I recieved a copy of this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There's going to be a lot of people who compare this to The Hunger Games and they'll be right in that it involves a contest that pits teens against each other in a fight to the death, but that's where the similarities end. Told from the perspectives of each champion in the tournament, All of Us Villains is the perfect book for a pre- (or post-) Halloween read. It was just the right blend of creepy, romantic, and treacherous to keep me glued to my Kindle, even while getting my nails done. I appreciated that each champion is a fully fleshed out character with a unique perspective and clear motivation. It's a treatise on external perspective vs. reality and kept me guessing until the end. I'm very excited for the sequel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Man was this book long, but it still managed to captivate my interest through all 400 pages of it. 7 different magical families sacrifice a teenager to compete in a magical competition ala Hunger Games style for the use of High Magick which will provide their family with a superior advantage.

One thing that becomes readily apparent is how nuanced and balanced all the characters are- there are 4 points of view : Alistair, Gavin, Isobel and Briony, and all 4 main characters have different shades of grey to their characters. My favourite in particular was Alistaire Lowe, brought up to believe he's the monster in every story, but kind, loving and less cruel than he himself believes.

The pacing and world-building was excellent, though mildly confusing with the constant point-of-view changes, and even though I did find myself confused at times, I still found myself hanging off the edge of my seat even to the last page, only to realize with some devastation that this was a duology, and I would have to wait many months for the next book to arrive.

4/5 stars and I'll definitely pick up a dead tree copy when it's released!

The Hunger Games but make it magical?! I was freaking sold.

All of Us Villains is the perfect first installment in this series, and gives us well written and interesting characters, tons of great world building, and a pretty nifty magic system. I normally find too many POVs distracting and overwhelming, but this is so greatly done that I actually didn’t mind.

Looking forward to the next book!

Unfortunately had to DNF this one. It was no fault of the book and what I read of it I loved, but it's a little heavy for me right now and I don't think I'm in the mental place to read it. Once I feel better, I'll definitely be finishing though. It reminds me of The Hunger Games and Divergent and all of my favorite childhood dystopian series. Definitely worth a read, and I'm excited to get back to it! I'll edit my review once I finish this.

YES. All of Us Villains was absolutely compelling and consuming. These two authors have such an engaging writing style/storytelling voice, and I was ready to binge.

The world-building for Ilvernath was excellent. I found the magic system to be unique and interesting. I personally loved the names of the spells; they were right to the point: Pick Up the Pace, Here to There, etc. How can you not appreciate the heck out of those?

I enjoyed all the characters' POVs, especially Alistair's and Gavin's. All the characters were most definitely flawed, maybe not outright villains but definitely morally gray. They each have differing internal motivations, and it will be interesting to see how they work together (or not?) to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

I really, really wish the sequel was out now, because the ending took such an unexpected turn, that I do not want to wait to find out what happens.

***I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley.***

Thank you Netgalley for this Arc!

I loved this story! And there's going to be more!!

There are 7 main characters that the reader will get to know throughout this book. All battling for a chance to win high Magick for their family. (And, there is a character named Alistair who I can't help but love immediately!).

The story has a good flow and kept me interested and turning pages. The author cleverly and intricately weaves this tale and the ending simply left me craving more. The characters themselves were unique and I loved getting everyone's pov.

I would say the story itself definitely fits this intriguing cover. Sometimes I can't help but pick a book up because the cover just seems to scream, "Read me!". And, this one was a great choice for me!

This book was fantastic and I absolutely loved it! All of the characters are dark and villainous, even when they don’t want to be. It is an urban fantasy, but there is also an ancient curse and the characters have to deal with the fallout of social media and journalists that want to feed on their deaths. This book will take you on a journey like no other.

We are told the story through four characters points of view. And while I liked all of them I also couldn’t believe how awful each of them could be. They each had their own reasons for being the way they were, mostly it was their upbringings, but they also were able to see that their behaviors were just wrong and they could make the decisions to change, but in the end would choose not to.

The world building was amazing and I loved the magical system. Everyone can use magic, but there are some who are more magical than others. They use stones mostly set in rings that help them to focus and use the magic stored in them. There are of course defensive spells as well as curses. There are also common everyday spells but we don’t hear to much about them. The town where the story takes place doesn’t know about the curse until a tell all book is published. Their minds are erased of the whole tournament every time it occurs. This time around there are also journalists and other social media people who have descended upon the town that are making it harder to hide what is really going on. This ends up playing a role in the whole story as well.

The book starts off a little slow as we are introduced to the four main characters, but once it gets going it is really hard to put down. As I said, each character is likable, but you almost don’t want to like them. The things their families expect of them and the sacrifices they make to achieve the goal of winning the tournament are bleak and scary at times. This is a dark book and there is of course some bloody and gruesome deaths, but it is a fascinating look at how fragile the human psyche can be.

A really fantastically dark and twisty story with some characters that you will love but also loath at the same time. I can’t wait to see where this will go next!

10/10 chef's kiss.

May I present: Alistair Lowe. Ladies and gentlemen... Be still my heart, behold thy beloved wicked cupcake.

"The nightmares had not taught him to fear the dark. The nightmares had taught him to become it."

This book is told from four perspectives: Gavin, Isobel, Alistair and Briony. Every one of them is awful in their own way. (And I say that with much love to each of them) You'll fall in love with each characters' brand of treachery, and hopefully enjoy every POV like I did.

It follows seven families as they each ritually sacrifice a child to an ancient curse to (hopefully) gain the use of high magick for a 20 year period.

The "champion" from each family gets locked in a 3 month long death match with the six other champs, and the last surviving champion wins the magick for their family (and the lifelong trauma of being a serial killer. Eek.).

Obviously in this case: things don't go according to plan. Team ups, treachery, blood, grudge matches, show downs and all around horror ensue.

The ending had me gasping. I cannot WAIT for book two!

The pacing is absolutely perfect, and the switches between POV kept me interested the entire book. I flew through it!

All of Us Villians by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman
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Every twenty years, seven families in the remote city of Ilvernath name a champion to battle to the death. What is the prize? Exclusive control over the use of high magick.
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What I liked:
-Hunger games, except with magick? YES, PLEASE!
-I loved that we read from not one, but four of the champions for this year. It gave such a well rounded view of the tournament, the history and what each person has to lose.
-The alliances; temporary, new, old, broken, it was a revolving door of alliances and betrayals.
-I loved the quotes at the beginning of each chapter, they also lended to the sense of forboding that is the tournament.
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What I didn’t like:
-That I have to wait till book two comes out to see what happens next. 😫😭😭😭😭
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5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was amazingly done and I highly recommend! Thank you Netgalley for my digital copy. Pub Date 11/9/21.

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.*

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!

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!

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

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.

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.

THIS BOOK. I knew it was going to be good but DAMN. Amazing, iconic, immaculate, however you say it. I loved the story so much. The characters were not exactly likable,, but extremely well written. I can't wait for the sequel, truly.

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!

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!

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

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?