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mj_86's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Vomit and Death of parent
bookeduntil's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Vomit, and Grief
Minor: Bullying
snootle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I finished this duology because I was curious how it would end, but overall I struggled to enjoy this book and the first one.
I liked the trials and challenges they faced recreating the relics, but the constant changing of each character's feelings and objectives made it difficult to connect with them. Moments that should've been tense and time-sensitive were filled with drawn out, emotional dialogue which made it seem like they were rarely in actual danger.
My biggest problem with this duology is how it relies on telling rather than showing. It tells you that every character is a villain/monster/bad person, but overall there is little to show this outside of a handful of events. We have to rely on reading their every thought. Everything is spelled out, even to the point where obvious, simple story beats are explained at length, leaving no opportunity for thought or speculation from the reader.
I enjoyed the world building, setup/involvement of the champions' families and some of the magic, but unfortunately this series fell really flat for me.
My biggest problem with this duology is how it relies on telling rather than showing. It tells you that every character is a villain/monster/bad person, but overall there is little to show this outside of a handful of events. We have to rely on reading their every thought. Everything is spelled out, even to the point where obvious, simple story beats are explained at length, leaving no opportunity for thought or speculation from the reader.
I enjoyed the world building, setup/involvement of the champions' families and some of the magic, but unfortunately this series fell really flat for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcohol
quinn24's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This was fun, definitely not my usual kind of read, I did feel like a few things fell kinda flat, but it was fun. I liked Alistair, Hendry,and Gavin, but I found myself being kinda bored with the others though I am almost always like that when a book has switching POVs. Alistair is absolutely my favourite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Vomit
Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, and Alcohol
riverlasol's review
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
oh my goodness, I am writing this review at around 11 pm after just finishing this book so my thoughts might be a little scattered but wow this was incredible. I finally got around to reading all of us villains this summer and I really enjoyed the concept and couldn’t wait to see how things got resolved in this book, but no matter how much I love the first book, nothing could’ve prepared for the sequel. even though I loved the first book, the world felt a little closed off because of how much of it centred around the champions and being inside of the tournament, so I absolutely adored how the sequel really opened up the world and we got to learn more about the fantasy setting, meet some new characters and even up the stakes beyond just the tournament/finding a way to end it. I admit there was a few moments where it felt like plot beats were dragged out a little longer than I would’ve expected, but that was probably just because the majority of this novel was very fast paced and full of heartbreaking twists. I also thought that the character development in this book was stellar. It was so satisfying to see how things that had started in the first book continued on and then got even more clear. And don’t even get me started on the romance. I thought the romance was done pretty convincingly in the first book, but in this one, it was just on a whole new level—Gavstair especially (is that their ship name?) is one of my new favourite ships and it’s not just because they’re queer because this ship in particular is absolutely enemies to lovers done right and I loved every second of it. I won’t be delving into spoilers so I will wrap this up here and just say that this book was even more bloody, brutal, and dramatic than the first of the duology and I truly loved it. I can definitely see myself re-reading this duology in the future and I highly highly recommend it to anyone who loves dark fantasy and wants a book with lots of twists and intensity.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent
isitcertain's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail
directorpurry's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse
takarakei's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Absolutely loved this, even more than the first book!
This one is much more character driven but there is some plot, just not as much as the first book. Really loved the character development, the romance(!!!!!), and how the story plays out was interesting. There were definitely some tears. This series has some great sibling love - Alistair & Hendry are just a beautiful family. Just as dark if actually not more so than the first book. These people are gonna need some serious therapy.
One of the best enemies to lovers romances I’ve read -fucking Alistair and Gavin ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I love them so much!!!
I was so afraid one of them would die in the end (I mean I’m glad they didn’t). I think Briony was kinda the easy choice and a bit of a cop out. I was prepared for serious pain. But of course even tho we all knew Hendry would have to go eventually but doesn’t make it any easier.
This one is much more character driven but there is some plot, just not as much as the first book. Really loved the character development, the romance(!!!!!), and how the story plays out was interesting. There were definitely some tears. This series has some great sibling love - Alistair & Hendry are just a beautiful family. Just as dark if actually not more so than the first book. These people are gonna need some serious therapy.
One of the best enemies to lovers romances I’ve read -
I was so afraid one of them would die in the end (I mean I’m glad they didn’t). I think Briony was kinda the easy choice and a bit of a cop out. I was prepared for serious pain. But of course even tho we all knew Hendry would have to go eventually but doesn’t make it any easier.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Death, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content and Vomit
These kids all pretty much have horrible parents and have been treated awful and manipulated their whole lives. So lots of family traumakassidyreads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Vomit and Death of parent
spleenc's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
3.75
All of Us Villains was one of my favorite reads last year so I was eagerly waiting for the second tome of this duology.
I might not have lived up to my expectations but it wasn't that bad, it was still a pleasant read and I would still recommend those books for YA's lovers.
I was quite bored during the second third of this book, feeling like it was going nowhere, like the characters' actions were just to fill the pages, not helping the plot to go in any direction. The final third was good, maybe a bit fast-paced, like it was trying to catch the time it lost before.
Some characters got really nice development, some others... Well, let's say they go it easy, in the end. Some got a redemption arc that felt a bit... Rushed ?
I also wish they was a lit bit less of romance ? While I am glad some were LGBT for some diversity/representation, I feel like not every characters needed to love another. At least, I don't know, not during a "tournament" where they needed to kill each other ?? But, I must say, I'm not the biggest romance fan , at the same time : that's maybe why it felt too much for me.
Plot-wise, I kinda missed the fact that they were isolated from the other others. I wish the true "bad guys" were a bit more exploited : it felt rushed, once again. But I really like the few "aftermath" chapters that we've got, where mental health was discussed : I'm so tired of books where the characters got back to their life like nothing happened that it was very welcomed.
I might not have lived up to my expectations but it wasn't that bad, it was still a pleasant read and I would still recommend those books for YA's lovers.
I was quite bored during the second third of this book, feeling like it was going nowhere, like the characters' actions were just to fill the pages, not helping the plot to go in any direction. The final third was good, maybe a bit fast-paced, like it was trying to catch the time it lost before.
Some characters got really nice development, some others... Well, let's say they go it easy, in the end. Some got a redemption arc that felt a bit... Rushed ?
I also wish they was a lit bit less of romance ? While I am glad some were LGBT for some diversity/representation, I feel like not every characters needed to love another. At least, I don't know, not during a "tournament" where they needed to kill each other ?? But, I must say, I'm not the biggest romance fan , at the same time : that's maybe why it felt too much for me.
Plot-wise, I kinda missed the fact that they were isolated from the other others. I wish the true "bad guys" were a bit more exploited : it felt rushed, once again. But I really like the few "aftermath" chapters that we've got, where mental health was discussed : I'm so tired of books where the characters got back to their life like nothing happened that it was very welcomed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Vomit