The Hunger Games with magic? I was sold once I read the description of this book and wanted to read it right away. It was different than I expected but that was so much better.

We are experiencing this story with various characters, who all are very different but on some level they are the same. All 7 are selected champions from their family to win the competition and kill all the others, so that their family can rule over the city’s magick supply and the most powerful ressources.

What I maybe liked most about this book is that you get the story from a lot of different characters who are in the competition, not just one. We learn a lot about all of them and their motivation to be where they are, beside staying alive. The teens form alliances in the tournament even though they know it’s mostly only a question of time when they’ll turn against each other.

I liked the fast paced writing style, the whole story was a little slow in the beginning, since we are meeting all the champions first and get to know them but once the tournament starts it picks up a lot of speed and I couldn’t stop reading, because I was rooting for all of them.

I can’t wait for the second book and see how everything turns out for our villains.

"The monsters can't hurt you when you're a monster, too"

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It reminded me a lot of Vicious and The Hunger Games. It's basically a story of a small town that has been cursed and has to host a deadly tournament each year for the seven families. The prize is access to the high magick supply for a year. We get to know all of the competing champions and their motivations. I loved the multiple POVs and how plot-driven it was. "All of Us Villains" is extremely easy to read, the story grips you right from the start and getting to know the characters comes to you very easily. It ends in a cliffhanger that makes you instantly want to pick up the next book which makes me kinda sad that I have to wait for so long!!

*4.5

All of Us Villains was a surprising read to say the least.

It has so many things for everyone:
1. an intriguing magic system
2. founding families pitted against each other
3. a ruthless competition, and more!

This novel centered around each of the 'chosen' child from the Seven families, who is prepared to fight to the death to claim Ilvernarth's high magick. I LOVED that this novel utilised multiple POVs, where we got to have an insight into their thoughts/feelings on the competition, as well as their family history and how that has influenced their ability to compete and .their motives.

Alistair was definitely one of my favourite characters, with his cool, calm and collected demeanor, as you would expect from a true calculating villain.

This novel is very much character-driven, but the plot definitely delivered on it's OMG/freaking out moments and plot twists. Definitely a book that you could struggle to put down.

I’m not going to post my review to goodreads just yet because I’m not finished with the title. First I have to say I’m not finishing at moment because of me. The start is, to me, slow. We’re introducing a full cast of characters and it’s bogging my brain down a little. I’m enjoying it. Let me make that clear. However, this feels like a bloodier Hunger Games where I’m being introduced to all the tributes. I love the lore and world building but it’s like dragging myself up hill at the moment. I hope to loop about around when I’m in a better place. Then I will be able to post a good review for goodreads.

‘All of us Villains’ is a magical Hunger Games. Seven youths must compete in a battle to the death. They are competing for their lives and for their family’s right to yield high magic. Most have been training all their lives as their family’s champion.

The story is told through alternating points of views and it takes a little longer to get into as there are quite a few perspectives. I was hoping for a little more action and suspense. The multiple POVs made it difficult to pick a champion to root for.

I loved the concept for this book but I was definitely hoping for a glued-to-the-pages experience that I had with The Hunger Games series. I was a little bored of this book in the beginning but about halfway through I started to get into Alistair and Isobel’s storyline.

I realize that this book is the first in the series but I found the end to be very abrupt. It was as if most of the story had been resolved but it got cut off right before the end. There were things I loved and things I hated about this book. I wanted to love it so much because the concept is very appealing but the delivery was not always what I was hoping for.

Actual rating: 3.5/5

I'm not really sure what to say about this- it was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and objectively it was pretty good! A fun time with characters who are expected to be horrible but were mostly just doing their best in a shitty situation, and was entirely not what I was expecting.

All of Us Villains sports 4 character POVs, a fascinating town with ~traditional vibes, a magic system of spells and curses that can do incredible things, two bisexuals, and more plot twists than I imagined the authors could cram into 400 pages.

I really did enjoy reading this, I think my issue was the pacing and the build up. The first half of the book is pre-tournament, and it feels like the slowest week of my life. Of course all of this is world building and character building, and there's 4 POVs and relationships to build, so it's understandable that it's a little slow, but even though I know a lot happens in the first half, it didn't really feel like it.

Things start to pick up a little when we finally get to the tournament. The characters have 3 months to kill each other and provide a victor or the tournament ends and the magic will kill them all anyway. We have seven teenagers, scared out of their minds and ready to do some real damage.
At this point of course, we don't want anyone to die and things start to pick up!

Overall, I'm keen to see where this goes in the sequel. I have faith the authors will bring me something unexpected.

Thank you to Tor and netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

First off, Amanda Foody is one of my all time favourite authors, so I had high expectations for this. And I’m happy to say, IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT!

All of Us Villains follows 7 teenagers, from 7 different families who are all champions forced to compete in a tournament to the death. It’s The Hunger Games but with magic.

There are four POVs out of the 7 champions, and I loved each of their POVs. I really hope we get more in the sequel! I also hope there is going to be some LGBTQ relationships in the sequel, since there are LGBTQ characters.

I loved how dark this was, it’s a perfect read for fall/Halloween time. The magic system is so cool, with curses, high magic, and common magic. It’s all woven together throughout the story, which is what I love about magic systems when it isn’t dumped at the beginning, and rather talked about throughout the story.

This book is constantly referenced as a villainous Hunger Games and I don't think that really sets anybody up for the right expectations. There are seven children of the local families that must complete in a centuries old curse so that they can fight for their families right to high magick. They are all morally grey as they fight for their lives and the power that comes with controlling high magick. The stakes are high but nobody takes any risks and nearly the entire book we are in a limbo of various alliances that don't lead to a lot of deaths. A resolution is formed but not executed and one of our main characters does something irrelevant to the entire book and we get a fade to black on him at the end of the book. The end does not have a resolution I felt like I was missing chapters of the book. There will be a sequel but I wish it would have concluded more then it did. It felt weird that the book was done and there was no conclusion to the championship or any indication in the character POV's what was going to happen.

Pros:
Good magic system
A cast of morally gray characters
Complex character arcs
Potentially LGBTQ+ relationship (please, please, please)
Intricate concept to

Cons:
The ending fell very flat
Not enough death (b/c its supposed to be an evil murder championship with villains and really there is not enough death for the premise of this book)


This book is full of villains- sort of. Each character that we get a POV from is complex and has a strong personality that we get to unravel as we read their POV. It was odd that most, but not all, of the character had a POV and it sort of ends up being a spoiler as to why that is.

Alistair: Has not only trained his entire life to be his families champion but also taught to be the monster that everyone expects him to be. He is that monster until a sacrifice has gone to far and he is less villain more sad bad boy. I think it is easy to like Allastair especially with his point of view and we see the tragedy that has altered his life forever and many of decisions throughout the book.

Briony: Always knew that she would be her families champion and is a fierce advocate for the competition. That is until she isn't chosen to be her families champion and instead her young sister is. Briony is determined to take her sisters spot 1:) she is selfish 2) the selection becomes corrupt 3) she discovers there might be a way to end this bloody curse.

Gavin: The villain that I expected everyone to be. He is determined to show the world that his family is stronger than what everyone is lead to believe. He goes through drastic measures to ensure he has a fighting chance to win. He is ruthless and powerful and of course a sad softy.

Isobel: The only character that never wanted to be champion. She has been in the spotlight as her families chosen champion for an entire year and has had to become this person she never wanted to become. Honestly in the way of the true romantic relationship I want in this book. Isobel is really the only character who I didn't really enjoy.

Throughout this book I felt like I would be rating this book 4 stars (5 if the ending was good) but when I finished it I instantly wanted to rate it 2 stars. Then 1 because I knew the book could have had a better ending. I am settling with 3 stars because I enjoyed the characters and the concept of the magic and competition but the ending was lack luster. I am curious to see where the 2nd book will start us off at because I feel like we are currently in the middle of a story line that shouldn't have been severed at the end.

I think that a lot of people who enjoy morally grey characters will enjoy this book.

This book was dark, but it was dark in the best possible way. I never really put it to words, but it never sat well with me in a lot of the YA fiction (which, full disclosure) I love that kids are put into impossible situations, and oh boy does this handle this perfectly. Without spoilers, this book has a great premise, and I'm always here for a world where magic and non magic folks are written in a seamless way. It's a POV book, with each character switching off for chapters, and I think what I loved most about this book is each character is so clearly human, and just a kid trying to figure life out. It's a little bit wicked, a little bit redemptive, and a wildly engaging read. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to question who is a hero and who is a villian (and what makes one so).

I was given an ARC from netgalley for an honest review, posted to Goodreads.

I loved the storyline from reading the sampler. However, I found the pacing of the middle portion to be very slow. Pacing improved near the last quarter of the book, and I like how the tone shifted to be even darker than the opening.

I'm excited to read the next book in the series. There are a few characters I'm invested in, and I hope to see these side characters have a main role in the sequel.

4 STARS
Check out my BookTube video review: https://youtu.be/U8PLkDwjFqs

After a tell-all book is released, the world flocks to a remote city to witness a tradition that has been happening for generations.

Each prestigious family names a champion to compete for the chance to win the tournament and control the powerful high magick supply.

This book is a multi-POV that bounces between the various participants in the tournament. At the core of this story are the characters and they are well done. Most of the chapters are fairly short and we keep getting just enough to be satisfied before being shuttled off to the next POV.

If I would nitpick at this, I would say the villains are not overly villainous and the gore/horror is underutilized. When this story does get graphic, I enjoyed it but I was hoping for much more than the occasional tease we get. Also, there are multiple spots where a few chapters will pass without anything that would resemble horror or over-the-top villainy.

Something I did like a ton. Part of the tournament magic is the sky turns red and stays red for the duration of the events. This was a moody atmospheric touch that fit the concept amazingly!
The story does cliffhanger pretty hard. There is more to be told for sure and as you start to wind down the page count you are left with multiple questions unresolved. I wouldn’t say this is a positive or a negative. The writing is solid so you won’t feel like you were short-changed.

Overall I enjoyed the moments of horror and gore we did get, as well as the characters and the moody atmosphere. This loses the star for not embracing the villainy in the title of the book. This is worth checking out and was a fun read. Anyone who liked The Hunger Games needs to give this a chance.

Think Huger Games, but with magic.

This book definitely went hard on the Hunger Games vibe, but had enough of it's own originality to be pretty good. I enjoyed reading this book and being surprised at all the twists and turns of everything.

There are seven major families and each family selects a champion to compete when the blood veil drops. Whichever champion is left standing, that family possesses the high magic until the next blood veil drops in twenty years.

I can't wait for the next book to come out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of All of Us Villains in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a great read! I enjoyed everything about this book: the plot, the characters, and the overall magical atmosphere. The comparison to the Hunger Games was bang on in the book synopsis, with the focus on the Villains instead of the Victors. This concept had drawn me to this book immediately, and I was super excited to receive an advanced copy of this book.

While there are seven characters that take part in the Blood Veil, as readers we are told the story through four alternating perspectives. I really enjoyed how each chapter was voiced by a different character. We get to see into the minds of each of these villains and learn the reasoning behind why they were chosen as Champions to represent their families in the Blood Veil for control over the magic in Ilvernath. I think the authors did such a great job creating a unique story for each of these villains, that played an important role in their decision making throughout the book.

I'm a big fan of reading about magic in books, and the authors did a great job utilizing magic in such interesting ways. I loved how these champions were responsible to create their own success in this tournament, by being given years to practice and perfect their crafting abilities to create spells or curses that would help them survive the tournament and beat their opponents. Each of the characters has their own strengths and weaknesses that show throughout the book, which is showcased by the level of spells and curses they create and bring with them into the Blood Veil.

I found myself flying through this book and I didn't want this book to end. I can't wait for the next one in the series to be released! I would definitely recommend this book to any fans of the Hunger Games or similar books.

Such an amazing book! Beautifully written, and it gives me hunger games, maze runner and games if thrones vibes but only bloodier. I definitely will recommend this book to all my friends once it’s out!

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an entertaining read. It’s described as a villainous Hunger Games retelling. Seven families each send one champion to compete in a tournament that determines who controls the high magic of Ilvernath.

I found the beginning part of the story essential but a little slow. The alternating POV’s made it interesting but it definitely was a lot of back story and build up. Once the actual tournament began I found myself not able to put the book down. The tournament was twisted. I found the villainous motives and actions exciting but I was conflicted. I started to like and connect to some of characters and definitely didn’t want some of the characters to lose.

The stakes were high and the curses and magic systems were well written. I definitely loved how dark and evil some of the characters were. I did find that many of them ended up having some less than villainous intentions but I felt it was believable. Not everyone wants to kill or be killed and just become their parents/family’s expectations. The ending was great and it is perfectly set up for the sequel. Overall I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see where the next book goes.

Such an amazing read! I became obsessed from page one. The characters are amazing, the setting is incredible, the writing style puts you right in the mood for it and it's overall an amazing read. Would definitely recommend for any fans of dark (very dark) fantasy and The Hunger Games!

Wow, wow, wow. I loved this book so much that I had to slow myself down while reading it just so that I could savor the words. Similar to the hunger games, everyone involved is thrown into a world where there's only meant to be one survivor. Making things even more interesting, there's legitimate magic involved and each participant comes to the event with whatever they've prepared - so not everyone is starting on the same level. To top it off, some participants in the Blood Veil have a history with each other, making the fact that they're supposed to kill each other to be the victor even harder. Talk about some baggage. A magical, bloody book filled with monsters and intrigue.

WHY DO I HAVE TO WAIT SO LONG FOR THE 2ND BOOK???? Thank you, thank you, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Macmillan- Tor/ Forge , the amazing opportunity to read an ARC of this book.

Fast-paced and gripping! Really enjoyed the twists and got attached to the majority of characters. Also a really excellent cliffhanger, which made me pumped for a Book 2.

All of Us Villains is the first book in a duology. The sequel is expected to be released next year. The book follows Allistair Lowe who resides in a remote town called Ilvernath. In this universe, high magick equals power and seven families have fought over it for hundreds of years through a tournament very similar to the Hunger Games. Each generation will put forth a champion to fight for their right to wield high magick. The tournament goes on for 3 months or until one champion remains.

Before this, the tournament has been known only to the seven families and some Cursemakers in town, but after a book about the curse of the seven families was published, Ilvernath gained a lot of attention from Cursechasers and the government.

At first, I thought this would be a handful to wrap my mind around, but the way the story was arranged made it a lot easier to understand. It's also because the tournament is 90% similar to the Hunger Games and a large chunk of this book is centred around that. So if you're expecting a complete revamp of the Hunger Games, this is not it.

To me, the world-building is average. The magic system is pretty interesting but the characters aren't as mean as I expected them to be. I wanted them to be meaner, cunning and more vicious but what I got was a very lame group of kids who relied on their families reputation to succeed. I didn't read this and thought "Oh they're *crazy* crazy!"

Overall, I feel like this really isn't up to par with my expectations. I think it relied too much on existing precedents of the genre like THG and HP. In fact, this book felt like those two combined, but you won't get anything more, which is unfortunate because there is obviously room for so much more. The enemies-to-lovers & one-bed-only tropes cannot save this one. I'm a little disappointed but not surprised. I rate this 2.5/5 stars.

I read this book in one sitting, putting off all of my responsibilities for the day. I actually didn't regret it when I woke up this morning. I'll address the biggest criticisms I see so far in the reviews.

"There aren't any true villains." Most of them have done despicable things for teenagers. That is right, teenagers. This book is YA, which means it is meant for 12-18. I didn't go into it expecting true villains. Although several of the characters are morally grey, as a reader you find it difficult to condemn a teenager who was raised for this task. Particularly one character. I find them all redeemable, which I like. I'd be sad if I found a teenager in a YA book that was unredeemable.

This is one of the many ways that it differs from Hunger Games, and makes it so much darker. In The Hunger Games there are few tributes that are prepared for the tournament. In this book, these children always know it is a possibility. They are brought up to believe it is something to be proud of. How dark is that? There are many other ways it differs from The Hunger Games, including multiple viewpoints and fantasy elements. I don't mind the similarities of this story to The Hunger Games.

I really enjoyed this book. The use of magic is very unique, the characters leave you wanting to more and the plot, which not entirely unique, has its own very unique twists. It is certainly one of my favorites, and I will have to purchase hardcopies when it releases. I have never read anything by these two authors, but I immediately went and added their other books to my TBR, at midnight. It was that good. I strongly recommend this to teens and adults, especially fans of Schwabb or fantasy. I don't know how I am going to wait until Fall 2022 for the second to come out-I have to know how it ends.