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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
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.
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.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF. I was very excited for this book but just not what I thought it was. I rarely give out 1 stars because hell, they wrote a book and that's impressive. I usually like fantasy but not my cup of tea.
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Although i'm usualy not a fan of multiple pov's, it was a mjor plus in this book. I was afraid this would be similar to the hunger games with magic but the backstory is very strong and makes it quite a unique story.
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I do not know how to feel upon finishing this book…. i am gagged that isobel cursed alistair. I just don’t know how to feel. I really enjoyed getting to know the 4 main characters and was so invested in alistair and isobels story, even though I have no idea how to feel by that ending. Why is his dead brother alive and why could they not just be happy together. and the fact that reid is behind all of this shit… that dirty man. my heart is feeling a little hurt and i am scared to continue this story but im ready to pick up the next book to gain some kind of understanding. i don’t know how to go on in this moment. i feel so conflicted. Despite all of this I really did feel captivated by this story i’m just so thrown off my game but some of these choices.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
"All of Us Villains" is something that lies halfway between the Hunger Games and the Fate/ series -- twisted magic families raise their children to compete in a tournament to see who can control the only High Magick remaining in the world for the next 20 years. Then it begins again. The tournament is a curse, and the only way through is to keep doing it over and over again -- or to try to find a way to break the curse.
The concepts behind this book are fantastic, and there's some character work I genuinely like in this. Foody and Herman are great at making these characters complicated, extremely messed up by their upbringing -- Alistair was my favorite, with his deep-seated traumas from being raised to be terrorized into thinking of himself as a monster, but the others all have a similar push-pull where you don't necessarily like them at all, but you do understand why they're like this.
That said, I had trouble staying engaged with this book for long stretches. This is kind of a two-part thing. First, there are four point of view characters, so there is a LOT of switching back and forth and going over the same plot points from slightly different perspectives, especially early on. I wished this part had been gone over more tightly; I feel like there could have been ways to tune these sections so they cut between each other to show the selection simultaneously instead of finish one, start the next, finish that, start the next, etc.
The second part is that a narrative choice that's done repeatedly throughout this is to backload the relationships or story reveals until they serve the plot instead of setting them up early. This both makes the front half plod a little more and means that some of the work just isn't done up front when it is needed to pay off later. For example, the ruined relationship between Briony and Isobel is referenced, but we don't find out what it is until super late and then it's treated sort of as an exposition dump. I think the emotional entanglements of the tournament could have been a lot stronger (not just for them but for all the characters) if we saw the characters interacting and knew how they felt about each other going into it -- it would have more payoff than them making decisions to make alliances/betray each other/kiss each other/whatever and THEN have a page talking about how the characters used to date, or a page talking about what one person did to the other before. I think it would have been a read I couldn't put down if the authors had invested me into the relationships between the characters by showing me them in action *before* they had to go fight each other to the death.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this, and as the story ends right at the point it feels like the plot is actually getting starting, I'll probably pick up the sequel to see how it plays out.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The concepts behind this book are fantastic, and there's some character work I genuinely like in this. Foody and Herman are great at making these characters complicated, extremely messed up by their upbringing -- Alistair was my favorite, with his deep-seated traumas from being raised to be terrorized into thinking of himself as a monster, but the others all have a similar push-pull where you don't necessarily like them at all, but you do understand why they're like this.
That said, I had trouble staying engaged with this book for long stretches. This is kind of a two-part thing. First, there are four point of view characters, so there is a LOT of switching back and forth and going over the same plot points from slightly different perspectives, especially early on. I wished this part had been gone over more tightly; I feel like there could have been ways to tune these sections so they cut between each other to show the selection simultaneously instead of finish one, start the next, finish that, start the next, etc.
The second part is that a narrative choice that's done repeatedly throughout this is to backload the relationships or story reveals until they serve the plot instead of setting them up early. This both makes the front half plod a little more and means that some of the work just isn't done up front when it is needed to pay off later. For example, the ruined relationship between Briony and Isobel is referenced, but we don't find out what it is until super late and then it's treated sort of as an exposition dump. I think the emotional entanglements of the tournament could have been a lot stronger (not just for them but for all the characters) if we saw the characters interacting and knew how they felt about each other going into it -- it would have more payoff than them making decisions to make alliances/betray each other/kiss each other/whatever and THEN have a page talking about how the characters used to date, or a page talking about what one person did to the other before. I think it would have been a read I couldn't put down if the authors had invested me into the relationships between the characters by showing me them in action *before* they had to go fight each other to the death.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this, and as the story ends right at the point it feels like the plot is actually getting starting, I'll probably pick up the sequel to see how it plays out.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.