers in a deadly magical match.
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In the city of Ilvernath, 7 families have competed in the Blood Trials for exclusive access to high magic every 20 years for 800 years. The Trial is back again.
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As a whole, I enjoyed this book with its "modernized" magic system and the multiple PoVs of our contestants, as well as the overall darkness and atmosphere. Though the development of some of the characters and the choices they made could have used some more time to happen. Some things were a little too sudden.

This book is a good pick for anyone looking for: urban fantasy, YA, magic, dark, morally grey characters, minor romance, a little bit of mystery and questionable family traditions.

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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 4/5 stars.

The cover? I requested it because of the cover and the description. I didn't expect ANYTHING as I read it. While there are MANY POVs, they all intertwine beautifully (which, I normally don't like multiple POVs...so this says a lot). The whole premise is magical realism. There's a town that every 20 years, they have a curse where they send 7 children, one from each of a certain family, into a dome (re: hunger games) where they fight it out to the death to earn their family's right to control the remaining high magic. The magic itself requires spellstones (set in jewelry) to cast, with each spell or curse taking a stone (and needing to be recharged). There's different levels of curses and spells, and people can specialize in casting, crafting, etc. I LOVED it. It was very unique for a fantasy/magic story.

The characters are beautifully, morally grey. They are teenagers...who prepare their entire life to be the champion once the blood moon falls. They have to kill for the tournament. They are teenagers...who train with DEATH CURSES. Morally grey...so much.

The twists, the turns, the magic. I loved it. I only deducted a star simply because I would have appreciated more world building. Why are there towns where this high magic happens? How do people do spells and curses in this town? Why is it just this town? What started it? I need more world building...even if it is a magical realism book.

Also...the twists at the end...HOW DARE YOU. I like knew this was a series...but I didn't really KNOW it was a series until I hit 85% read and they had just started to realize something...anyways...

AMAZING.

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If you know me, you know I love morally grey characters. Seriously, there's a reason I love Six of Crows. Suffice to say, I was incredibly eager to read this book. Combine that with the fact that this is billed as similar to The Hunger Games (a truly iconic book) and I was ready for a new favorite. Unfortunately, as seems to be a trend recently, I was a bit disappointed.

Something about this book just didn't click for me. Maybe the characters? Our story is told from four POVs, and if we're being honest, Alistair was the only character whose chapters really drew me in. It took me until around the 50% mark to be able to differentiate between the others.

I will say, though, that this book has an interesting plot going for it! After the way it ended, I may pick up the second book just to see how Alistair ended up. 😂

Overall, I think is a fairly generic fantasy, but hey! That genre seems to be doing pretty great right now!

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Although this novel was not what I expected or had hoped for, I enjoyed it quite a bit nonetheless. All Of Us Villains is a story about a cursed town where every 20 years one champion is selected from each of the main seven families to compete in a magical battle to the death. The winning family gets access to the high magick for the next 20 years. This time around, the tournament does not necessarily go as planned.

Characters (8/10): I really enjoyed all the character POV’s we got. Out of the seven champions we see from four perspectives and each one was engaging. It was fascinating to see the characters grow over the course of the novel. The only thing I have to say is that I would have liked to see the characters be a bit more “villainous”. These “villains” were a bit more softhearted than I had anticipated, but despite the unexpected personalities I think it worked well for what the story required and I loved the characters in the end regardless.

Plot (7/10): It starts out your typical gladiator style battle royal (which I love) but the story develops into more. I like that it did not just stick to everyone murdering everyone and there was even some mystery. The cliffhanger at the end has been highly anticipating the sequel!

World (6/10): We do not get to see anything outside our cured little town, but the lore surrounding the town and its families is quite intriguing on its own. It would be interesting to see how and if magick and high magick is used elsewhere as well.

Magic (9/10): This magic system was brutal, and unpredictable with some terrifying repercussions and I loved it. The way magick was crafted and stored in stones to be casted so so clever. I loved that it was set up in a way that just because you were the most powerful did not mean you could beat the other champions. And there was serious risk when crafting high level curses that added to the unpredictability of the story.

Writing (7/10): The writing was engaging and easy to follow. It did what it needed to do to portray this story and to give distinctive voices to the main four perspectives.

Entertainment (9/10): While it had a slow build up, once they were in the tournament I flew through this story. I just wanted to know what happened next. Despite not being as bloodthirsty as I anticipated I enjoyed the turn it took and was hooked regardless.

Total: 7.7/10. The ending left me wanting more and I already can not wait for the sequel. I need to know what happens next!

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The entirety of the fifth star is purely for Alistair bc I love him and he deserves a star.

This was quite honestly, incredible. I was so excited to read this ever since my friend, Amity, read an ARC and told me about it!! I’m SO happy it lived up to my expectations hehe, everything was so well written!! I honestly didn’t read too much about the synopsis before starting it because I wanted to experience things without too much knowledge of what would happen, and I’m so glad I did! It was a lot of fun learning about the characters, the world, and the magic system (which is SO unique!!).

AOUV is a story featuring a tournament between 7 champions from the 7 prominent families, where the family of the last champion standing takes control over the high magick available. The magic system so unique! From my understanding and poor memory, people have to craft and weave curses or charms made from raw magick into rings adorned with spellstones, and power was limited by things such as caster ability, crafter ability and strength of the raw magick. I thought it was so interesting how everything weaved together, and I loved the idea of it!

The story is told from the perspective of four champions: Alistair Lowe, Isobel Macaslan, Gavin Grieve and Briony Thornburn, in that order. This order is also, my order of favourites funnily enough! Essentially I would die for Alistair and I love him to pieces. Hands-down my favourite character, he fit the villain narrative perfectly, but we’ll see just how much of it he truly fits. Isobel gave me very primadonna girl vibes initially, but she turned out to be way more than that so I’m super happy! A few times her decisions were VERY questionable, but seemed ok. Gavin was mildly boring at the start, and he seemed to wallow in his own constant thoughts that his family was the most looked-down on, but it was SO GOOD to see him moving past that and becoming his own person. Briony was…. Honestly terrible. Like, she came across as SO selfish and it was incredibly hard to believe she was doing things for others instead of herself, but we’ll see what happens in the next book.

Each character had their own distinctive thoughts, their own voice and were so well crafted and written! My favourite PoV was Alistairs (I might be a BIT biased though hehe), but they all worked really nicely together to explain the different families, dynamics and the overall history of the world.

Initially, the story was a little hard to follow since you had to learn about a whole new world, magic system, and characters, but once I got the hang of it, I really loved it! I couldn’t put the book down, and I honestly thought this was incredible! BUT the ending came WAY too soon, I can’t believe I have to wait one more WHOLE YEAR to find out what happens next???? Waiting for the sequel to an incredible book is literally the worst 😩 Anyway, I highly recommend this, add it to your TBR!! Xo

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I received a digital advance copy of All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman via NetGalley. All of Us Villains is scheduled for release on November 9, 2021.

All of Us Villains follows seven young adults, each the champion of their magical family. The Blood Moon has risen, and the Blood Veil has fallen, signaling the start of this generations tournament to the death. Each champion is seeking control of high magic for their family.

This tournament has a bit of a twist, however. Recently a tell-all book hit the world, revealing the tournament and secrets of the families to the world at large. As a result, some champions are more committed than ever to win the grand prize, while others are interested in changing the story for everyone.

While there are seven champions, not all of them are point of view characters in this story. Which is a good thing. The authors present us four point of view characters which does work to give us a well-rounded picture of the tournament, and represents the various views the champions have on the tournament itself and their place in it. For me, having four point of view characters did have a down side. I did sometimes struggle to follow the shifts from one character to another (in terms of remembering who they were and what was happening with them in the story). I did also feel that while the four main characters were given different characteristics (and were often delightfully gray in moral character), it was difficult to really get attached to any of them with the shifts in the narrator.

This story does heavily involve the use of magic. The authors have created a magic system that has some familiar elements, but with twists that are unique to the world of this story. I did leave the book with some questions about the magic, the town, and the larger world, but this didn’t really bother me. There was enough in this novel for me to follow what was happening with the magic, but enough space for the authors to continue to develop it in future books.

I’m still not sure how I feel in terms of the plot. I expected the tournament to reach some conclusion during this novel. This is not the case. The story leaves off very much with the tournament still ongoing. While there was a climactic event of sorts, it did feel a bit incomplete to me. I’m not sure if this is expected to be a duology or a series, but reading book 2 will definitely be necessary to feel any sort of closure for the story that begins here.

Overall, All of Us Villains was a solid story of somewhat questionable characters attempting to do the right thing. The question here is the right thing for who?

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I heard a lot about this book pre-release, and so was very eager to read this book that was being compared to the Hunger Games and hyped so much. I wasn’t disappointed-this was a great book, and calling it “Hunger Games with Magic”, while not untrue, would be a vast oversimplification. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Alistair, and loved how they developed as the story went on.
One thing I would have loved more of though, was actual “villainy” as per the title. There’s not much moral grey or black areas to be found.
Can’t wait for the sequel!

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Thank you to Net-Galley for the e-ARC!

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book! I flew through it. It follows a handful of teenagers in Ilvernath as they prepare for and fight in a tournament for control of high magic. A group of teenagers supposed to fight to the death, all of them villains? It was such a great atmospheric read for fall. The book has a longer lead up, and we get more backstory on the families and how/why they choose their champions. I like the build up and I thought it was fun to read, though it is not as action packed as the tournament itself.

There are four different POVs in the story, though the full cast of characters is bigger. I think the book did a good job in distinguishing the voices of the characters in the POVs.

I think the main thing I would say I wanted more of is world building outside of magic. There are mentions of other towns that have high magick, and it seems to be adjacent to the real world, and I want to know more on how that works.

All in all, I really enjoyed this and I’m looking forward to reading the next one when it comes out.

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4.5 stars

The Hunger Games with magic!

WOW! This book was amazing! Seven families have a tournament to fight for control of high magick. While there is common magick that anyone can use, high magick is special. Hundreds of years ago these seven families decided they wanted the high magick for themselves but couldn’t agree on who should get it. They’re solution, one person from each family fighting to the death and whoever is victorious wins the high magick for their family until the next tournament.
I loved that this book included chapters from the characters perspectives. We see the chapters from 4 of the 7 champions, aka the kids competing. I do wish we got to know the other 3 champions more, with their own chapters, rather than just small snippets here and there throughout the book.
I also loved that each chapter is started off with quotes from the book “A Tradition of Tragedy”. This tell-all gets their bloody tournament on the map to outsiders of Ilvernath, where the book takes place.
I cannot wait for the next book with an ending like that!!


I received an advance review copy for free for NetGalley!

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Absolutely raging because I needed SO much more! I am thrilled this will continue on but wow having to wait to find out what happens to these kids?! Unreasonable. But seriously, excellent book, such a cool concept with a public relations twist that I really enjoyed. I loved this book and am thrilled for it to be released so I can chat with others about it!

Special shoutout to NetGalley and TorTeen for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Well, wasn't this a nice lil surprise.

I've had this book on my radar for a while. In Ilvernath, during the Blood Moon, seven families offer a teen champion to compete for the chance at control over magic, but only the winner can come out alive. What's usually a private affair gets blown up by the release of a book by one of the family members that details all the goings-on, and for the first time the competition has a high press presence. This was such an interesting premise; like a high fantasy, less dystopian more family drama Hunger Games (though honestly media eating up the fact that children have to kill each other is still pretty dystopian).

This is split into four POVs, of which unfortunately I really only liked Gavin. Don't get me wrong - seeing the different family dynamics and what certain characters were really thinking during certain moments is great, but there was something about Gavin that I genuinely cared about in the way I didn't for literally everyone else.

It's not that this book was bad, it's that.... it didn't quiiite give me what I wanted. I'm not really sure why! Everything about this book was fine, I have no major complaints. But that's just it. It was fine, and I don't have much to say about it, when I really feel this should've made me more excited. I might be the only person in the world who's lukewarm about this book! Most of the other reviews I've looked at have raved about it!

There's definitely a cliffhanger ending so I might pick up the sequel and hope that colors this one in a better light. If the premise sounds interesting to you, or you've liked either authors' previous work, go for it!

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Whaaaaaaat?!
That’s all I’ve been able to think for the last twenty minutes after reading this gorgeous book.
This book surprised the heck out of me. I was excited when I read the description for this book. The hunger games but with magic? Yes please. What I wasn’t expecting was how beautifully written and deeply crafted this book was. The characters had SUCH depth and dimension they walked right off the page and into my heart almost immediately. With four POVs of four of the seven champions of the tournament, each POV I read had me sweating because I could only think about one thing: only one of these people is going to walk away alive at the end of this, but I love them all. You see, they all have terrible flaws (which arguably makes them more human, more real, more loveable) but they also each had, in my opinion, a really good reason to live.
The world building in this novel was another thing that knocked my socks off. The magic system was intricate and clever and *unique*. I loved the spell rings with their different funny names that really felt like what would happened if you made magic a commercial product; advertisers are going to get cheeky with it.
This book is worth reading for the prose alone. I highlighted so many lines while reading because these poignant sentences just kept coming, one after the other.
I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of the arc of the book and where it would end, it certainly felt possible that it might be a standalone, but after that ending? I’m dying for the next one.

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Thank you Macmillan and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title before publishing in exchange for an honest review!

Oh. My. Goodness. I don’t know what I was expecting when I went into this exactly, but I was SO pleasantly surprised by how quickly I devoured it. Let’s get into it.

Ilvernath is the last real SUS roving hub of high magick in the world, controlled by one of the 7 “great families” in the area. The secret is: every generation, a child from each of these families is sent to duel to the death in a tournament that lasts 3 months, or until the last champion standing. Here we meet our 7 villains, who have been born and bred to complete this tournament, no matter who they have to kill to do it. Alliances are made, some of them extremely unexpected. Power players reveal their true faces, and those faces don’t always look like what you thought they would be.

I DEVOURED this book in about 3 settings. The champions have such distinct personalities, which I often find to be the biggest mistake authors make in multiple POV stories, making them all seem to similar. I loved Isobel and Alistair, and I loved the way their motives shifted and changed. Every character here is a certain amount of morally grey, which is only to be expected in the circumstances they are in. The action begins fast, but the magic system, which is one of the most unique and developed I’ve ever read, is explained flawlessly and naturally. This is a very quick read, and for the best reasons.

I am sad to say that toward the end there were only a few small details that have caused me to knock this down a half a star (I’m considering this a 4.5 star read). (SPOILERS TO COME HERE): Namely, the motivation for Isobel to use her death spell on Alistair at the end is really quite flimsy. I could see this making sense if there was more time spent developing and illustrating that Alistair would not let them destroy the curse, but it had all happened in a matter of pages from him being very on board with this exact thing, and all he was asking for was time. Isobel had been so dedicated to keeping him safe up until that point, and I can’t reconcile this choice with her previous notions. This seemed like a plot driven choice, and a poorly executed one. This, however, is literally my only complaint.

I LOVED this book. I can’t believe that the reader is left hanging where we are, and I’m going to be on the absolute edge of my seat looking for the release date of the second book. This really was hunger games meets magic, while still being so incredibly unique and developed.

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I was underwhelmed by both Ace of Shades and The Devouring Gray, so I definitely had some doubts going into this one.

Luckily I was very pleasantly surprised by an engrossing and enjoyable read that felt relatively original given The Hunger Games-esque premise.

The morally grey protagonists are done pretty well for a YA novel, not perfectly when the writing falls back to teenagers acting like normal teenagers, but still better than average.

I'm definitely curious where the authors will take the story from here and look forward to the next installment. 3.5 stars rounded up.

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Objectively I don't think it was a bad book, it was just definitely not my thing.

There were too many pov's and only Alistair's story interested me if I'm honest. The middle felt like a lot of filler with nothing that really happened, I know because I kind of scrolled through it and didn't seem to miss much.
Because of the many characters having similar names and also switching it up with last names it was so tedious to try and remember which character was which (especially when it wasn't that interesting to begin with).

There were some nice twists and it's a great concept but I think it's one of those books that should've been a series to actually remember all these people, or should have less characters.

Since I recently read the 'three dark crowns' series, this one just felt like a copy. Also a lot of pov's, kids trying to kill each other to win power and they're magic kids who can be evil while not all of them want to fight. Maybe I would have liked this book more if I hadn't already read something so similar.

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“Maybe it’s you who should be afraid of me.”

4.5 stars for All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. This is a story about 7 teens who are forced to compete against each other in a competition to the death due to a centuries old curse. Definitely hunger games vibes but with a much different vibe, background, cast, and execution (literally and figuratively :D). I really enjoyed this book and devoured half of it in one sitting. I absolutely could not put it down!

In my opinion the characters were the best part of the book. I really enjoyed the multi-POV of the four main characters Alistair, Isobel, Briony, and Gavin. They are certainly complex and I’m here for it! There was so much to learn about each of them including their motivations and desires and it really kept things intriguing. Because of the multi-POV everyone is pretty well developed: each with their own backstory and different reasons for wanting to win this competition. Throughout the series I found myself rooting for each of them at different times. You will definitely find something in each of them to love. I did occasionally get confused at which characters POV I was currently reading, especially in the dialogue heavy areas. But I often have that problem in multi-POV books and I don’t think it was a reflection of the writing. In fact, I thought the writing was beautifully done!

The story is set in the town of Ilvernath which houses a bunch of magical families and even fun spellmakers and spellshops. I would have loved a map because it helps me with imagery but it's not necessary to understand the world as it is just an isolated town and pretty simple. I just think it would have added to the fun. The magic system is quite unique but I did have a little trouble understanding it at first, especially how the spells are made and cast. However, I did finally catch the gist of it once the plot and competition got moving. These are some of the reasons why it felt just a little short of 5 stars for me.

There are plenty of plot twists and turns through the competition to keep you entertained. Some of them could be deduced if you are any good at catching foreshadowing, but the aftermath of these twists definitely proved to be shocking. Be prepared for a cliff-hanger as it does end somewhat abruptly and things are NOT wrapped up. But what more would you expect for a story about villains?!

I recommend this book for fans of morally-grey characters, fun magic systems, and competitions. It also set up a VERY slow burn enemies to lovers romance that I imagine will be fleshed out more in the next book. It is absolutely a fun book for fall with its dark, gory, twisted vibes! But be prepared to be mad (in the best way possible) that you have to wait for the next book to be published.

CW/TW: violence, death, foul-language, strong negative emotions

e-ARC provided by Macmillan-Tor/Forge (Tor Teen) and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

“In every story his family told, the villains won. They crossed the lines no one else would. They struck when the hero least expected it.”

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