Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - If We Were Villains

I don’t even know where to begin with this. What a masterpiece! From the structure to the writing style and the narrator’s POV, this book was such a fun read. I love how [even though I don’t know much about Shakespeare and don’t really have an interest in his work] If We Were Villains kept me on the edge of my seat and made me want to keep reading. I’ve honestly never imagined a college or performing arts school that is specifically dedicated to Shakespeare - what a pleasantly niche idea. Is it all ridiculously pretentious? Absolutely. But that’s honestly what makes it so enjoyable. The whole time I was reading, I felt the drama of it all, and I truly enjoyed it. It was a fun ride but what pushed this book into the 4 star range for me was the ending. It felt like everything started happening at an intensified speed and yet it kept me guessing all the way to the last page. This was so incredibly well done. Exactly what I look for in a thriller. It’s clear that The Secret History influenced If We Were Villains but honestly I much prefer M.L. Rio’s approach. So glad I read this as part of my dark academia theme for the month! This is an absolute must for anyone who likes thrillers, dark academia, or literary fiction. 💯

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boliv3's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The epilogue felt like a harried explanation, but otherwise the book had me in a chokehold and gave me characters I probably won’t forget.

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chemeducator's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

4.0

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yinthe__'s review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

WOW

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xchloe_bxx's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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v_____'s review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I sit with my wrists cuffed to the table and I think, but then I forbid to tell the secrets of my prison house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul...

- If We Were Villains, 1%

🎧 listened to the audiobook

Review in one word:
Meh

Short review:
I do get the hype... Somehow...
But there are definitely some weak spots in this story!

Long review:
As somebody who doesn't really care about Shakespeare at all (yes I said it!) and never read any of his work, neither in English, nor in German, I'm not that impressed with everybody quoting him all the time. Actually I find it annoying, pretentious and boasting rank and status. Simply too much.
I guess this book hits different, when you are into Shakespeare - I'm not, and that is totally on me.
Or maybe it's not, because if I wanted to read that much Shakespeare in a book, I would actually pick up one of his works 🤷‍♀️

Much like in The Secret History, to which this is often compared, I didn't like or dislike any of the characters.
I feel indifferent about them. I don't care about them. They are quite flat and superficial...
For example Richard:

he is the evil guy who hurts everyone. That's it. No explanation as to why he is like that (childhood trauma? Drug/alcohol abuse? Mental health issues?) is offered, not that this would excuse him, but him being the guy who just hurts everybody is like the laziest character building ever.

Or Meredith,

whose main and only character trait is stunningly sexy and beautiful rich girl (don't even get me started on the misogyny 😡)

Oliver:

naive outsider who doesn't get along with his own family, so he seeks it in his classmates.

The rest of the thespians:

mixed them up most of the time because they were so interchangable. Somebody was doing drugs a lot, somebody was gay and somebody else was Richards cousin.

I don't see, why people are obsessing about the characters so much.
In my opinion they aren't really as close or as much the found family as Oliver (the narrator) claims them to be...

I feel like this book could have been shorter, because at around 60% the suspense really dies down and I found it became quite a drag. That was surprising to me, because at the beginning I was so invested, I couldn't stop listening and it was definitely a candidate for a 5 star read. I think the reason, why it felt like a drag was because there was no more mystery all of a sudden. Just the characters trying to move on and yet another play and endless quotes, that was painfully long executed. At that point, I probably would have liked it better, if there were some character building instead of more Shakespeare quotes.

I found some parts very unrelatable. For example

that no one says something, when Richard hurts them during rehearsal. It is absolutely unacceptable to treat people like that, James' arms are bruised for god's sake, how did he get away with this for so long? This is not understandable at all.

Also: why do these people life in a castle?

Some storylines didn't make sense and were killed off like two seconds after they were introduced:
Example:

Oliver's parents telling him, they can't afford tuition for his last semester anymore. Oliver then calls a few people the next day and they help him figure it out by suggesting a loan. That's it, never heard of this storyline again. What's the point?
And: why did Oliver cover up for James? Makes no sense at all!

I found some things to be quite confusing too, like:

Why did Richard worry that James or Oliver would hit on Meredith, when he thought they were "queer with each other"? Makes no sense...

By the way, while we are on the topic: why is this labeled LGBTQ? This is such a tiny part of the story.

I absolutely don't get the point of the ending:

We find out about James having killed himself at around 95% (but in the timeline 4 years ago), and then he probably didn't by 99%, who knows? Why would he fake his death, it makes no sense. How would that help him relieve his guilt?
Seems like the author desperately tried to go out with a bang here...

I did enjoy it somehow but I do have mixed feelings about this. For this to be a great read for me, something was missing...

Conclusion:
I enjoyed The Secret History way more and I find this to be rip-off with boring and annoying theatre students instead of Ancient Greek lessons...

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madalina0_0's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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