“The Lowes shaped cruelty into a crown, and oh, they wear it well.”Ī Tradition of Tragedy: The True Story of the Town that Sends Its Children to Die

It feels a lot closer to home.” All of Us Villains Excerpt Not only was doing this wildly fun, it also makes the reality of the death tournament seem all the more grim. We achieved this by crafting a fully fantastical, second world setting that is modern-inspired. Co-writing was an organic next step.”įoody adds: “As two lifelong fans of fantasy books, when it came to writing a story together, we wanted to subvert readers’ expectations of the genre while still writing a novel YA fantasy readers will love. We understood one another’s creative processes so well that it sometimes felt like mind reading. After that, we became critique partners for our solo projects, bouncing ideas off one another, reading drafts, offering invaluable feedback. “That was how it felt from the first time we ‘met’ via Skype and wound up talking for three hours. “Some friendships have this sense of inevitability about them-like, of course we’re going to be in each other’s lives now,” said Herman of the relationship. Herman and Foody met in 2016 during Pitch Wars, and have been friends ever since. While the “powerful, villainous” Lowes have won almost every tournament, this year, the victory is up for grabs as a “salacious, tell-all book” has given each of the other six champions “a means to win.” Very Triwizard Tournament. To expand on that a bit more, All of Us Villains is set in the city of Ilvernath, where every generation seven families compete to the death for control of high magick (2020, amirite?). Foody and Herman wield sharp critiques of power, inheritance, and the culture of competition. It’s survival-of-the-richest, where the wealth is measured in magick. Their story is a brutal one: a death tournament that takes place in the long shadows cast by legacy. Or, as Senior Editor at Tor Teen Ali Fisher puts it:įoody and Herman have conjured a wicked little city built on blood.

Schwab’s Villans series, all in one YA duology package. It’s called All of Us Villains and, judging by the synopsis and excerpt below, the book seems to harness the clever plot mechanics of The Hunger Games and the thematic brilliance of V.E. “Do you hear that? That’s the sound of bones breaking.”Īre you hooked yet? The line above comes from the first book in an upcoming YA duology from Amanda Foody ( Ace of Shades) and Christine Lynn Herman ( The Devouring Gray).

All of us villains amanda foody