The “bad” and “good” characters are never what they seem for some and are what you would expect for others. The general pacing remains slower compared to the first novel as there is a large emphasis on the character development. Overall, this story begins a little slow as the aftermath from the cliffhanger ending has time to put the pieces together. There are betrayals, alliances, friendships, family relationships, and romantic relationships all explored in this story. They all made sense for the story, so I enjoyed that they were written in this manner. The journey that this duology took was a nice mix of the expected and unexpected where there were a few surprises. While many novels that I previously read have included twists and turns, there are not many where I fully could not predict most of the ending. With obstacles being thrown into the tournament, curses to break, and alliances constantly changing, this story continues to try and find an end to the competition. Reid’s secrets and Finley’s struggle with his family and Briony. Briony struggles with her family and relationships. Isobel is continuing to fight and survive to the end. Alistair opens up more to Gavin in this story and it was nice to see the added depth to each character. In this story, Alistair and Hendry’s brotherly bond is explored in further detail and it was easy to connect with it. There are other characters, as well, such as, Reid and Allistair’s brother, Hendry, along with other amazing ones that make up this duology. Each character is complex and unique, which I loved as each reader can therefore find at least one, if not all, to root for in the story. The story continues to be narrated mainly from four of the characters: Allistair Lowe, Gavin Grieve, Briony Thornburn, and Isobel Macaslan. All of Our Demise is the epic sequel to All of Us Villains, which introduced a captivating competition-centered duology where a champion from seven magical families competed.

All of us villains book 2