Book Reviews

Review: All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman

Blood magic, a town competition where there can only be one winner, and friends forced to compete will always hook me. So when I saw the premise of All of Us Villains I knew I had to read it. I was expecting dark magic which extracts sacrifices and I was not disappointed. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.

Summary

The Blood Moon rises. The Blood Veil falls. The Tournament begins.

Every generation, at the coming of the Blood Moon, seven families in the remote city of Ilvernath each name a champion to compete in a tournament to the death.

The prize? Exclusive control over a secret wellspring of high magick, the most powerful resource in the world–one thought long depleted.

This year, thanks to a salacious tell-all book, the seven champions are thrust into worldwide spotlight, granting each of them new information, new means to win, and most importantly: a choice – accept their fate or rewrite their story.

But this is a story that must be penned in blood.

Review

(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

In All of Us Villains I felt like the multiple POV was a perfect choice. We are allowed to not only get to know each character, but to see what motivates them. Why they compete. And what hopes for the future they have. Throughout I definitely had favorites, but not as many as I thought because I could truly empathize with each one of them. In All of Us Villains, these characters are twisted by magic, sacrifice, and duty. Relating to magic, I enjoyed the world building immensely.

The magic that exacted dangerous and deadly consequences? Loved it. The magical battles and the terror? Adored it. I was promised a darker magical fantasy and this truly delivered. I definitely felt like it took a bit of time for the book to really get started – considering the competition looms in the distance always. But All of Us Villains tries to illustrate the ways these characters evolve and change. In terms of audiobooks, I adored that there were multiple narrators. Mostly because with multiple perspective stories I find it really hard to figure out who is who.

While the pacing was a bit slower at the beginning than I thought, the talents of the narrators helped take the pressure off. They were able to infuse emotions so deeply into their narration that I could feel the character’s strife. Especially as they realize that we always have a choice and it’s about what we choose. The horribly gut wrenching choices that tear us apart. All of Us Villains examines how we can change our own narrative. How we can save our own future, to stop playing into what people expect or want and instead follow our own hope.

I definitely want to continue this series mostly because I am rooting for them! Additionally, I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface of the world and the magic. It’s going to be epic when everything is revealed! Find All of Us Villains on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org, Google Play, Libro.fm & The Book Depository.

Discussion

What is your favorite magical sacrifice?


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