If We Were Villains: My Review
My Review- If We Were Villains by M.L Rio
Introduction
I am a huge fan of The Secret History By Donna Tartt and also a huge fan of dark academia in general. I got a big hit of the genre from Babel by R.F. Kuang earlier on in the year- see my review for that here- but apparently it wasn’t enough! I’ve been seeing this cover floating around Instagram and Tiktok, and when in the mood for something dark and thriller-esque for the end of 2022, I couldn’t resist starting this. It’s been on my TBR for a while, but as soon as I heard dark academia meets Shakespeare I was sold.
About The Book
If We Were Villains By R.L Mio
vivid and immersive story of obsession perfect for fans of dark academia and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History
Oliver Marks has just served ten years for the murder of one of his closest friends – a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he’s released, he’s greeted by the detective who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened ten years ago.
As a young actor studying Shakespeare at an elite arts conservatory, Oliver noticed that his talented classmates seem to play the same roles onstage and off – villain, hero, tyrant, temptress – though Oliver felt doomed to always be a secondary character in someone else’s story. But when the teachers change up the casting, a good-natured rivalry turns ugly, and the plays spill dangerously over into life.
When tragedy strikes, one of the seven friends is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.
Review
Rating ★★★★
If we were villains by M.L. Rio is a great read for fans of dark academia. I felt like the Shakespearean Theatre Troupe who are studying at Decheller Classical Conservatory make the perfect characters for a story like this. With such dramatic subjects such as Shakespearean tragedies as the theme, the dynamics between the characters of Richard, Oliver, James, Alexander, Wren, Filippa, and Meredith were the absolute perfect ingredients to create some serious sparks and incredible plot twists. I wasn’t wrong. The tension building in this story by Rio is absolutely on point, and keeps the reader moving from act to act, knowing that at some point the climax will inevitably come and inevitably devastate you. After all, the fourth-year students are studying tragedy, so why would we expect anything else?
I enjoyed the setting of this book very much, the dark academia theme embodied completely by this incredibly archaic yet decadent seeming campus. You have the lake, a metaphor for the mirroring each actor must undergo to fully become their character. It is also poignant, then, that this lake is the scene of the book’s murder, because it is the absorption into the world of Shakespeare’s over-dramatic characters and language which, in my opinion, inevitably leads to the degradation of morals within each of the characters individually.
I felt like the character’s themselves did really leap off the page, in fact, perhaps a little too much. Especially Richard, who at times I felt perhaps slightly over reacted to things, but at the same time, I kind of understood the author was trying to turn him into a caricature of the characters he was playing.
Some of the reactions characters had to certain situations seemed entirely out of proportion to me.
I think that’s why I gave this book a four star in the end, rather than a five.
While Shakespearean tragedy works well on the stage, I felt like Oliver’s self-sacrifice, shown through narrative text, was unrealistic for a real person living in the modern world. I can honestly see what the author was trying to do, translating those larger-than-life characters and the tragedy of their unrequited love from Shakespeare’s plays onto people who were also acting those roles. Unfortunately, for me, Oliver’s actions, revealed in full toward the end of the book, followed by James’s ultimate decision to kill himself, just felt entirely over the top and unbelievable. It just seems like each one of these characters, and particularly Oliver were too cynical, too selfish, too… how can I put this… jaded by modernity, to ever realistically act how they did.
Things I loved about this book include the way in which Hamlet was performed on the beach at Halloween, as well as the impromptu performance of Romeo and Juliet at the Masquerade ball. I also loved the way the relationship between James and Oliver was wrought out across the novel, and how with each act we see the tension between them growing until we know they must reach a breaking point. I also found myself fascinated by Filippa, who surprised me in the end with her simple and genuine motives, with her loyalty. Meredith pissed me off multiple times, and I found Alexander to be rather irritating also, but as in most Dark Academia novels, you can’t expect to love every character, and it is usually those you disdain which end up furthering the plot in the most interesting ways. Additionally, I thought the way the author re-imagined these plays, the way she applied character dilemmas on top of real problems faced by the characters at certain moments, was nothing short of masterful.
If you don’t mind the ending, don’t mind seeing the main character act in a way that to me was entirely unbelievable, I think this book could be your next five star read, especially if you love dark academia, Shakespeare, or a good murder mystery laced with fraught emotion, high stakes, and intrigue.
If We Were Villains Aesthetic Gallery
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