Series: All of Us Villains #2
Authors: Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman
Publisher: Tor Teen
Released: August 30, 2022
Received: Own
Warnings: Abuse, familial death

Ohh! It’s here! Time to finally see how the All of Us Villains series comes to an end. I know it’s only been a year – but it feels like I’ve been waiting for ages to see how this all wraps up. Written by the duo Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman, All of Our Demise portrays a dark tournament of magic, sacrifice, and the highest costs.

Every generation, a new tournament begins. The tournament’s winner (and sole survivor) decides which family will be in control of high magic. Until the next tournament, that is. However, this latest tournament isn’t going as planned.

Mainly because the contestants aren’t willing to lay down their lives for their families. Instead, they are rewriting the rules and hopefully breaking the ‘games’ in the process. But what will it cost them, assuming they even succeed?

“Footsteps thudded down the stairs, and the flickering figure of Hendry Lowe appeared outside Alistair’s prison bars.”

I’ve been counting down the days to the release of All of Our Demise. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I, for one, just had to know what would happen next in the tournament.

Duologies with high stakes can be tough. Either the second novel lives up to the expectations, finding ways to up the ante, or it doesn’t, leaving readers disappointed. All of Our Demise falls into the former category, raising the stakes with every chapter.

As with the first novel, All of Our Demise is split into several perspectives; Gavin, Isobel, Alisair, and Briony. Each one has a unique story to tell. First, there’s the boy whose family gave up on him. Then there’s the girl thrown to the wolves. Next comes the boy raised by darkness. And finally, the girl has more determination than anyone else in the room.

Naturally, this series wasn’t afraid to get dark – this helped set the tone for everything that follows. There’s no doubting the darkness of certain families, though I couldn’t help but feel like they were all corrupt and horrible by the time I was done. Why else would these families willingly risk their kids for a little bit of power?

There were a lot of surprises in All of Our Demise. Some were dark, while others were bright – little pockets of hope to carry readers onward to the conclusion. It was the right balance of tones.

The conclusion was everything I could have hoped for. It carried the weight of sacrifice and felt in keeping with the whole of the story up to this point. I’m sad to see it end, but I can’t complain about how it went.

Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of this world. Do you think that there will be a spin-off series or two? That’d be fun.

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