Era ➴'s Reviews > All of Us Villains

This book is the love child of Where Dreams Descend and The Hunger Games, which means it was dark, aesthetic and riveting.

The storyline of this book was just so cool??? The seven families of Ilvernath compete in a tournament every Blood Moon for ownership of the only remaining trove of high magick, a type of magick that to everyone else was thought to be extinct. Each family sends in a competitor of tournament age (I don’t remember if that age was specified) to battle to the death.

However, this tournament is different. Thanks to the release of A Tradition of Tragedy, a tell-all book written by someone within the families to expose the tournament, all eyes are now on the families and their champions. And the people of Ilvernath - and really the rest of the world - are not happy.

This story caught my attention so much, but I feel like there could have been more to it that would have made it that extra level of intriguing. Some parts of it felt skimmed, like some days in the tournament and some of the incidents with the townspeople, and they could have been emphasized to lend more intensity to the experience.

But still, this whole plotline in general was amazing. The intrigue was built up so much toward the beginning and I was immersed in it.

The Lowe family had always been the undisputed villains of their town’s ancient, bloodstained story, and no one understood that better than the Lowe brothers.
Grins like goblins, the children murmured, because the children in Ilvernath loved fairy tales—especially real ones. Pale as plague and silent as spirits. They’ll tear your throat and drink your soul.
All these tales were deserved.

The world-building was a bit hard for me to understand, maybe because I never put any effort into remembering terms and names at the beginning of books, but I thought the magic system was really cool. The part that threw me off was how it meshed with the modern world, as a valuable albeit normal commodity.

I cannot imagine a department store full of spells. It might be because so many books have separated magic systems from “normal” systems, and most of those books aren’t modern, but for some reason I couldn’t process the idea of Isobel having a phone and using spell rings at the same time.

The aesthetic of this book was so interesting. The Blood Moon, the Lowes’ manor and the spells in general just drew me in so much. Septagrams used to make curse jewelry? Dark forests and red moons? Relics and Landmarks that form a tournament grounds? I was so into this from the beginning. I have to admit I wasn’t sure what to expect from the whole occult concept, but I thought the atmosphere was so cool.

Briony had only ever thought of it as a fairy tale. But even the grandest stories eventually found their ending.

The characters were all very compelling, even though I had very polarized opinions on them. Out of the four POVs, I loved two and hated two.

Alistair, if you couldn’t guess, was probably my favorite (and I think he was also the authors’ favorite considering the love his writing got). This awkward and yet cunning boi whose life ambition was to become a monster had such an aesthetic and such an impressive perspective. I loved his thought process and cunning and the character angst/development.

Alistair was the ~morally grey dark-haired boy™~ and for once I had no problem with it.

Pale skin from a lifetime spent indoors, eyes the color of cigarette ashes, a widow’s peak as sharp as a blade. He wore a wool sweater in September because he was perpetually cold. He carried the Sunday crossword in his pocket because he was perpetually bored. He was one year younger than Hendry, a good deal more powerful, and a great deal more wicked.
Alistair Lowe played a perfect villain. Not because he was instinctively cruel or openly proud, but because, sometimes, he liked to. Many of the stories whispered by the children of Ilvernath came from him.

Isobel was the other one that I loved. She was somewhat impulsive but still clever, confident and stubborn but secretly troubled. She was complex and I loved that she was her own type of powerhouse. She was bold and stuck to her opinions and did her best to do what she thought was right.

Her characterization and development was so strong and I loved her narrative. She was the one who was intelligent and strong, harboring her own desires and opinions. I was most interested in her and Alistair.

Briony. Oh my fucking God. I hated this bitch with a burning passion. She was so self-righteous and always thought she was the one who was in the right, no matter how despicable her actions were. She was so convinced that she could fix everything just because she was so smart and good at things and was clearly the best of her family. Her narrative was so whiny and sanctimonious under the guise of being a ~determined female character~ and I really wanted her to fall and break her neck somehow.

I mean, I did love the way her character was written and developed, and she provided some insight into the plot, but her as a person? No.

Gavin could also have died and I probably would have gotten a slice of cake to celebrate. He was an absolutely brainless asshole, and while I think his cunning and brutishness were very compelling character traits and were written into him really well, I still hated him.

He was so entitled and stuck-up and full of himself, even though he knew how many disadvantages he had. I thought it was interesting that he had such juxtapositions of his pride vs his situation, but I hated him. He was so overconfident and arrogant and made the dumbest decisions in the book (second to Briony).

The Lowe manor resembled a home plucked out of a haunting fairy tale. Each hearth crackled with fire, making every piece of upholstery, every room, and every Lowe smell of smoke. Full of dark-stained pine wood and iron candelabras, it was where maidens pricked their fingers on spinning wheels, where every fruit tasted of poison and vice. The boys grew up acting out these stories. Hendry played both the princess and the knight; Alistair was always and only the dragon.

The writing of this book was beautiful and dark, and I literally didn’t know until I had finished the book that it had two authors. It remained constant and aesthetic through the whole thing and I really liked how it meshed perfectly with the rest of the book - the atmosphere and characters went perfectly with the wording.

I had one problem.

Alistair’s grin was constantly described as “wicked.” Right from the first page. All the way to the end. Every time he smiled, as long as it wasn’t at Isobel, his grin was wicked. Listen, I love a villainous™ boi with an evil smirk, but I also love variety.

Even if his wicked smile is a trademark Alistair thing, there are so many other ways to describe it than just “he grinned wickedly.” What about “there was a villainous tilt to his smile, a warning in the flash of his teeth” or “the edges of his smirk were as dangerous and promising as a blade”?

There are so many creative ways you can make his smile more villainous without using the same descriptor. The writing had already proved itself to be atmospheric and nuanced, so I’m a bit at a loss for why it just felt so repetitive.

Her touch was cold, but his was colder.

Alistair’s and Isobel’s romance was very interesting. Rivals-to-lovers including an only-one-bed trope??? The way they exchange crossword puzzles and believe that the other person is the only one they can turn to??? Yes.

But also, the execution just fell kind of flat to me. I’m an absolute sucker for all of those things I listed, but there just wasn’t enough emotion or intensity for the romance to come across properly. Some of their moments felt rushed or skipped over in the general atmosphere of the competition.

“But that was what this alliance led up to. Not a kiss stolen in the dark, or a priceless gift given without being asked.
A duel.”

I was so ready for the tension and emotions and their chemistry, but it didn’t feel like enough for me to really enjoy it. The romance could have been drawn out so much more than what it was, and I was just waiting and waiting for more.

She took a step closer, backing him into a nearby tree. His heart picked up even faster. “Five letters. A mathematical symbol. Think fast.”
Alistair wracked his brain for the answer. He normally did crosswords when he was bored, when he had nothing else to think about. But right now he had a thousand thoughts competing for focus in his mind. The peony smell of Isobel’s perfume. The fact that he’d never brought anyone into the woods other than his brother. How even with all his enchantments, he still felt exposed. Vulnerable. Weak.
“Power?” Alistair guessed, unsure if that even made sense.
She smirked. “What an Alistair Lowe answer. I meant ‘equal.’

I am aware that I’ve only used quotes about Alistair and Isobel, but what reason do I have to include Briony and Gavin? Sure, they were part of the book, but they don’t qualify to be included in this.

Overall, this book genuinely impressed me. I was a bit doubtful about it at first, because I wasn’t sure how interested I would be in the premise, but damn did it deliver with the atmosphere. Everything was so rich in this uniquely dramatic way and I was very into that aesthetic.

For some reason, this book is the kind that only really impacts you once it’s over. While I was reading it, it was good but not great. But when I had finished and was ranting, raving and screaming about it to Sofia, I realized that it had actually been amazing and I’d gotten very swept up into it.

I don’t understand that effect but I will tolerate it until we get the next book.