TW // grief, death, violence, gore, murder, blood, mentions of suicide and suicidal ideation

I heard ‘Hunger Games but with Magic’ and immediately I was intrigued. Next thing I know I hear it has queer rep and got even more excited! I was like, okay, cool so this is gonna be about a bunch of morally gray, murderous teenagers who are gay? Sign me up! After actually reading the ARC, though, All of Us Villains did not completely live up to my expectations.

To be fair, I didn’t know that there would be LGBT rep until I already started reading, so I didn’t even expect much in that department. However, from what I remember from my reading this book, there was only one openly LGBTQ character and his sexuality is only touched on very briefly. It’s easy to miss if you’re not paying close attention. If something went over my head, I apologize. He doesn’t really specify his sexuality, though I assume he’s either bi or pan. I do ship him with this one character but I don’t know if we’re supposed to ship them or if I’m just reading their dynamic wrong and seeing things that aren’t there.

Anyway I just wanted to touch on that and explain the LGBT rep situation a little bit. I will say that the main canon ship so far is m/f, so don’t go into this expecting the central ship to be gay.

Also, I felt this book was somewhat lacking in terms of world building. I understood that this was a fantasy setting, but it wasn’t clear to me if it took place in the modern world or a completely different fantasy world. I think the thing that tripped me up was the presence of cameras and the fact that there seemed to be some sort of high school. Those things kinda pointed towards a modern setting, but I’m just not 100% sure. Also, it mentions the government every so often but it wasn’t clear to me what kind of government they had? Maybe this will be clarified in the next book.

Another thing I didn’t like that much was how the characters weren’t as morally gray as I expected them to be. I blame the title for putting ideas into my head. Also, the pacing wasn’t the best in my opinion. In some places it felt like things were dragging on for too long, especially in the first half of the book until the tournament started. However when things picked up I got really invested.

This book was also just not that diverse from what I can recall, in terms of POC rep. In fact if there were any POC, they were probably so minor I can’t remember them. I feel like I read the words “fair skin” so much in this book when being introduced to new characters for the first time, it’s like, okay we get it!

As for what I liked about this book, I thought the magic system was unique. I don’t remember reading any other fantasy book that had a magical system quite like this one. Also, even though I do have a headcanon ship at the moment, I did enjoy reading about the main m/f relationship I mentioned before. Enemies to lovers back to enemies again? The angst, the betrayal… What else could I want in a ship?

That said, I believe that the four core characters were what carried this book for me, once I got past the ‘not as morally gray as I wanted them to be’ thing. The four core characters all were so interesting and had their own approaches to the tournament. To be honest though the stand out characters for me were Alistair Lowe and Gavin Grieve. They just seemed like the most developed out of the mc’s to me, but again, the other characters were interesting as well.

It might sound like I didn’t like this book from all the criticisms I presented here, but honestly despite any issues I had, this book was very entertaining and it was easy to get lost in these characters. It kept me engaged and honestly, that’s all I ask for from a book.

I want to be excited for the sequel but as I was looking at other reviews of All Of Us Villains, I found out something about one of the authors. To be clear I wasn’t aware of this going into this book, but apparently Christine Lynn Herman was called out for bullying authors of color. Do with this what you will. Because of this, I’m conflicted about the sequel to this book. I guess I’ll see how I feel at the time.

This is the first instalment in the All of Us Villains series.

"You Fell In Love With The Victors of The Hunger Games.
Now Prepare To Meet The Villains of The Blood Veil."

Every twenty years the quiet town of Ilvernath becomes the setting for a tournament to the death. Seven individuals enter, representing seven families. Only one will walk out of the arena alive, leaving all others behind as corpses. The Champion's family become the guardians for high magick for the next two decades, meaning their life, their honour, and their abilities are all motivations to win.

The novel included a perspective from almost all the potential Champions competing in this year's tournament. The first entire quarter was spent introducing their various characters, as well as their personal motives and struggles. I appreciated this slow build-up as it aided in my understanding of the magick available in this contemporary setting and bonded me with the individuals vying for control of it. I had some I preferred over others, but every one was intriguing and engaging.

Once the tournament begun my early interest only sky-rocketed. Any fictional game involving the death of its competitors is going to be likened to The Hunger Games but I really felt like the brutality yet ingenuity of the former was also present here, yet presented in its own, original format. The focus on potential allies, the brewing mistrust, the ever-present fear, and the bloodshed all made this such a captivating read.

This might be a general concept I have read about before, but the actual bones of the novel were entirely unique and I couldn't stop reading until its twisted conclusion. This author duo have proved themselves as the perfect pairing and I can't wait to find out what transpires in the sequel!

All of Us Villains is a is a wonderful and incredibly rich fantasy novel, so well built and fast paced that I wasn't able to put it down till I reached the end. I was absolutely captivated by the atmosphere, and the characters.

This novel submerges the reader in a landscape so imaginative and detailed that the information of the world building/plot never feels forced, and is never difficult to understand or picture in one's mind. I had an enjoyable time reading this and it held my attention the entire way through that I finished it within the day! I enjoyed every page and thought that the plot/story was very unique. Would recommend to anyone!

Thank you to Netgalley, Amanda Foody, Christine Lynn Herman and Macmillian publishing for sending me a free e-ARC copy of All of us Villains in exchange for an honest review. All quotations are subject to change upon publication.*

All of Us Villains is due to be published on the 9th November 2021

Stats:
Overall: 4/5 stars
Characters: 4/5 stars
Storyline: 3/5 stars
Writing: 4/5 stars
One-line review: All of us Villains is fast paced, thrilling and one hundred percent worth the read.

All of us Villains is the first book in a new young adult series following the seven families of Ilvernath who all crave the same thing - control over the town's high magick. To do so, each family must nominate a member of their household to fight in a magick tournament to the death, where only one victor remains. Additionally, a report named 'A tradition of tragedy' is released before the next tournament, attracting press and attention to the event. This report provides insights to the tournament and quotations from it coincide flawlessly with the current events of the tournament in which we see our protagonists participating in.

'Every generation, each of the seven families was required to put forth a champion to compete in a tournament to the death. The victor would award their family exclusive claim over Ilvernath's high magick.'

If you are a fan of the Hunger games and Harry Potter, then this book is perfect for you.

-----Characters-----

We are told this story from multiple POV's, and each character is extremely well developed. We are given insights into their families past successes in tournaments, which gives us additional depth to their characters as their desperation to win is immortalised in words.

We are introduced to the seven families of Ilvernath, with the primary ones being the Lowe, Macaslan, Grieve, and Thornbrun families. Each family has a completely different dynamic and yet they are all the same - they obsess over the high magick so much they are willing to send their children in a fight for the death, masking the tournament as honorary.

'The Lowes shaped cruelty into a crown, and oh, they wear it well.'

-----Plotline-----

This book gave me extreme deja vu as it follows an extremely similar format to the hunger games, and I loved it! It put an exciting twist on everyone's favourite dystopian thriller and it paid off greatly. There were betrayals, twists, turns, murders and even a bit of romance included in this book. I found myself captivated by the events in this book from start to finish.

Not only does this book tell the events of the tournament, but it deals with the inner struggle and trauma of the champions and tributes. It is evident that the victors experience extreme metal trauma throughout the tournament and long afterwards. The characters morals shine through with it being obvious at times that they do not in fact want to kill each other - instead it is of the will of their parents and family.

'Monsters couldn't harm you if you were a monster, too.'

-----Writing-----

I wouldn't go out of my way to say the writing style of this book is spectacular, although the extracts from 'A tradition of tragedy' provides an extremely philosophical insight to the book. I found the writing was captivating enough to retain my attention, with me eagerly anticipating to read the next chapter.

Whilst I feel as this wasn't a entirely original idea, it has been twisted into a fresh and imaginative book which I eagerly anticipate to read the second installment.

'Gavin might've won the Castle, but he was King of nothing at all.'

This was an interesting story to date. The multiple shifts of perspective took getting used to, but it gradually got easier to follow. I felt like this was a "Hunger Games" mixed with some "Harry Potter". A very interesting mix.

Pitched as the Hunger Games with magic, this is going to have readers on the edge of their seats!
Super dark and gritty with morally grey characters you can't help but love?! This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 and it did not disappoint – I loved this book! Will 100% be picking up a physical copy where this book is released.

I’m going to give it to you straight. If Hunger Games, Beautiful Creatures, and Red Rising had a magical love child it would be this book.

Brilliant. That’s the long and short of it. When the book started and suggested there would be seven characters vying it out in a magical Hunger Games-like battle, I was worried. Seven characters is a lot. Would there be enough character development. Would I be able to keep them all straight. Would I fall in love with one character and get bored with the others.

I had absolutely nothing to worry about. The authors took their time. They developed a great backstory while creating characters that I absolutely adored…even though they are all supposed to be villains.

Volunteer as tribute, cast a spell, give yourself over to the game or do whatever you have to do to add this book to your TBR list. You won’t be disappointed.

What I Liked
There was so much to like. Great character development, great setting, great backstory. This is book one in a series and I cannot wait to read book two. Better yet, to see this turned into a movie.

I like YA Fantasy but it’s not my first go to. It’s gotta be good to earn a nod from me. And just in case you can’t see it from where you are sitting, I’m practically a bobble head typing out this review.

For a story I couldn’t put down, an entire cast of characters I loved, and a satisfying yet intriguing ending, this book easily earns five stars.

4 stars

Ok this book was pretty great.

Was it difficult to get into? Yes. Was I also in a reading slump when I started it? Yes. So maybe me taking forever to finish this book was a me problem. All of Us Villains is pretty much The Hunger Games with magic. I don't know about you but to me that sounds absolutely brilliant. As much as I loved this book and its concept, it wasn't as action packed as I wanted it to be. Also, I wanted the characters to be a bit more villainous. The book is literally called all of us villains so, I wanted them to be a bit more ruthless. Despite this, I still enjoyed the plot and loved the characters.

Also the way this book reminds me of a VE Schwab book makes me so happy. I adore VE Schwab and I loved that this gave me the same feel as A Darker Shade of Magic


Plot & extra things

- Morally grey characters
- Enemies to lovers to enemies
- Bi rep

The book starts off introducing the different families who partake in the tournament. The tournament is an event where one person from each of these families is forced to fight each of the other "champions" (each person participating in the tournament is called a champion) until they are the last one standing. Apparently being a champion is a great honor, but it's clear it isn't for some of the people who are forced into this situation.

Ok, I was looking at what genre this book is marked as on goodreads, and why is it advertised as queer? Yes, there is rep which is absolutely amazing, but the actual queer relationships are very... lacking?? I suppose? The main romance is a straight romance which I do not mind. I quite like the idea of them together. I mean, they're set up to have something going on from the beginning, but I went into this expecting it to have more representation for the LGBT+ community. there is still another book on the way and I'm holding out hope for an Alistair and Gavin enemies to lovers arc not going to lie (I don't expect that to actually happen, but one could only dream)


Characters

Alistair was the first character that caught my eye and he continued to be my favorite throughout the book. His development and thought process was so well done and interesting that I can't wait to find out more about him. He reminds me a lot of Kell from the Shades of Magic trilogy by VE Schwab (as I said before, this book reminded me a lot of that trilogy and Schwab's writing in general). I saw a lot of similarities between those characters which made me love both of them.

Gavin is a character who honestly annoyed me for a long while. He definitely grew on me, but it took some time. Even when I was not a big fan of him, I could still admire the work and thought that went into his character. He is very interesting and well thought out that I had to start liking him eventually. After he had a conversation with Alistair, I really started liking him. Gavin reminds me of Holland from the Shades of Magic trilogy (if you couldn't already tell, I'm obsessed with a darker shade of magic). I'm excited to see more development and inner dialogue in the next book.

Ok, on to the next character and I don't think I have too many thoughts on her. I was drawn to Isobel from the start especially with the way her family was introduced. I think it was a very interesting introduction. Did I continue to like her? That's a loaded question. She wasn't awful at any times and sometimes I really liked her. But sometimes she just kind of fell flat. I kept going back on forth on if I loved her or was just kind of eh about her. She is by no means a bad character, but I want to see more of her and her power.

And the final character I will be talking about, Briony. first off, I'm not even sure if I spelled that correctly if that says anything about my thoughts on her character. I'm just gonna say it straight: she was boring. I wanted to like her considering the role she plays in this book, but I just didn't have any thoughts. I didn't like her nor did I hate her. She was just kind of there. She just wasn't a character I cared about despite how interesting she could've been.

Overall, I liked this book. To be honest, I would've loved to read A Tradition of Tragedy (a book written by one of the characters mentioned in the story) it seemed super interesting. Because of that, I'm happy that a passage of it was at the start of every chapter. Also the end made me kind of upset for some reason. It wasn't sad, but it made me sad. Cliffhangers make me sad sometimes...

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillian-Tor/Forge for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publishers and author for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
I really enjoyed this book!
I loved the Hunger Games vibes in it and if I'm being honest I found it even better then the Hunger games!
I definitely can't wait for the sequel!

So good! I devoured this book in a day or so.

Light spoilers: all of the characters are unlikeable. But with a name like all of us villains what more are you to expect?

A cardre of children raised for a once-in-a-generation slaughter fest. The prize is more power for their families. The cost? Only one survives. It’s a generations old curse that they must participate in- if they the curse will pick someone at random.

All of them have different ways of dealing with it, and the results end up being truly mixed in success or failure.

I can’t wait for the second book in the series!

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Teen for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely devoured this book. It was described as Hunger Games with magic and I was already hooked. But the authors took that premise and made it their own. The writing was vivid and detailed so that it felt like you were with the characters during the action. Of and this book have it all. Magic. Alliance. Betrayal. Surprises and twists that keep you reading to the end and leave you wanting more. Each character shines on their own and each have their own unique perspective and agenda to fulfill.

The moment you get to the end of the book…and you’re… Calvert confused. And then you realize that it’s only the end of book 1 and it’s a series. I never like that moment, but at least it made sense why I was super confused.
This book is being marketed as the next Hunger Games. I can see that and I’m there for it.
I’m enjoying getting to know the main characters and I’m intrigued to know more… when ever book 2 might come out.
I received this book from NetGalley and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to review.

Give me book 2 and give it to me now!

A magical Hunger Games is already going to be a great sell for readers. But I do think this has more depth than Hunger Games. Is some of the pacing a bit slow as we have to get introduced to the characters, setting and story? Yes. Is it utterly predictable who will die? Yep. But there is something about the blurred lines of good and bad that make this truly captivating.

For Libraries: The hype of this book is going to be huge around publication time, so you are going to want this book. Plus, it's good!

Every 20 years the seven “pure blood” families must send in a member of the family to fight to the death. They do so to maintain or gain control over high magick which is only available to the winning family. Otherwise, only raw magick is available which can be strong but when high magick is used it causes the spell’s power to double. I found the setup of the story and the environment to be fantastic. This book has four point of views which follows four of the chosen champions. POV stories can be hit or miss for me as when used poorly it makes reading through an unlikeable or boring character a churn. This book didn’t have this issue. The characters and their backstories are interesting. You fear for them as you start to like them but know this death tournament can only end in tears. Only one can be victorious — if more than one survive at the end of two months the curse kills them all and punishes the families to 20 years with no one having access to the high magick. This is a brutal world. No one can be trusted. No one is safe. If you’re ready for a Hunger Games type story with magick, some romance, and a ticking clock with betrayal and fear then definitely pick this up. I’m only sad now that I have to wait so long for the next book.

I loved the magic system the authors created for this world! Diving into it, I thought it would be a standalone, and as the book was about to finish I realized how much bigger the world was! It definitely calls for a sequel, which I’m already looking forward to!

I ended up loving characters I hated in the beginning, and hating some I liked in the beginning. Each of the champions have a unique and interesting story underneath them that I can’t really choose a favorite.

Overall, it was a really fun, fast-paced book to read, and I feel like it has been a while since I’ve had so much fun reading a YA fantasy. It’s like… The Hunger Games with dark magic and all of them villains.

This was a fun blend of Hunger Games meets Harry Potter's pure blood families. I liked that the characters, as a whole, were multi dimensional. No one was truly a pure villain, but definitely no one was good, I hated that it ended with a cliffhanger of sorts, so I'll be over here impatiently waiting for the next book in the series.

So I thought I had at least a few more pages to read. Turns out I was wrong. That is exactly where the book ended.

I was pulled into the story immediately. Each character is amazing to read. Sometimes I find the multi-POV approach a little lackluster and I end up not enjoying certain characters' chapters as much, but here I was completely immersed into the story no matter whose point of view I was reading. Each character's head was interesting to be in, and all of them had different goals and desires. Their backstories are all quite different too. I cannot wait to see what else might be revealed in the second book, because it is clear a lot of these characters still have many secrets! I'm also excited to see which characters why might get a bit more of eventually.

And can we please talk about that magic system?? I think it is so clever! It is complex and captivating all at once. I love how even though there is a straightforward way of casting spells and curses, they each have their own components and each character has their own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to magic. I like that the use of some of the magic also has a price that the caster has to pay. It's a really well-thought-out and unique magic system.

This book was incredibly captivating and now I have no idea what I'll do with myself while I wait for the second book. Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman are true artists when it comes to storytelling and I would never hesitate to pick up their books.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and to Tor Teen for the eARC.

My expectations for this one were set so incredibly high, I'm not surprised it failed to reach them. When a book markets itself as a bloodier Hunger Games with morally grey characters, i expect greatness. This was definitely good, but it wasn't great.

I think my main problem with this definitely stems from the title. It declares every one of its characters a villain from the first page. So, when they weren't exactly villainous, I was disappointed. I didn't want alliance and romance, I wanted betrayal and hate. There were two characters with villainous tendencies, and they were definitely my favorites. The rest were just slightly darkened heroes.

I did love the ending of this though. I hadn't realized it wasn't a standalone, so I was definitely surprised by the lack of resolution. Now, I'm desperate to get my hands on the next book, as it seems the characters will finally be reaching a breaking point.

Although I didn't particularly love this one, I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for the next book. This had so much potential, and even though I didn't love it, I can definitely see it making a splash in the YA world.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book is every Morally Grey Character fans next new obsession, it has just about everything you could need. Morally grey characters going against each other, teaming up and possibly falling in love. Also, if you are a fan of THG you will need to pick this up, all the vibes from the hunger games but with magic.

Each character has it’s one unique reason for why they are where they are and just how far they will go. They all had their uniqueness about them, the characters were the best part of the whole story they all just really shined and had such depth.

My favorite was Alistair, I love me a guy whose depicted as a monster but deep down he’s anything but.

The world building was lots of fun and definitely intriguing, I loved the way the authors showed each aspect of the town and how they all revolve around this tournament and just how important magic is to each and everyone of them.

I honestly feel like this book has a little bit for everyone, I can’t wait for everyone to read it because I need some theories about that ending.

I really enjoyed this book! Dare I say, it was my favorite read of 2021 so far? I think it might be. :)

The characters are ALL morally gray. The setting is lush and creepy. The premise is just Hunger Games enough to hook me, but with a zesting that belongs to this world alone.

For me, the characters of Alistair and Isobel stood out, and I hope we get so much more of them in the second installment. I'll be interested to see how the authors take on the challenge of the second book, knowing the huge twist at the end!

If you like darker fantasy with a fresh set of magic rules, this could be just the book for you.