All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody & Christine Lynn Herman
Mentioned previously in my July Wrap Up, All of Us Villains is one of the best books I read this year. After seeing this book mentioned briefly on BookTok, I had to give it a try. And look at that beautiful cover - perfect!
**Some spoilers throughout, read at your own risk
The integration of a Hunger-Games-like tournament with magic made for an interesting read from the start. Introduced to the city Ilvernath, we prepare for the next Blood Moon, a time when seven families name a champion to participate in the Tournament. We get perspectives from multiple champions before and during the tournament again, seeing the challenges and issues they deal with from both public and their families alike. Each family is private, but a tell all book came out within the past year exposing their secrets to the world, and more importantly, the government. As the tournament gets closer and families discuss what's needed to win, we see the twisted dark truths of this world.
Our Characters
I loved each and every one of our narrators: Alistair Lowe, Gavin Grieve, Briony Thorburn, and Isobel Macaslan. These are not everyone in the tournament, but arguably the most important.
Let's start off with the Lowe family. The Lowe family are traditionally the winners of the tournament all because of a deep, dark secret. I loathed the family but really enjoyed Alistair and his brother, Hendry. As the youngest members of the family, they have been dealt a pretty shitty hand putting up with their family and how they were raised - from the beginning Alistair gets referred to as a monster from everyone in his life, which is prep for the tournament.
I felt strongly for the Grieve family, the known losers of the bunch. They get no support from magical suppliers, no alliances, and really no support from their family. Form the beginning they are destined to die.
I despised Briony Thorburn and her family. I did not like how she felt like she was owed to be the champion and would triumph as a hero. That's how she saw herself and the tournament, a chance to prove herself a champion to the world.
The entire book, I felt meh about Isobel. I felt like she had a lot of POV chapters, but I could never decide how I felt about her. I felt for her, yes, but she was just kind of bland. The Macaslans were awful but I also didn't like Isobel's mom either.
The Lead Up
The Tournament starts about a quarter of the way into the book, so we got quite a bit of backstory and build up. I think I would have liked to see more about how the public felt about the tournament, minus a few protestors here and there.
We also saw interference from the government. With the tournament being a curse cast by the seven families ancestors to see who controls the high magick, the government doesn't want that falling into the wrong hands. But they can't completely get rid of the curse without the high magick potentially falling into even worse hands, so they let the tournament continue - why, I don't know. How someone could sit by and watch a bunch of kids forced to kill each other - but we've seen this before in dystopian novels.
This initial build up had some serious WTF moments, especially with the Lowe secret exposed to the reader. And Briony's sabotage toward her sister.
The Tournament
I wanted so much more from the Tournament. I wish there was more death and destruction, but it was pretty tame overall. Granted with the goal of most not being to really win but to try and break the curse, there wasn't too much room for death. That was a bit disappointing since I wanted to see more of this awful tournament in action.
I liked the chance to see our characters interact without their families around. There's a chance they aren't bad people when they aren't being pressured into being killers.
With the majority of the book being about the tournament, it felt like very little actually happened. Having multiple POVs helped give individual insight but I felt like it slowed down the story at points. I was on the edge of my seat during most of the book though.
And that ending!!! That twist - I cannot wait to read book two to see what happens!
Overall, I loved everything about this book. The characters, the plot, everything was to die for. I highly recommend All of Us Villains and definitely check out All of Our Demise when it releases on August 30.
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