By Mattie Lugar
This is a book that caught my attention every time I made a trip to Barnes and Noble before I eventually picked it up. The first in a duology, this book takes the darkness of The Hunger Games and adds a new magical twist. This is a book that sort of lurks at the edge of the genres I read, but I’m very happy I picked this book up, as it turned into one of my all-time favorites.
With a cast of characters that are incredibly unhinged and truly fall into the category of morally grey, it can be hard to root for any of the protagonists we follow. This book also really doesn’t hold your hand when it comes to how gruesome any of the main characters can get, and to me, this was one of the most interesting aspects of the book.
In the small city of Ilvernath, once a generation a deadly tournament comes around where seven different families each name a champion to fight to the death. In a place where magick was thought to be extinct, the prize for this tournament is exclusive control over a secret wellspring of high magick, but this tournament is unlike all the others.
When a new tell-all book is released and the seven champions are put into the wider public spotlight, it also turns into a secret weapon to use against the other families. This book is the first time each champion has insight into the other families’ strategies, secrets, and weaknesses, and most importantly, it gives them a choice: accept their fate or rewrite their legacy.
Something else to know about me when it comes to the books I read, I love a highly complex magic system, and this book pulled me in from the start. This book is also told through multiple different perspectives, and I think this allows for a really well-rounded story. Each character narrating gives insight to their respective families, approach to the tournament, and overall relationship with the other champions.
This book also definitely moves incredibly fast with a plot that will have you hanging on by the edge of your seat. If you think this sounds interesting, the final book in the duology All of Our Demise shows the tournament’s very gruesome ending in more ways than one.