ARC REVIEW

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an arc of this book! I have no words for how incredible this is. As it promises, it is a much darker Hunger Games story, with morally grey characters (borderline villains) and a dark premise. Despite how villainous the characters get, you still can' held but root for them, which is where the magic in the book lies. The worldbuilding is stunning and the corruptness of the characters is dark in the best way. A must read!

There's an enormous amount of setup to this book (it’s at least 40%)before the "Hunger Games" element that every blurb about this book is sure to mention. We get tons of background information about the POV characters, of which there are four, although I would say that only one, MAYBE two are necessary or interesting perspectives. Once the actual Hunger Games happen, we start moving at breakneck speed (and not in a good way). We get the barest amount of information about Relics and Landmarks and other rules of the tournament, and the contestants are in constantly shifting alliances that change every five pages. The romance is entirely unearned, and there's somehow nothing compelling about the stakes. We see some violence and bloodshed, but it's obvious from the outset who is expendable to the authors and who isn't, making any deaths as boring as the rest of the story.

I think a lot of the issues come down to pacing, but I found myself continuously putting this book down to pick up something else. It took me almost a month to read because I never really felt drawn to it. I think the circumstances of the story are interesting, and I do think it'll find its audience, but I found it a bland, convoluted version of the ever-popular "teen murderdome" story that lacked any real heart or true interest in its own characters' motivations.

All of Us Villains takes place in Ilvernath, a town, where seven magical families compete to the death every twenty years for the winners' family to be able to use high magick until the next blood moon due to a curse. The seven families each put forward a competitor and only one of them can be victorious.

The story was very fast-paced due to the multiple POV's it has been written in. Generally, I do not like multiple POV's, but as the story advanced I minded it less and less. The story is very character-driven and thus the multiple POV's allows you to go more in-depth into each character and learn their motives and backstories.

The world-building was done very well, in my opinion. The story contains an abundance of magick, curses, spells, and more, but I did not feel confused about any of the fantasy aspects at any moment while reading. Even the mechanics of the curse for the competition were all explained properly and made sense.

The only point I can say was lacking for a book that is titled All of Us <I>Villains</i> there really was not much villainy stuff going on. Most of the characters are just in it for their families and wanting to prove themselves, but no one is really evil. Maybe just morally grey at best, but do not expect any antihero characters. Furthermore, the pacing of the story was very rushed towards the end, but hopefully, the uncovered things will be explained further in the sequel.

In the end, I am very excited for the sequel, even though it probably won't be published for a very long time from now. I found myself really excited reading this despite its shortcomings and I am hoping the sequel will be darker and live up to the potential that it has been set up for.

Ok where can I start, this book was amazing I loved the characters, the plot, the magic system. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending.

This is the story of 7 old families which once every 20 years send one of their kids to a competition in which they have to kill each other, kind of like the hunger games but instead of 12 districts, 7 families. The last person standing is the winner and his/her family is granted high magic which is basically magic that is more powerful than regular magic. They will have this magic for the next 20 years when the blood veil will fall and the competition will start again.

This story is narrated from 4 points of view Alistar, Isobel, Gavin, and Briony.

Alistar Lowe’s family is the family that has won more times, every 3 tournaments the Lowes had won 2. He was raised knowing he was going to be participating in the tournament, ever since he was little he was told stories of monsters he would in the future become. But as the tournament starts he discovers that nobody wants his family to win again.

Isobel Macaslan was never really close to her father’s family the Macaslans, she was closer to her mom one of the best spell makers, and never wanted to compete in the tournament but after being betrayed by her best friend she becomes her family’s champion and has to compete in the tournament.

Gavin Grieve's family has never won a tournament before, but Gavin as the least favorite son has no choice but to participate, he means to go by any way and make any sacrifice to win.

Briony Thorburn’s family is told to be the heroes of the story they want to win the tournament to help Ilvernath people have a better life. Briony is the perfect champion, she has been preparing for this her whole life but as her family decides to choose her sister as champion instead of her things start to fall apart.

This story is amazing everything in it is. If you are a character person or a plot person. If you liked the hunger games, or if you didn’t. READ THIS BOOK! this is by far the best book of 2021 and one of the best books I ever read. And I can not wait for the sequel.

Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an arc of this amazing book.

Final ratings:

Concept: 4.5/5
Main characters: 5/5
Character development: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Pacing: 5/5
Dialogue: 5/5
Ending: 4.5/5

Overall: 4.9/5

All of Us Villains is an an eerie, villainous, and magical spin on the Hunger Games. Every twenty years, seven villainous families choose a champion to fight to the death for the rights to control the high magic in the lands for the next twenty years. This year’s tournament is a little different, seeing as how a book has been published about this secret tournament and now the cat is out of the bag and this once sacred affair is publicized.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. There were multiple viewpoints throughout the novel. In the beginning, I thought the increase in view points would lead to confusion, but the authors did an amazing job of creating a cohesiveness between viewpoints and creating characters that it really worked.

The story line was great. Twists and turns, plot twists were amazing and kept me hooked. I do have to say that I found myself rooting for two characters in the beginning and then ended up changing my mind at least two or three times throughout the novel.

The ending! I would have expected nothing but that ending. But I want and need more now!!!

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge Publishers and Netgalley for granting me access to an eARC!

*4.5 stars*

"I gave up everything to take my sister's spot. Not because I wanted to win---but because I was willing to bet my life on saving others."

After the publication of "A Tradition of Tragedy" (a novel about the Blood Veil curse and the seven families who participate in it - this was such a great worldbuilding element), the unknown city of Ilvernath is put front and center of the world. People who want to see and those who disagree with the Blood Veil Championship come to visit its spell shops and ruins to watch as the age-old curse unfolds with 7 new champions from each of the 7 families (the irony of 7 is not lost on me). The winner of the Blood Veil curse's family receives control of the most powerful and highest magick in the world.
In the past, the devilish and secretive Lowes family have won nearly every tournament, and this year, Alistair Lowe believes he is ready to continue that tradition. However, each champion participating this year has something to bring to the table, or maybe even a way to end the tournament permanently.
But this story is dark and told with blood.

This book was a dark, twisted version of the Hunger Games with the addition of magic and curses. I had very few issues with this book, and I am so glad I was able to enjoy it. My only issues with it were:
- The worldbuilding, while lacking in the world aspect, was nice - I wish the authors had shared a LITTLE more about the world outside of Ilvernath.
- The title - none of the characters were villains, per se. They didn't WANT to kill one another (besides Gavin, of course). It would've been more fitting for the "Blood Veil Tournament", or something like that.
- The pacing was a little off. The beginning was a little slow. I wish there had been less focus on setting up the plot and more on the actual plot (which would've actually given us a complete ending - that cliffhanger is manageable, but kind of cruel). The ending was really fast - so fast, we didn't even get to finish the tournament.

Everything else was top-notch though. I enjoyed the four POVs we got (Isobel, Alistair, Gavin, and Briony) and the Ilvernath world building was good - we got the structure, the rules, and the consequences. All of Us Villains is definitely a mind twister and fast-paced. I couldn't put it down!

The Blood Moon has risen, and the Blood Veil is about to fall. Join the Slaughter Seven, champions of well to do Ilvernath families, as they compete to the death to secure their family access to high magick, the most powerful resource in the world. Once secret, a tell-all-book has thrust the Tournament into the spotlight and has given their seven teens a chance to accept their fate or rewrite their future.

All of Us Villains is a dark, delightful exploration of power-hungry people and the victims in their crosshairs.

This book, for being so heavily compared to Hunger Games, had such a unique story and magic system. Power hungry families nominating their own sons and daughters to die at the hands of their friends? Incredible. This book did not shy away from being bloody and gory. The magic system, spell stones and spell jewelry, was a really cool concept. Despite being written by two different authors, the entire plot of novel felt cohesive and had plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader engaged.

We follow 4 of the 7 champions as they prepare for and start the Tournament and having multiple perspectives really helped the novel along. The characters felt dynamic and individual. I wish we got to meet the other 3 champions on the same level but respect the decision not to as well. The authors did an incredible job developing these characters and humanizing them within such a dark struggle. I just wish there was more diversity in the characters.

Start to finish, this book was an explosive start to a new series and I will be on the end of my seat until the sequel comes out.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

With a title like All of Us Villains and a description saying it’s like Hunger Games, my expectations were pretty high. And unfortunately I was let down. The characters are intriguing, but the story itself was a bit lacklustre for me; it was kind of boring. A lot of how the kids are all pretending to be something they’re not and I was hoping for more action. That said, the ending has me wanting to know what will happen next as I was not expecting that twist. I do wish there was more Alistair and Hendry; they were the two I found most interesting.

This book is the Triwizard Tournament crossed with the Hunger Games. A magical competition, seven champions, a fight to the death. Are six destined to die? Or can destiny be changed?

I enjoyed the descriptive fantasy world and fast pace of this book. It was a sort of magical dystopian. However I ultimately found it less gritty and emotionally gripping the Hunger Games and other dystopian novels which seemed to inspire it.

All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman

9781250789266

400 Pages
Publisher: MacMillan – Tom Doherty Associates
Release Date: November 9, 2021

Fiction, Sci Fi & Fantasy, Teens & Young Adult

Each of the seven families must change a champion to represent their line at the Tournament. With the arrival of the Blood Moon, the Blood Veil falls, and the games begin. The champions must fight to the death until only one remains. A twist when the tournament begins that could end it all.

The authors did an amazing job writing this story. The characters are well developed, and the story moves quickly. The story is told in multiple points of view. I cannot wait until the next installment. I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoyed the Hunger Games and Harry Potter.

The Hunger Games with a twist of magic...I mean magick

7 families. 7 Champions. A dark tale about power-hungry families and magick.

Every family is rotten but none is more rotten than the Lowe family. Always the winner, always the villain. Families send their kin to compete and the winner comes out with a powerful price in their hands, the control over the supply of magick.

This book is told in four POVs but I hope that there was more than four tbh. Like, all of the champion's thoughts would be nice. But then again, that’ll probs be too long.

The world-building and characters are amazing as well and I hope to know more about it in the next book.

Looking forward to the second book.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC and the opportunity to review this book.

4.5 stars - I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book in return for an honest review. I have to say, I had pretty high expectations going into this book because I thought it sounded incredible right from the get-go and my expectations were honestly exceeded. I thought this book was amazing and I cannot wait for the next one already.

This book follows four different POVs of vastly different and yet compelling characters. The characters were all so unique and surprising in their own ways. Just when you think you have an idea of who might be the good guy or bad guy, everything gets turned around and you’re left questioning their actions and motivations for doing the morally grey or downright questionable things they do. For a book whose title indicates the presence of villains, it’s very fitting how up and down the characters can make you feel about them. I loved every different POV and found so many of the characters compelling.

The story follows a group of people forced into a tournament where they each represent their families in trying to get the most powerful magic within their control. It is a death match, one which won’t end until either the time runs out and everyone ends up dead, or until there is only one person standing who ends up the victor. They’re are magical landmarks and relics besides which have helpful properties that can give each competitor an edge.

All together, I loved the story, loved the characters, and even loved the dash of romance thrown in. I don’t think I’ll be able to wait until the sequel comes out because I honestly can’t get enough of this book already.

HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER. THIS BOOK IS SO INSANELY GOOD.

I just finished this book, it isn't even out yet, and I NEED THE NEXT BOOK. I don't understand how Amanda Foody and Christine Herman created something this great.

For this book, think of a mixture of the Wizards of Waverly Place sibling magic competition, mixed with the Hunger Games. The magic system developed in this book is insanely interesting--a competition to the death with a champion from each of the seven powerful families decides who maintains control over the region's supplies of high magick.

The authors tell this story through four different characters who are all representatives of different families: Alistair Lowe, Gavin Grieve, Briony Thorburn, and Isobel Macaslan.

Normally, with this many points of view, I tend to find fault or underdevelopment with at least one of the characters, but that was not the case here! I LOVED all of the perspectives, but I will admit that my favorites were Alistair and Gavin.

For a book solely focused on "villainous" characters, I think the authors did an amazing job humanizing the villainous qualities. Every chapter opens with a quote from A Tradition of Tragedy, the anonymously written book that unveiled the story of the tournament to the public. I really, really liked those quotes and if A Tradition of Tragedy was a real book, I would be its first reader!

Everything that occurred during the tournament was written so well that I could picture myself really being there, watching it all unfold.

I think this book could truly become iconic and I am really happy to have been selected to review it. I was in no way disappointed.

All of us Villains is a weird one. It's aggressively advertising itself as a "what if"- following the bad characters from series like The Hunger Games. The book is boasting itself as outwardly subversive, but it falls short of that in many ways. Amanda Foody did a great job with morally grey characters in past books, but this one sets up all 4 characters are complex and well rounded, only to shy away from them being actually bad when the story calls for it. By the early middle of the book, none of the characters want to actually kill anyone or participate in the tournament, so you can imagine how quickly the stakes drop for a death game when the 4 most powerful/bloodthirsty characters stop wanting to really play it.

I also found the main romance to be a letdown like many others. The book DOES NOT advertise being queer, but the early stages set up for an amazing romance between the two main male characters and then brings out an instalove pairing that was insanely underdeveloped. I am wondering if maybe this will NOT be the case for book 2...Luckily despite the very bad canon romance, All of Us Villains seems to be unafraid to play around with various pairs and make a lot of the relationships interesting..so we shall see.

All that said, the characters are REALLY cool, and I was glued to the page despite it all. Even when they are not being real villains, there's just so much juicy dramatic backstory and character drama. These characters really STICK OUT to me - if Foody cleans up her second part of this series, they are cool enough to cement themselves as classics. The friendships and rivalries, as well as the epic betrayals and family drama, had me coming back for more every time I got frustrated with cishet snore fests or the character's morality shifting.

Foody REALLY knows what tropes readers of fantasy want- if she can wrangle the brilliant ones she's playing with and not shy away from taking them to all of the way.

I found myself rooting for this book despite disappointments. It was addicting. It was right there ready to be a 5-star book, and it contained one of my new characters book characters. I really think this is worth your time if only for something cool/different/unique/standout for YA. Its got so much potential.

At minimum, it's worth it for how intense and thirsty Gavin/Alistair is while also being confusingly tender and very sexy. I hate this argument normally but if this series ends up being gay it will become so much better and we have a 50/50 shot that it happens.

All of Us Villains is an amazing, complex book that features a set of teenagers that are forced to fight each other in exchange for power for their families. Unlike many books, All of Us Villains uses many different POVs and navigates through them all but flawlessly. It's a dark story filled with strong, morally grey characters that all have their own changing motivations and history. I read the entire book in one day, I just couldn't put it down. It'll keep you on your toes and have you rooting for a different character every chapter. I cannot wait for the next book!

4 stars
This was so good! All of Us Villains started pretty slow, but once it picked up, I literally became obsessed. I'm already awaiting the sequel. To start, I loved the world building of this book. I've seen it compared to The Hunger Games a lot because it has the "competition to the death" trope. Although The Hunger Games popularized this trope, it didn't invent it, and All of Us Villians spins a new and exciting take on it. I also loved the magic system in this book, although it took a while to fully understand. That leads to my main complaint for All of Us Villains, which is just that it took quite a while to really pick up. The actions doesn't really begin until at least the 40% mark. Before that the characters and their relationships are just being set up. This is done quite well, and shows a good starting point before all the character arcs and betrayals, but I don't think so much time needed to be spent on world building. Personally, I found the magic system a lot easier to understand when I was seeing it in action (in the tournament after the 40% mark). But now that I've gotten that complaint aside, once this book really picked up, I could not put it down. It does such a good job at creating a dark and mysterious atmosphere, and the character dynamics, ahhhh. They're so good. The romance was a bit rushed, but cute all the same, and an important set up for the end of the book. The best aspect though, was the friendships, alliances, and betrayals. This book does, in my opinion, a perfect job at crafting morally grey characters. They aren't impossible to root for, but they aren't anywhere near perfect either, and are willing to shed blood to see end results. And I know I just mentioned it but I'm going to say it again, the betrayals. They're sooo good. This book has the perfect amount of twists and turns to keep the plot interesting and readers on their toes. Honestly, the second half (and ending specifically) of this book were so good that I wanted to give it 5 stars, but I feel like that would be unfair considering how long it took for me to become invested. Still, it was absolutely worth the read, and I am incredibly eager to see where this story goes from here. I highly recommend All of Us Villains to fans of dark fantasy's, the betrayal trope, and morally grey characters.

Okay … so… WOW!! I loved this book! Books centered around Games or Trials etc are my absolute favorite, I could read them all day, and All Of Us Villains will be going up in my top ten favorites! The multiple POVs really helped to gather insight into everything that was happening, and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I look forward to more books by this author!

OKAY, WOW!! WHAT A BOOK! Fans of The Hunger Games, Legend, The Inheritance Games, and it's incredible. This was a fun, somewhat gory, book! I loved Alistair and all the characters have distinct personalities. This one will get your heart racing and you will end up staying up all night until you're done reading (at least that's what happened to me. I ADORED THIS BOOK SO MUCH AND I WANT MORE!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for the ARC!

All of Us Villains is a new, dark, twisted, and magical take on the Hunger Games style tournament.

It's told in four different POVs, which I loved. You really get a glimpse into each of the characters' motives, families, and thoughts through their distinct chapters. I enjoyed reading about each of their family backgrounds, especially at the beginning. I found this to be a character driven story.

The plot and world building were both well developed and easy to understand. It was a bit slow moving at the beginning, but towards the end the twists and turns picked up a lot. (And that ending!)

Unfortunately, I didn't feel as attached to the story or characters as I expected to be (which is probably just a me thing, to be honest). I found some parts more enjoyable than others, and thought the pacing was a little off. I did wish I had a bit more motive to keep reading at some points, but as it sped up, the twists took me by surprise.

Overall, All of Us Villains was well developed, dark, and intriguing. I'm interested to see how things develop in the sequel!

Of course, is this only my personal opinion on the book and just because I give this rating to the book doesn’t mean, that everyone will have that opinion.

„Hunger Games“ meets the vibes of „Vicious“ and a little bit of „Beautiful Creatures“!
This book was right up my alley. After I started it, I couldn’t think about anything else than continue reading it after work.
I was in the mood for a dark fantasy with morally grey characters and this book delivered everything and even more. We got multiple POVs, and to my surprise: I was interested in reading all of these. Normally, there is one POV I would rather skip than read it, but this wasn’t the case while reading „All of us Villans“.
The characters are interesting and definitely not flat! They have a lot of depth and flaws, which are unveiled during the story. Everyone has their unique history and past.
I don’t want to say anything about the plot because I am worried to spoil it during this excited „rant“, but I can tell you this: I was hooked and can’t wait for the sequel! If the synopsis made you curious about the book: read it!
I can’t wait to have a printed copy in my hands and to reread it. This will 100 per cent be a book some of my friends will receive as a gift, so be prepared 😀

Conclusion
I loved everything and can´t wait for the sequel.

I give 5 from 5 Stars

For more bookish stuff check out my Instagram (@bloggerinthejogger)