Review of 'All of Our Demise'

A final novel in the All of Us Villains duology, All of Our Demise, takes readers by surprise and captures their breath in this high-stakes, fast-paced finale.

Storytelling

All of Our Demise continues the pattern by shifting between the perspective characters Alistair, Isobel, Briony, and Gavin. After the events of the last novel, alliances have been shifted. Alistair’s brother has been brought back to life due to the high magic that keeps the cursed tournament alive, while Isobel has used magic to get a new player into the competition.

Briony has convinced everyone that she knows how to end the tournament once and for all. But if the tournament ends, then Alistair loses his brother again. This is something he is not willing to do. And with a curse of his own eating him alive slowly, depending on every cruel or violent act he does, there is a lot at stake here.

These kids want to end the tournament, a tournament that forces them to kill each other and, in a way, kill their humanity. And for what? High magic. They want the vicious cycle to end. But the risks are high.

Going back and forth between the characters increases the stakes because it is not just about surviving each other anymore. With high magic at risk of being let loose in the world, these characters must survive curses and people who want the magic for themselves.

Characterization

However, the stakes don’t only rise with the storytelling. The characterization is as much a driving force as the storytelling. In All of Us Villains, readers got to see other sides of the characters, softer sides. Foody and Herman decided to develop not only those sides but also those calculating ones.

We also see more history and backstory to give the characters more dimension and depth. Each character is at war with themselves in one way or another. They are each challenging what they know about themselves, what they’ve been taught to believe, and what they want to be true about themselves.

Foody and Herman did a brilliant job of executing the depth of these characters, focusing on that inner tension and turmoil, allowing it to bleed into the plot to build it up.