All of Our Demise by Amanda Foody
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
All of Our Demise is the finale to the All of Us Villains duology.
This Dark YA Fantasy, featuring a magical competition to the death, is penned by the dream duo of Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman.
If you haven’t read the first book, please proceed with caution. There may be some things mentioned in this review that some would consider spoilers.
I will not be hiding them.
After the conclusion of Book 1, the limits of the tournament are beginning to erode. The status quo shaken.
The public is now more involved with the process than ever before, with Reporters flocking to the historic battlegrounds, turning the pain and misery of the Champions into entertaining fodder for everyone else.
It’s basically the Capital during the Hunger Games. The magical contestants are bona fide celebs.
Additionally, a dead boy has returned, now influencing the tournament and out of nowhere a new champion has entered the ranks, looking to dismantle the tradition entirely.
The champions end up divided into two groups: those who wish to proceed as normal and those who wish to break the curse, thus ending the tournament forever.
This book was freaking intense. I reread the first book, All of Us Villains, just prior to starting this and I am so glad I did.
This is quite a detailed world and it is very fast-paced. Therefore, I have a tendency to race along, excited to get to the conclusion of the action. Occasionally this causes me to forget fine details.
The first book is really where we are learning the bulk of background on our main characters and their families. I was super glad to have that refresher before getting into this one.
Luckily, I loved that one so much and really had fun revisiting the story. This installment builds beautifully off of everything that occurred there. It was a seamless transition from one book to the next; very well done.
I loved how in this one, our main characters shift themselves into essentially two opposing teams. There are those who want to end the tournament and those, mainly those whose families have gained the most from the tradition, who want things to remain as they are.
This seems relatable to the real world, doesn’t it?
We do follow the same characters here as we did in the first book. I was glad for that. I was a little concerned we were going to move on to new perspectives, as sometimes happens. I’m glad the authors stuck with the characters we already know and love.
I did see so much character growth for each of these mains. As they interacted with one another more, it helped to reveal a deeper side to their personal wants and motivations. There were some great arcs; particularly for me, Allistair and Gavin.
I think this is such a fun duology, dripping with dark atmosphere, engaging characters and non-stop action.
My head was left spinning. There was so much covered in this book alone. Overall, a great continuation, with a more than satisfying conclusion!!
Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Teen and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review.
I seriously hope this isn’t the last collab we see from Foody and Herman. All of Our Demise releases tomorrow, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.