Unfortunately, this book hit all the wrong tropes for me. Only characters that I liked were Brionny, who was complicated and actually changed as the story progressed, and Gavin, who was also written quite well. Everyone else were carton copies of popular cliche characters - Brooding Bad (but Misunderstood) Boy, Arthurian Hero Boy, Evil but Princess, The Nancy from "Craft" character... I needn't go on. Then there was action which was quite captivating but took SO LONG to start. All in all it was an entertaining but, unfortunately, not an especially well written story.

I listened to this book on audio and I actually really enjoyed listening to it. The only reason I rated it as low as I did is due to the fact that nothing really happened in the book until the halfway mark and by then lots of people could lose interest. Alistair Lowe was my absolute favorite character in the book and even though I rated it as a 3.5 star I found myself wanting a sequel. This book is a cross between Caraval and Hunger Games and I am going to continue the series.

I like this author & loved the cover/title. I will not be reviewing it since it is a 2021 book and I did not read it in time for our award program cut off, but I wish it all the best!

I am really glad I gave this book a second chance. While the audiobook did not work for me, I had a much better experience just reading the ebook and it felt like I was reading a totally different book! I thought that the concept of this book with the Blood Veil and Tournament of villains was super intriguing, and the setting of Invernath just cast an atmospheric, villainous pall over the entire story that was truly perfect. I was really interested in all of the POV champions--Alistair, Isobel, Gavin and Briony and how they navigated their notorioty and the family dynamics within all of the magical families. I loved the slow burn with Alistair and Isobel in particular, and they really grew on me both individually and together in a way I wasn't feeling in the first book. The plot itself was relatively well-paced and engaging, and I really enjoyed seeing so many wonderfully developed morally grey characters. The rules of magick and the tournament were interesting and it was really cool to see how it all worked. The competition had the same bloodthirstyness and brutality that packed a punch in The Hunger Games, but with the unique cast of characters and world-building, ALL OF US VILLAINS stands out on its own. I'm now super excited for the next book to see what happens next.

I felt like I had been dropped into a story that was already going. With no explanation I felt like I was reading something and missing something about the story. The characters failed to grab me and I just didn't really care about their situation. I think others might enjoy this one but it just wasn't for me.

The premise is that there's 7 families who have a tournament every 20ish years to determine who gets access to the good magic juice while everyone else has to deal with being normal. The competitors have to take part in a fight to the death until there is a final victor. 3 months of no holds barred magical mutilation (with the average stuff because The Veil basically sucks up all the good stuff as far as I can tell) to determine who is the greatest. Over the years, the Lowes have usually come out on top but there has been the occasional upset where they relinquished control for a generation. Usually, this tournament is a closely guarded secret of the town of Ilvernath but in the year of leadup, someone released the details to the public and now there's an unwanted audience.

I really want to start out discussing the magic system within the novel because it felt like a really good departure from the stereotypical magic tournament. In order for the competitors to cast magic, they have to take everything they need in with them. Spells are contained within objects and you can't just swish and flick a competitor away Death Eater style. If you can manage to find raw magic and more ingredients within the veil, great, you can make enchantments but each spell has an infinite number of uses. If you run out of containers in which to store your magic and want a different spell, you have to empty out the old spell to add a new one. As a fan of novels about magical mayhem, I found this to be a genius way to try to level the playing field.

The novel takes place from the POV of 4 of the 7 champions – Isobel Macaslan, Briony Thorburn, Gavin Grieve and Alistair Lowe. Each is determined to put their past relationships behind them and violently murder the others, be it via magic or violence. I thought I may begin to lose track of who was narrating at what point but thankfully

1. I read on the kindle so could easily see chapter names;
2. Each character has a very individual voice (except for the 2 girls) and didn’t really overlap all that much; and
3. The characters were together in varying capacity throughout so it was easy to determine the narrator based on who they were speaking about.

I will say here that I picked a certain twist relating to the publication of the novel very early on but it didn’t detract from the appeal of the story because everyone acts in ways that are very much unexpected. There's also varying ways that all 7 enter the tournament so it began in unexpected ways – it kept me engaged during a time of many anticipated releases so bonus points for that.

There aren't many downsides to this one, except maybe I expected it to be paced differently. There is a lot of stuff that happens before they actually enter The Veil so expect to be waiting for the whole thing to really get going until around the half way point.

I will also point out that everyone acts in ways that are outside the norms of a battle to the death so there's no real big bad except for maybe the person who wrote the book or the tournament itself. If you are the type to want someone to hate, its actually really difficult with All of Us Villains because everyone has redeeming qualities.

I really enjoyed this. Similar to The Hunger Games, get more brutal like GOT. I loved the world building and the characters were richly developed.

Thank You to Tor Teen, the authors and Netgalley for an E-ARC of "All of Us Villians" in exchange for an honest review*

Wickedly good read. I enjoyed the perspective from "villains" and the fresh take on the whole young people battle royale. So much tragedy and yet I couldn't stop reading. Definitely not the kinda book you wanna read without the next book on immediate standby.

Dark, dangerous, delicious.

I really enjoy the writing of these authors individually. Together = chef’s kiss

It’s basically The Hunger Games + magic. It felt fast-paced and held twists. Extremely well-plotted too.

I cannot wait to see what’s next!!!

So far, with its diverse POV cast and the promise of a battle to the death between the scions of the various families, this is very much reminding me of an aged down version of House of Dragons.

But holy crap, how did this book be so good, basically from beginning to end. I was highkey ready to go into this and hate every single characters. First on my shit list was Alasdair, and I'll be damned if he didn't become my actual fav by the end.

Similarly, with Gavin Grieve, he seemed like a big old underdog at the start. So I felt sorry for him. And then he made enough dumb choices that ended up changing his personality that I found myself watching him like he was a rabid dog before the end.

These are just two of the ways that these authors wrote amazing characters and four different PoVs. There are actually 7 main characters in this battle to the death, but only four of them end up having chapters in their viewpoint. The reason for this becomes pretty clear early on.

And the depth of family relationships and history that we get from these four people is just... wow. There are not many books that pull on hundreds of years of history where you actually feel as though you came out of it feeling as though you are on the inner circle of having seen that history unfold.

The magic and the world building of this novel are just phenomenal. And honestly I shouldn't be surprised given Amanda Foody is also the author of Ace of Shades, a similarly gut wrenching beginning to a series.

I absolutely can't wait to see what the rest of this series does.

Did I enjoy it? Yes. Do I think teens would like it? Yes. Do I think any teen under 16-17 should read it? Meh. This book was so bloody and violent that I don’t know that It should be marketed to YA (ages 14-18).

DNF

For some reason, this book just isn't doing it for me. It has all the components that I love in a good story, but they just weren't coming together right. I'm a little disappointed to DNF it because I was ready for this to be my new favorite book, but I just don't feel like pushing through a mediocre novel just because it had an interesting premise.

I loved this! Very Hunger Games-esque, but darker. The world building and character development was great, which is often lacking in this type of book. I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

This book was intoxicating. It gripped me and had me from the very beginning. I loved the multiple POVs and how complex each character was. There was a slight stretch in the middle where the book seemed to lose a bit of its momentum but then it brought me back in at the end. I also love the very unique magic system within this book! I am excited, yet nervous, for book 2!

All of Us Villians was my most anticipated book of the year, and it did not disappoint. it was pitched as magical Hunger Games and i knew from that moment that i was going to love it. From the atmosphere, to worldbuilding was 10/10. If you enjoy dark magical fantasy and Hunger Games i highly recommend.

When I read the description for All of Us Villains I was intrigued and I had to read it. I loved the magic system in the books as it was different from other books I have read. The world was beautifully created and loved travelling it. I really liked the characters and the relationships that they had with each other.. I am looking forward to the next one.

I loved this book. I'm fascinated by how different writers teach magic in fantasy, and I loved this. It felt like the Hunger Games, but with a dark twist. Cunning, twisted, and absolutely thrilling!

4.5 stars. I was worried when I came to the end, but now that I see another book is coming, I'm OK. I loved the tense atmosphere and darkness of this book. The magic system was cool and the stakes were incredibly high for every character. I was very excited for this book from the moment I saw the cover and am happy to say that it lived up to my expectations. I received an ARC through Netgalley of both the ebook and audiobook. The audiobook has excellent narration and I would highly recommend giving it a listen. I can't wait for the book's official release so I can add my copy to my shelves.

I don’t have the most detailed thoughts on this book because I listened to it as an audiobook and it never captured my full attention. I went in only knowing that it was described as “the Hunger Games but with magic,” and that’s pretty much what I got from it. The seven main characters (well really it’s four, but there are seven champions) and their families all have very different traits and I did enjoy learning about how differently they all live their lives with magic. The tension between some of the characters felt real and sufficient, while between others felt a little forced and/or dissipated very quickly. Like I said, not too many detailed thoughts, just enjoyed the ride. I found it mildly entertaining, and promising to have an interesting continuation of the story.

‘the hunger games’ with magic, you say? I'm sold.

This is the kind of story that has something for everyone - a really unique magic system, interesting characters who have depth and amazing development, a high-stakes plot with a gruesome history, and really easy to binge-read writing/storytelling. For me, I found the characters to be the highlight of the novel. especially Alistair and Gavin. I personally have a thing for tortured souls, so I couldn't help but love them. My one critique would be that, with a title like ‘all of us villains,’ I felt like there should be more villainy. The synopsis makes this sound like ‘the hunger games,’ but all of the participants are careers with magic. so I was expecting really ruthless, bloodthirsty, cruel antiheroes. but they aren't. there's maybe one character whos morally grey, at best. I was really disappointed to see that they were just a bunch of kids putting on a front for their families. They're more martyrs than the true, dark villains I was hoping for. Luckily things do change right at the end. It starts to get really good in terms of deception and mistrust, so I have a feeling the next book will be more villainous. I cannot wait!