“I think, deep down, some people don't want their stories to have happy endings.”

3.25☆ — all of us villains was an quick and thrilling read with its intriguing of atmosphere of hunger games with magic along with aspects of generational familial pressure. The backstory and system of magic and curses were relatively easy to follow along with each of the seven families' histories of champions and losses on how that affects the present day teen champions. Being multi-perspective made this story fly by much faster in my personal reading experience, but honestly two out of the four point of views carried. It was a bit slow paced towards the beginning but expected with a fantasy series first novel, but it definitely picked up once the tournament started. Alistair Lowe, son of the infamous deadly Lowe family who have had the most winners of the tournament, is of course the most multi-layered character we get to see ranging from his boundless power to the spin of his mind to the grief he is put through. Isobel Macaslan, is one quite interesting as she was thrust into the spotlight as her name was thrust into the media as champion though she had never wanted. She deals with the most fighting much internal battles but also external with her split parents, her father expecting perfection as their family champion meanwhile her mom wants the exact keeping her safe from all harm along with complicated past friendships and new ones. The development of the dynamic between Alistair and Isobel was one well done with its slow burn and one could see it coming with how they met and how their story would could with all the foreshadowing. After the chaos and plot twists of the last ten percent, I'd be fascinated to pick up the sequel and see where Foody and Herman take this story!

Thank you to for Macmillan-Tor/Forge and Tor Teen sending an e-arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.