I absolutely loved this book and am now highly anticipating a sequel. Loved the magical competition but what I really enjoyed was the family dynamics that played into this story.

I know lots of students in my school library who will love this and I will be recommending it a lot.

I am in pain.
This author's debut was engaging, impossible to put down, had characters you couldn't help but fall in love with immediately and a world building with rules that made complete sense. Reading this book, on the other hand, was a rough journey. I was about to dnf more than once because I was bored and some of the characters felt superficial. I ended up reading till the last page just because there was more action towards the end.
No, this book wasn't bad, but that last quarter still doesn't make it memorable or enough for me to be interested in continuing the series.

For the most part I liked the characters, but Nora seemed the most fleshed out. Lotte, August and Theo felt underdeveloped, and the boys especially didn't need their own pov. I don't understand why it's trendy right now to indiscriminately have multiple povs in all genres. If a book doesn't have two or more major storylines why bother making everything more confusing to the detriment of the enjoyability of the book? Having constant pov switches, so less time to spend with each character overall, made them feel flat and unimportant. Theo is the major casualty of this issue: his chapters have basically nothing to add to the story.

It's not easy to get into this book. The world building and magic system are thrown at you mainly at the beginning of the book in an incredibly long infodump. And for a book that seemed focused on a deadly competition, there is an awful lot of other plotlines taking the spotlight. Also, I wasn't really a fan of the magic system. It seems well-built when it is first presented to you, then it slowly starts going off the rails. The magic is inconsistent, illogical, messy, it has no set rules and can be used in different ways as long as it serves the plot. This is actually the thing I liked the least about this book, because it significantly lowered the stakes.

So, overall, this was just okay. Sadly not as good as I was expecting for a book that was worked on for more than 5 years and for which its publication kept being postponed.

A powerful mix of magic and political machinations

An interesting mix of magic and social commentary. The mix of fairy tale elements and trials to find a worthy successor are reminiscent of other tales but are different enough here for it not to detract from the world building and story telling.

Lotte is taken from being a discarded and unwanted child to being thrust into a world of wealth and power to serve her mother’s ambitions. She soon wises up but loyalty is a rare commodity in the cut and thrust of a powerful family.

I look forward to the next instalment to see what happens next.

The Notorious Virtues is a captivating and vividly written story that blends intrigue, ambition, and a touch of glamour in a way that feels utterly addictive. The worldbuilding is rich without ever slowing the pace, and the characters leap off the page with complexity and charisma. Every chapter kept me invested, with just the right mix of tension and emotional beats to keep me hooked from start to finish. It’s the kind of book that lingers in your mind long after reading, and I can’t wait to see where the story goes next.

Alwyn Hamilton, the author that you are.

Give me more of this immediately and I will not be taking no for an answer. This was such a good read and I will be telling everyone I know to read it immediately.

The Notorious Virtues is a dazzling YA fantasy-thriller that mixes fairy-tale charm with high-stakes political battle. Hamilton delivers a richly textured world, well-woven magic system, and compelling protagonists who defy their privileges and expectations. While the pacing slows slightly early on, the storytelling momentum builds engagingly toward a suspenseful conclusion. A fantastic start to a duology that fans of Red Queen, The Inheritance Games, or Throne of Glass will love. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy character-driven fantasy with style, depth, and intrigue

Such a fun entertaining read full of magic and interesting character.s. I loved the pace that the author set it didn’t feel too rushed to get to the action

Really enjoyed this! I think it’s perfectly suited for its readership. The cover is gorgeous and will have proper shelf appeal.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I thought this was a fun read with a lot of heart that explored the idea of family and what it means, as well as dealing with issues of class, wealth and capitalism. There were some interesting twists, although I did see most of them coming. A solid fantasy cum detective noir, and I am interested in what happens next.

I absolutely love Alywn Hamilton's writing she manages to keep me gripped from start to finish! This was a perfect blend of all the mystery and intrigue of a thriller with all the action of a Fantasy. Loved where this book went and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Easy 5 stars hooked me in straight away! It was fast paced and I am excited for the sequel. I was left guessing constantly and I feel extremely invested in the next part of the characters story.

A page-turning fantasy thriller surrounding a family fuelled by fame, fortune and trials. I absolutely loved the characters and Lotte and Nora had such fantastic character development and the plot has me absolutely hooked!

Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton
Notorious Virtues was a fun trials led fantasy between two heroines from very different pasts. I enjoyed how Lottie and Honora didn’t fall into the trope of the one raised rich is evil and how Lottie wasn’t as innocent as she pretended to be to win the support of her relatives. With a love interest that is a journalist that hates the Holzafall family and a really interesting origin story of the monarchy/goverment this is a must read if you enjoy your fantasy with a side of trials!
This feels like the Inheritance Games but set in a fantasy world with a rebellion! We have trials, we have a family warring over an inheritance and we also have touches of world building that go delightfully deep and mention the economic power that these families wield.
World – 4/5 – it feels like the quintessential rebellion fantasy world but a little bit more Victorian and I honestly cannot wait for where this goes, I think the way the few locations that are described are all so vivid is really promising!
Characters – 3/5 – I didn’t love love love any of the characters but I didn’t hate any of them either (as characters, morality aside). I think that this books strength is the trials and the world and the characters were for me just a way of exploring that.
Plot – 3.5/5 – trials for me are a very predictable plot because they are so popular in fantasy right now but I did still enjoy it.
Romance – 4/5 – not there much, but what was was cute.



Violence Rating: Level 3
Romance Rating: Sweet 🛡️🛡️
Content Warnings: family killing each other, magical slavery (forcing certain members to obey or die by magic, determined by heritage not race).

A gilded age city, overflowing with magic, technology, power, and corruption. The potentially deadly trials to find the successor to it all. The story focuses primarily on the city's founding family with a few difference POV's and storylines happening all at once. I found the four different narrators in the audiobook immensely helpful is keeping track of who's story I was in. There is a consistent undercurrent of fairytale elements through the entire novel.

I loved the dynamic and character growth between the two female leads. The mixture of magic and technology was interesting even if it wasn't fully flushed out. Overall I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next one!

The two main heroines, Nora and Lotte are sixteen and seventeen respectively – although I hadn’t appreciated that Nora was quite that young. And frankly, she’s far too mature for a sixteen-year-old – even a highly trained young woman who’s grown up in a severely dysfunctional family. I suppose the fact that emotions are dialled up high, family relationships or their lack make up much of the story and both girls are trying to work out who they are and what they want are all well-trodden YA genre staples. But the romance bubbling beneath the surface never threatens to override the narrative and Nora’s sang froid could stem from the fact that she’s been around the block one or three times, but I was still startled to read that she’s only sixteen. Or that this is regarded as a YA adventure.

Hamilton hasn’t lost the knack of rapidly sweeping me into her story and taking me into this dystopian world, where life is generally grim for those not born into the powerfully magical Holtzfall family. Though life isn’t all that much of a picnic for those born into the family, either. Despite their champagne lifestyle and constant partying. Because once in a generation, all Holtzfall are forced to take part in a magical competition to see who will be taking control of family affairs. Cousins and siblings are pitted against each other in dangerous competitions, often with lethal consequences. And once the decision has been reached, the losers are often left grief-stricken and bitter. You won’t be surprised to learn that family gatherings aren’t all that jolly.

It’s even worse for the Rydder family. Back in the mists of time, their ancestor vowed for himself and all his descendants to protect the Holtzfalls. There’s a magical oath that forces anyone with Rydder blood to protect them, whether they want to or not. And terrible things happen to an oathbreaker. These days, there aren’t the monsters to fight that there used to be – so Theo tends to spend his days acting as escort and driver to the Holtzfall family members, while mourning the loss of his brother who was killed in the same attack that took Verity Holtzfall’s life.

There’s a great deal going on in this book. While it was a page-turning adventure that gripped me throughout, I did get a tad frustrated at the constant viewpoint changes as we jumped from one character to another. The plot is twisty with almost non-stop action and I felt that some of the characters weren’t as well developed as they could have been if there’s been a tad less going on.

That said, I certainly didn’t see that final twist coming – and I’ll give due warning – this one ends of a doozy of a cliff-hanger. So I’m very much hoping that Hamilton won’t keep us waiting for the next slice of the adventure – because I definitely want to know what’s going to happen next. While I obtained an arc of The Notorious Virtues from the publisher via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

This had a really intriguing concept and a unique world, but it didn’t quite come together for me the way I hoped. The setting was interesting and had a lot of potential, but I found myself wanting more depth and clarity, especially around the magic and the rules of the world. The main character had some strong moments, but I struggled to fully connect with her. The pacing also felt ok some parts dragged, while others moved too fast. It wasn’t a bad read by any means, and there were definitely things I enjoyed, but overall it felt more like setup than a fully satisfying story.

Really really enjoyed this book once I got into it. The character development was really interesting and characters that I initially didn’t like, I ended up begrudgingly enjoying.

The plot was interesting and the world different to what I initially thought it would be.

It's been a long wait for a new Alwyn Hamilton book and it didn't disappoint! Character arcs and world building is first class. Highly recommend and can't wait for the sequel!

this was really good! I loved the extensive world Hamilton build & the character development was really well done.

I found it a hard book to start. However once I got into it I found it really good.
The concept of the family heritage passing through a test is brilliant.