Book Review: The ‘All of Us Villains’ Duology Delivers
What would you do if you were chosen to be your family’s Champion in a fight to the death with your friends?
This fantasy duology is technically YA, but wow, is it brutal. If The Hunger Games and The Atlas Six had a kid, it would be All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman. Welcome to the town of Ilvernath, where seven magical families have been living under a curse for centuries, sending their children to fight to the death in a magical tournament every 20 years. I think what makes it even more messed up is that these teenagers know each other. Some have dated, been best friends, etc. so the stakes are incredibly high, and you see what lengths people will go to in order to live.
Things to know:
- The characters are the poster children of ‘morally grey’
- Multi-POV
- Set in our world, but with *magick (there are multiple kinds you can wield: high magick, common magick, and life magick) *their spelling
All of Us Villains
"Monsters couldn't harm you if you were a monster, too."
As I’ve been saying all year, this is one of my favorite reads of the year. It has some of the most complex and conflicting characters I’ve ever read in a YA book. And it is super gruesome, so be prepared. These teenagers are all truly terrible in their own ways, but they all also have redeeming qualities. While it’s heavily character-driven, this novel also has a solid plot, although that unfolds and is further developed in book two.
I especially loved Alistair and Gavin.
You’ve got some enemies-to-lovers and lovers-to-enemies relationships that happen throughout. And prepare to have your heart broken by some shocking reveals. How could they?!
I really appreciated the multi-POVs as each character has a truly distinctive personality and voice. You get to dig deep on their individual motivations, dreams, and insecurities.
Plus, the cliffhanger—when I first read this book, I thought it was a standalone. Big mistake. This ending was just unkind to the readers…in the best way…so I’d have book two handy…
All of Our Demise
“The Grieves had raised Gavin to die. The Lowes had raised Alistair to kill.”
I’m fresh off finishing this second and final installment of this duology. Did I cry multiple times while reading? Yes, yes I did.
Hendry has my whole heart. That’s really all I need to say. But no spoilers here.
This book picks up right where our cliffhanger left off. And it could have taken a completely predictable path with the relationships and alliances set up in book one, but it didn’t! It went and jumped right off a cliff, and I’m so glad it did.
Isobel became less and less likable. They each truly did go through some especially villain-y moments, and moments of sacrifice and redemption. So if you’re looking for truly morally grey characters, these are it.
This book could have been a tad shorter. At over six hundred pages, the first half felt a bit slow. And with the high stakes of the tournament, I wanted more action. But then it did pick up.
And it was intense, emotional and packed full of character development, plus some pretty cool magick-theory.
“Heroes are just villains with worse survival instincts and moral superiority complexes.”
I loved how creative they were with the trials. These felt a bit more like Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets.
Overall, this duology has been planted firmly on a list of my favorite YA books. Is it perfect? No. But I had such a great time reading, and I’ll definitely read it again.
NOTE: I read an ARC of All of Our Demise provided by TorTeen in exchange for an honest review, and I also listened to the audiobook that I purchased from Audible. There were significant edits, which made the final book a bit more streamlined, which I appreciate. I also absolutely loved the narrators of this audiobook–they did an incredible job. Highly recommend.
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