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

If you miss books like the Hunger Games, this one is a perfect treat for you. The story follows members of the most influential families in a small town that every year fight to the death in a gruesome battle to see who will be in charge of all the town's magic. The children are usually made into villains from a very small age and are forced to fight and die in the battle field. The world building is very cool because it is set in a town like yours and mine, yet every 20 years the moon turns Blood Red and the tournament starts. However, this tournament has been kept a secret until someone releases a book about the horrible games and the town starts receiving an influx of paparazzi and reporters.

My favorite thing about the book is that all the characters are unlikeable. Alistair Lowe, from the family that usually wins the tournament, is the perfect villain. He considers himself a monster, but when he gets to the battlefield and understands the reason his family wins every year he is struck with grief and hatred towards the battle. Isobel wants to make sure her family wins this year after she was name one of the first contenders, but she never wanted to fight until she actually is in the grounds and finds herself without magic and having to ask for help. Alistair and Isobel start somewhat of a romance that ends with betrayal (super good and interesting). Briony is the all star that has always known she wanted to compete, until her family chooses her sister as the champion and she does the most horrible things to be able to compete and actually find a way to defeat the tournament once and for all so no one else has to die. Gavin is the only character I actually disliked (although they are pretty unlikeable, Gavin takes the #1 spot for me). He is filled with hate towards Alistair and the way he grew up was filled with abandonment issues, so he's hatred towards the game is understandable but his greed and viciousness is too unnecessary and evil in my opinion.

“What is happily ever after to the child is a nightmare to the monster.”

Like I said, all the characters do evil and do things bad. They betray each other, they kill and they go back on their word. Yet, they all really don't want to continue fighting in this battle that seems to never end. Overall, the story is pretty entertaining and the plot twist and ending leads to a very good start to book 2.

Overall rating: 3.5 stars