The characters we know and love/hate all play a role in this race against time to end a curse that causes six teenagers to die at the hands of their peers every 20 years. There are alliances and betrayals, and the plot moves so quickly that you worry about falling behind. I was hooked from the first page and am devastated that it is now over!
The second book picks up right where the first left off, and the action never stops! I liked how we delved deeper into the back stories of each of our complex, morally grey characters and watched how their carefully plotted actions played out, with plenty of twists to keep you on the edge of your seat. But it was seeing how Allistair and Isobel dealt with the consequences of their actions that piqued my interest.

The writing was once again incredibly detailed, as was the world-building, which is taken a step further as we delve into the tournament's history, the inner workings of the curse, and the stories surrounding each champion's families—the lore of which was incredible! I liked how we also got t the opportunity to see more of the champions' families and how their influence has affected them—particularly for some of the lesser-known families, such as the Grieves.

Often, books suffer from what we call ‘second book syndrome’. All of our demise, however, was so much better than the first!

This book was darker than the first which is something that had me entirely gripped from the first chapter. The character work was sublime, I was excited to follow them and see where their loyalties were (or looked like they were 👀).

“In a different story, would we still have been enemies?”

There was a romance plot line in this book that I am wholeheartedly obsessed with. These characters both individually, and together, were dark, damaged, beautiful souls and the ending each of them had was perfection. I couldn’t have asked for any better. Do I wish they hadn’t experienced pain? Yes. Do I think they needed to experience it in order to fully grow into the wonderful beings they become? Also yes.

I suffered with these characters, my heart ached with these characters, and in the end, I grew with these characters (even if they did make me cry on occasion).

Overall, an utterly flawless, highly engaging and addictive second book!

I absolutely devoured the first book. Thoroughly enjoyed.

This second book in comparison feels so slow and like wading through mud. I got 150 pages through and I had to DNF.

I was so excited to finally read the sequel to All of us Villains and thrilled to see how this duology ends.

The story starts right where book one left us. Therefore, I had no problems getting back into the story. I personally reread book one before starting with the sequel. However, because the characters summarize what they went through in their thoughts, you can also start with the sequel without rereading All of us Villains.

Again, the book is written from the perspectives of our four main characters, which I highly appreciate. I don't want to go too into detail regarding the storyline. Still, it was helpful to have different perspectives, especially in this book, because two groups of characters work together in different places.

For me, the plot was entertaining to read, but it missed a bit of suspense at some points. It wasn't dull, but I didn't feel the need to rush through the whole book in one setting, which was the case for book one. For that reason, I like All of us Villains a tiny bit more.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading All of Our Demise, mainly because I loved the character developemnets and the relations that build up in this book. I was stunned to see that my least favourite character from book one was actually my favourite character in book two.

So if you loved reading All of us Villains, then you should really read its sequel because some surprises will absolutely shock you. Also, the ending scenes were great and I'm happy with how the duology concluded.

First of all, thank you to Orion and Netgalley for generously providing me of an ARC. All of Our Demise is an anticipated release for me this year, due to the fun I had with the first book last year. This series is reminiscence of the early 2012 fantasies which I honestly just love.

The second book is definitely much more high stake than the first, and as we've gotten to know these characters in the first one, we dove straight right in to the second. There were some shocking alliances and development of a character I did not expect to be added in, and if I'm being completely honest, I'm not sure either whether I support it or not.

NOW the ones I support. The Gavin and Alistair development was the one I was rooting for the most, and so they became the reason I most wanted to get through the book. I loved Alistair in the first one, but me rooting for Gavin is new. I also just loved the Alistair and Henry storyline:(

As much as this book was fun, I was not attached to the characters like the first. I found myself not caring about the other alliance and the characters inside it (except for Isobel), and the surprise addition and romantic development of and with a character I didn't really like last time didn't help either. Everytime it's back to their parts I found myself wanting to hurry so I could get to the parts I want (cough Gavin and Alistair cough). I also think the pacing is sometimes all over the place and that sometimes a problem would just appear in a chapter for the sake of there being a problem. It wasn't like it was hinted or build up, but I just found it completely jarring at times.

I have been waiting for this book - the conclusion - since the moment I read the last words in All of Us Villains and as soon as it appeared I began reading it.

Almost zero time has passed from where we left our champions in book 1, but after Isobel's betrayal and Hendry's appearance, allinaces are fragile, enemies are still at the gates and now Ilvernath has access to the battlegrounds, and the champions to Ilvernath, things are really changing.

I really don't want to give anything away and usually I would write a much longer review, but honestly, I just want people to read it, I want poeple to live the story - to take longer than expected reading it because you want to make it last just a little bit longer. I want people to feel the longing, the worry, the angst, the hope, the joy, and draw their own conclusions and not be swayed based on my review of this wonderful story.

This is my Hunger Games - this gives me the spells, curses, and the rebellion that my magical heart wanted.

If you enjoyed the first - I promise you will enjoy the second.

All our Demise is the epic conclusion to All of Us Villains. If you thought book 1 was good book 2 will blow your mind. I am mindful of spoilers for book 1 so I will keep this vague.

This is a Dark YA Fantasy with the magical families sending one champion to compete in a tournament to the death to take control of the powerful magic until the next tournament. But this year is different. A once secret competition has been exposed to the non magical world when a book was published. The contestants have more pressure on them than before.

Book 2 follows immediately after book 1 we are in the middle of the contest but the tournament is breaking. Our contestants are split battling between trying to break the curse to end the tournament forever and the others who are still trying to win.

If you like the hunger games, stop reading and go buy this book, you will not be disappointed.

Thank you to netgalley for sending me an arc in exchange for review.

4⭐️ The Hunger Games but make it magic in this Dark YA Fantasy- the conclusion to All Of Us Villains

I loved reading All of Us Villains, it was such a great concept and so exciting so when I was accepted for an ARC of All of our Demise I couldn’t wait, and I wasn’t disappointed!
(Slight spoilers for Book 1 ahead)

This had LGBTQ representation with an enemies to lovers relationship, so many twists and turns (did not expect this book to go in the direction it did but it was great!) and honestly I was SOBBING for the last few chapters.

One of the great things about this book was the the authors managed to recap the events of the first book in an integrated and natural way that didn’t feel forced and was a great help because I struggled to remember some things! It was also fast paced with short chapters which I loved and suited the pressure and quickly developing events within the book as the tournament collapses following the champions revelations in book 1.

There was a lot of emotion, discussion of trauma and character development which was probably the best part of this book for me. I couldn’t put this down and I loved it even more than book 1! It was completely, unexpectedly, heart wrenchingly wonderful🥰

For the first time in history the Blood Veil is weakening. Reporters swarm the battlegrounds desperate for exclusives with our champions, but they have other things on their mind. After destroying two of the monuments, Briony is determined they can end the curse once and for all, but not everyone agrees with her. After getting his brother back, Allistar has moved from team curse breaking, to team keep Hendry alive, pitting him against the others and thanks to Isobels curse, incredibly weakened. The two teams are in constant battle for survival, but they will have to work together if they are to make it out alive, for the Blood Veil is falling one way or another and it would be more than happy to take them all down with it.

Ok. So this is going to be a really mixed review because as much as I enjoyed it, and I did, this series would have been 100% better if they had just put it all into one book. If there is one thing that Foody and Herman do well it's write unbelievably real characters. We keep the same POV's from book one, but after the shocking ending, a lot of things have changed. Alliances have been destroyed and re-made, hearts have been broken, lives have been taken, and every single one of our characters is in a slightly more desperate and dangerous position than before. And while I still loved them all, I felt they slightly lost their edges in this book. They lost their brutality and instead all became broken shells of what they once were, and while I almost get it, because of it I just felt the story as a whole lost some of it's darkness and went from having constant shock factors to being a little more emotional and gushy than I would have liked.

The story picks up pretty much instantly from the end of the first book, so it's easy to get sucked in straight away, but the more I read, the more I realised that nothing was really happening. Our characters were doing a lot of talking, but not an awful lot of doing, something that worked well in book one because we needed time to get to know them all, learn their tragic histories and what caused them to be picked for the battle. But with this book, we knew everything there was to know about them, we we were already emotionally invested, so there was no need to spend that much time reacquainting us with them. I felt like all the big reveals, the big plot twists and shocking plot points were used up in book one. They did add a kind of secondary mystery into this book, but it was kind of dumped on us around the half way point and took way too long before anything really came of it. To me, it felt more like it was added in because they had used all the good stuff in the first book.

The romance went kind of completely changed in the second book. I don't know if it's cause I was invested in a certain pairing from book one, but I wasn't a huge fan of how it ended. There was a m/m pairing, that seemed like it was put in to make the story seem more diverse, but felt overly forced for me, as did the second m/f pairing. The characters flitting between partners made little sense to me in a championship where any attachment can be used/seen as a weakness.

And all the negatives aside, I did enjoy it. Herman and Foodys writing style lends itself to a darker tale, with morally grey characters, and even though I found that part lacking in this book, there were still a few moments when our characters veered towards their old selves. The action scenes were absolutely epic and dragged you into the story, and despite me complaining that the characters lost a little of their darkness in this story, I was still desperate for them to get out safely. The story lacked stakes, and just felt overly predictable, and I do feel like, condensed into one chunky read, this story could have been epic.

*4.25 Stars*

All of Our Demise is the second and final book of the All of Us Villains duology. It starts back right after the end of All of Us Villains and we meet back with the same cast of characters and the same points of view.

All of Our Demise was a Ride!
A lot happened and i was pretty much glued to the page, I loved the drama, the budding relationships, the plot. I felt like some of the characters became proper villainous in this one and it felt great.
I had some trouble remembering what happened in book 1 at first, but it slowly came back to me. That did hinder me a little in the overall enjoyment of this book...
Overall though, I did think this was a strong cast of layered characters, a good, interesting plot and just a good time overall.
I am looking forward to reading more by both of these authors.

An exciting, fast paced, action filled sequel with unpredictable but satisfyingly conclusion. I didn't realize this was a collaboration but it worked really well.

In the first book, Ilvernath sends it best and brightest youth every 20 years from 10 magical families to fight to the death under a magical red veil. But it became apparent in the first book that imminent death might not be the only option, and a small gang attempt to destroy the tournament once and for all. Not everyone agrees with this strategy - not the remaining contenders, not their magical families, not the charm makers and definitely not the secret service. Its a fight against time and fate, whether the remaining competitors will make it out alive.

So much imagination and creativity went into crafting this story. Some of the characters could be a little one dimensional, and only a few really evolved during the story, but it didn't matter because the world itself is so rich and brilliantly described that I could imagine this as a blockbuster movie. I loved the details of the different kinds of spells, and how charms and curses were crafted. I loved the family history that created the legacies the new champions are trapped in. So much thought went into the landscapes and how they transform or could be turned into a believable challenge. So all in all, an exciting adventure that could be considered the Hunger Games of the magical world.
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I loved this book significantly more than expected. With sequels or prequels, it's often that the hype and how good the first book is doesn't translate into the second, but here it did extremely well.

I think I was most surprised by the development of the characters. While as with the first book, there were multiple perspectives, even the characters that were not privy to their own POV's I felt were still talked about in great detail, enough for me to connect with them on a level I don't think I did in the first book. Also, the change in relationships and the way things developed felt SO natural. Relationships that, had they been written differently, I would have hated, I absolutely adored and found myself rooting for.

Another thing that surprised me was what Herman decided to do with the plot. I truly thought as I was reading that it was going to be completely predictable, but with every turn of the page I was pleasantly surprised, sitting at the edge of my seat. There was no way to predict where certain things would go or how certain characteristics would change, and I loved that. I also commend Herman for the fact that she was not scared of making the book sad and did not have a happy ending for everyone. It made me connect to the story a lot more because it once again really did not feel predictable.

Overall, this was a pleasant surprise that I don't want to say too much about, but honestly, I will be recommending this to everything because I think it is up there with my top 5 books I've read this year.

Actual rating 3.5/5 stars. This is the second instalment in the All of Us Villains series.

Ilvernath has long been famed for the magic that dwells and the tournament that occurs there, but this year's victors seem to be abolishing that. With all eyes turned towards this part of the world, some of the individuals competing seem determined to expose its secrets whilst others are desperately attempting to still cover their own. Who will win, both their aims and the tournament as a whole, remains unsure.

This was far more political and far less magical than anticipated, which I appreciated but did find myself longing for a little more of the latter. It was also lighter on the focus on the tournament, which I longed for more of, both here and in its prequel. I wanted a little more action to appear, despite loving these characters and wishing no harm to befall them. However, these authors quickly won me over with their intended trajectory of the plot and I became immersed in the storyline and the opposing sides forming within the tournament boundaries.

I liked all characters and the author did a commendable job of making the reader root for all equally, despite their opposing viewpoints and intended results. I loved how each chapter begun with a segment from exterior news sources, whether a poll result, news headline, interview segment, or written excerpt etc., to add an air of authenticity to all occurring, and how this cleverly later impacted the novel.

The conclusion to this novel was very bittersweet but I thought it apt and the plot, as a whole, well-rounded and satisfactorily completed.

I have mostly had bad experiences with duologies. The first book is great, but the sequel is not as good and the series I recommended with so much love for one whole year becomes a disappointment and I feel sorry for the other people I convinced to read it.
Reading this novel, I had the confirmation that no duology can escape the curse (which is very fitting considering the book this review is about). All Of Our Demise was not as good as All Of Us Villains—it was better!
I was so worried after the previous ending about how everything could be solved and, while I was reading, there was so much happening that I was worried about how it could all be solved within just one book.
However, the story was wrapped up completely and it didn’t drag. I’m happy that the authors chose a fast-paced duology instead of a slower trilogy. Moreover, at the end of it all, I wasn’t left wanting more: this might seem like a bad thing, but it actually is great because it means that all the storylines and plots were closed and I knew what all the characters were going to do. Rarely an ending has left me so satisfied—sad, but satisfied.
The authors delivered everything I expected from the first book and more: the starcrossed romances, the unpredictable twists and the deadly stakes. I can’t talk in too deep (even if I want to—to analyse every single detail) or I’d risk spoilers, but it was awesome.
Special mention for the romance. I liked Isobel and Alistair in the previous book, but there was something missing with the two of them together I couldn’t exactly pinpoint. Then, we had Alistair and Gavin in this one. Villain gets the girl is nice, but villain gets the boy is far superior and I accept no criticism. They served everything: enemies to reluctant allies to… still enemies. For the whole novel, I was wondering “will they? won’t they? kiss each other? kill each other?”
Another special mention goes also to Finley and Briony. Considering he didn’t even have a pov, I didn’t think I could get so attached to him. However, due to the absence of the pov I was so worried for the ship: I didn’t really expect him to survive until the end, so I tried not to hope too much in their romance, but they were so cute and I caved in.
This leaves Isobel. Her romance was the one I cared less for, especially since I had Alistair and Gavin to root for, but I liked how it was written and developed.
An important thing I want to underline is that some “romantic moments” go “beyond the kisses” and I liked that the authors were faithful to the young adult target and kept those scenes fade to black. Nowadays too many young adult books have spicy scenes just to attract adult readers, I’m happy that this was not the case.
Regarding the young adult target, I also want to stress that the age of the characters is acknowledged and they act their age but without being idiots, proving that books with young characters that are not dumb can be written.
About the twists, I’m not gonna spoil them, obviously, but I’m gonna say that I wasn’t able to predict them (just the thing that Reid did at the ending was quite obvious) and they kept coming until the very last page.
Mentioning the last page brings me back to the first page. I didn’t realize it until the authors posted the incipits of the first two books one after the other on their Instagram feed, but they are mirror incipits: AOUV starts with the “villain”, AOUD starts with the “hero”.
This second volume made me reevaluate some characters. Not to spoil too much, but Hendry was an awesome character in this book: I liked him in the first book and was sad when he was sacrificed, but I was sad for Alistair, in this book I was sad for Hendry.
This book destroyed me, I hoped until the last chapter that everyone could have a happy ending. When I was relaxing and thinking it was over, believing they could all make it, carnage ensued.
Moreover, I’m not usually one to annotate books, but I want to buy the UK physical editions so I can “transfer” all the sentences I underlined on my Kindle on a physical copy too.
In conclusion, I have more things I want to say and analyse, but I won’t risk spoilers by being more specific. However, I want to say I loved the writing style. I want to read everything the authors wrote by themselves and I will keep reading everything they write together. A Fate So Cold is already my most anticipated release for 2024.

I received All Of Our Demise by Christine Herman & Amanda Foody for free by Orion & Gollancz in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much for my advanced copy.

This was a very powerful sequel and I enjoyed this even more than All of us Villains! I loved revisiting these characters and the worldbuilding once more and I really enjoyed how the authors once again turn everything on its head! Just when you think you understand a characters motivations, a twist comes that throws everything out which made for an exciting and unpredictable read!

I liked that this book had more LGBTQIAP+ elements too! One of the downfalls for me from the first book was that it was marketed as queer but it was only one character saying they were gay and then never mentioned again so I love that this book explored that more!

Even though I enjoyed these two books I do feel like this story would’ve worked better as just one long book! I remember one of my criticisms from the first book was that it ended on a strange and sudden note, almost like I was missing a few pages and that of course affected the start of this sequel. So that would’ve been avoided plus the premise is so interesting I think it would have been able to survive the long book format and give the reader the same incredible depth.

However I did really enjoy this story as a whole and it definitely would be one I would recommend!

For the first time in this ancient, bloodstained story, the tournament is breaking. The boundaries between the city of Ilvernath and the arena have fallen. Reporters swarm the historic battlegrounds. A dead boy now lives again. And a new champion has entered the fray, one who seeks to break the curse for good... no matter how many lives are sacrificed in the process.

As the curse teeters closer and closer to collapse, the surviving champions each face a choice: dismantle the tournament piece by piece, or fight to the death as this story was always intended.

Long-held alliances will be severed. Hearts will break. Lives will end. Because a tale as wicked as this one was never destined for happily ever after.

This book picked up right where the previous left off with things in Ilvernath becoming increasingly unstable. We now have two clear groups; one who want to end the curse from within and one who wants to win the tournament and claim the high magick.

The first half of this book dragged a little for me as we spend most of it with the two groups settling into their new factions and trying to learn how to trust each other. The characters themselves grew on me more this time but I still found it frustrating how one minute they would be trying to show how trustworthy they are and the next they’d be creeping to someone’s room to murder them in their sleep.

The storyline didn’t take the route I was expecting and for that I have to give respect to the authors for surprising me. We received an extra champion and the addition of this person really added to the drama nicely. The pacing of the book picked up a lot in the second half and the two separate strands started to come together.

We got a little bit of romance but it was more in bits and pieces and one of the couples in particular came across as being more real and authentic than we’d seen before.

The ending was satisfying although it didn’t pack the emotional punch that I suspect it was after. The biggest thing for me was how similar this is to The Hunger Games in its overall ideas and theme. Yes this has magic but it’s very reminiscent and to be honest…The Hunger Games did it better. I still enjoyed it and it’s a decent sequel so if you liked the first one i’m sure you’ll like this one too.

Brutal, Harrowing, Cruel, Gripping.

I need more!!!!…… Please give us more!!!….

10/10

The authors have made a sequel and a half. Just brilliant, I fell in love with the characters all over again.

Thank you for the early read!

thank you to netgalley & orion books for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

4.5 stars for me, wow!! if all of us villains was dark, then all of our demise was even darker, more treacherous, more brutal, with higher stakes and a wider world scope than the 1st book, and even more danger and intrigue.

the plot was riveting and i enjoyed reading about the different stories of the champion families & how they tied into the trials, and in turn, affected the characters' decisions. the characters, like the 1st book, are still equally horrible, 'unlikeable' people, who are willing to betray each other in a heartbeat. but they are also always fighting for hope, for goodness, even if it makes them 'villains' in other people's eyes, and the amount of deadly choices with possible severe consequences they had to make makes them even more worthy of appreciation from the reader.

these characters have been through so much trauma at their age, and continue to go through nightmarish lives that they do not know what is the right thing and how to be good. but i loved that in the end, each of them found something good in their lives worth treasuring, and fought hard to hold on to it. they all deserve some semblence of a happy ending, and they all got what they wanted in different ways. and maybe that's the best they could have hoped for, even if it wasn't perfect.

also, in my last review of the 1st book i said alistair was my fave and isobel my 2nd fave, and now that has definitely changed. the lowe brothers are still my no.1 faves, my precious boys i wanna protect with everything, but gavin grieve (my underdog prince!!) has definitely leapfrogged into 2nd place (sorry not sorry isobel😌) but i loved all the budding romances in this book and the characters involved in them and im really happy with how the story ended. amanda & christine really created a gruellingly dark yet gripping gem here!!

Even though my experience of reading book 1 was not that great, I was really looking forward to All of Our Demise. I can see clear improvements in the writing style and in some of the character's personalities. I love how atmospheric the writing is and how it sucks you into the world. Unfortunately, that is all that I really liked. The first half of the book was excruciatingly slow and almost made me DNF it, but I wanted to know what happened so I pushed through. In the second half, the pace had picked up but by then I just wanted to get the book done with.

The characters didn't help at all. I had liked Alistair in the first book, but in this, I couldn't bring myself to like him. Honestly, my favourite character was Briony and wanting to know what happens to her is one of the reasons why I somehow pushed through.

While I personally didn't like this book, I think there are people that might enjoy it more than I did.

As the second book in a series, All of Our Demise by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman picks up right where the last book left off. The boundaries between the city and arena have fallen and, for the first time in its ancient bloodstained history, the tournament is breaking. Now the champions face one choice: dismantle the tournament and go against everything they were taught, or fight to the death as history intended.

There’s not much I can say in the way of plot without spoiling anything from All of Us Villains, the first, fast-paced novel in this duology. Though I can say that alliances are severed, forged, and some totally unexpected twists take place.

It was just as dark, dangerous, and intense as book one, with opposing groups fighting for what they believe has to be done. Some want to end the curse and others want things to remain as they are.

The star of this novel is the character development. It was phenomenal! Every single character had so much growth, revealing their motivations, feelings, and emotions on a deeper level. They were so realistic, flawed, and selfish, which is something I really appreciated, especially in a novel like this one where everyone has a morally grey role to play. I connected with them so much more in this instalment than I did in the last and I loved it.

Personally, I found the beginning quite jarring. Though that could have been my fault, as I hadn’t read the first one in a while. For people like me, who sometimes go a year or so in between books, it would have been nice to have more of a recap to help me seamlessly fit back into the plot. I must admit I also had some issues with the pacing, with it feeling longer than it needed to be.

That being said, this is still an imaginative conclusion to a violent and twisted tale that must be penned in blood. Just as a warning, the ending is bittersweet, which can only be expected with a duology like this.