All of Us Villains Duology by Amanda Foody, C. L. Herman

The quick cut: Seven families bound to a powerful curse find their secret told to world: that every generation, they send one of their kids to compete for control of a unique magic.

A real review:

Family relationships can be complicated and often difficult. However, has your family ever raised you to likely die in competition? For these seven families, that is a very real part of their lives.

The city of Ilvernath used to be a town mostly known for its tourism, but the release of a book has changed that all now. An unnamed author revealed the city's darkest secret: that seven families together bound their bloodlines to a curse to have exclusive control over a wellspring of powerful high magic. Now, every blood moon they must send a family member to compete and kill the other champions sent to gain control. Who will win now that the world is watching?

If you've ever wondered what a dark magic version of the Hunger Games would look like, this is the duology for you! In a lot of ways, I enjoyed this series better than Hunger Games because it has the action, drama, and government politics of that series - but also managed to secretly talk about the reality of being human. No one is purely good or purely evil. Everyone is somewhere in the middle and even someone who's been labeled a villain can be a hero in the right circumstances.

The narrators are a handful of the family competitors and it's brilliant which ones they choose: the most likely winner, the most likely to die first, and two female friends who have kept secrets from each other. Each one brings a unique perspective from the next and has a voice that is distinguishable from the next.

The level of world building in this series is absolutely next level! Not only do the authors manage to create an understandable government structure, but also also explain the differences in the magic types and how they're utilized. It's all also done in a way that doesn't feel too forced or fabricated.

One of my favorite elements was how complex the magic system is. There are three types of magic: common (which everyone has access to), high (that the seven families are competing for control of), and life (that everyone has running within them). There's also spell makers (who created spells for things like teleportation) and curse makers (who created curses to hurt or kill others). Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses - along with its perversions.

The only lingering issue I had was questions around the high magic wellspring. How was it made? If it was created, then why didn't anyone else replicate it elsewhere? I had so many questions about it that went unanswered that it'll bug me for a long time.

A fun, dark magic duology that will thrill any fantasy reader.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5