Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

270 reviews

kirstenpod_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Grief, Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Homophobia, and Cursing

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Vomit

sarasreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

When I first started this and they were all speaking to each other in prose I eye rolled so hard I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through the book lol, but oh man did I get me in the end. Thankfully they didn't speak like that the whole time. 

I didn't want to put this down. I had a whole Shakespeare phase when I was younger (if you knew me then you can definitely confirm) and even did a Shakespeare class in college. So it really ended up sucking me in. If you are familiar with the tragedies, it helps, and that would also help with peeling back the layers and similes of narrative structure, themes, archetypes etc. It feels like a book you could really sink your teeth into and deeply examine, if you wanted to.

I had theories and was totally right, which was satisfying, although the things I ended up being right about were pretty sad. It is, after all, a tragedy. But one I would definitely reread. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Alcohol, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Domestic abuse

warlockdorian's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Murder, Mental illness, Vomit, Blood, Cursing, Drug abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

bellarosereads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, and Suicide

lauren_em's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug use

sl33pyh0ll0w's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Grief and Toxic relationship

jj_tj's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

book_slay's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Alcohol, Biphobia, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Violence, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, and Murder

rinku's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

If We Were Villains makes me wonder once more if dark academia is maybe just not my genre. Just like with other books, the characters were so tiresome with their pretentiousness and overacting over small things. Additionally, the internalized misogyny annoyed me a lot, and I just don’t care for Shakespeare lol. 

I don’t have too much to say about the story since the book felt more character-driven to me, but I didn’t really like the little plot we had. The story follows Oliver, an acting student, who’s part of an acting class where new tensions between the students arise. The acting scenes were probably my favorite part of the novel. Richard was also a great antagonist since he was really creepy. 

But I had my problems with the writing itself. The cheap foreshadowing annoyed me just like the fact that some interesting things about the story are just told, like Oliver’s application. The pacing felt a bit off to since, for example, the premiere of the play happened a bit too fast. After the murder, it got more interesting, especially seeing how they tried to hide it. Sadly, it was quite predictable who the murderer was, just like it was predictable that

Spoiler

Oliver would sacrifice himself for James

. 

Another thing I noticed in every dark academia book yet is depicting an unhealthy relationship towards studying. Characters risk their (mental) health for their studies and teachers bullying students is justified to get them ahead. I don’t know, things like these always feels a bit neoliberal to me. 

One of the biggest problems I had with the story was with the characters. We’re introduced to a main cast of seven characters at the beginning and most of them are really flat or don’t even have any character trait, especially the women, making them feel interchangeable. For example, Alexander’s traits are that he’s gay and a drug addict. But there’s one trait they share: They’re really pretentious, I see where The Atlas Six got its inspiration from. Everyone’s overacting at the smallest things. I was furthermore annoyed how the characters drink and take drugs all the time just to show how edgy they are. 

Other reviewers said that before, but it’s unbelievable that this book is written by a woman since the female characters are written so badly. Meredith is always reduced to her looks, no matter the scene. Oliver is always staring at her, claiming that it’s some biological urge(??), that’s a really weird thing to say. Additionally, he says that “we all have called her a slut before”, which made me uncomfortable as well. I don’t know anything about her as a person, just like with the two other female characters of the group. In general, I noticed quite a lot of internalized misogyny, saying that women always gossip and stuff like his. Besides them, the other study fields are also depicted in such a cliché way that it feels like only the aesthetic and vibes matter. 

And how is this book tagged as “queer” and “lgbt”? The representation is atrocious with the only (canon?) queer character being promiscuous and threatening to rape his male friends as a joke, wtf. Without saying too much, the other reps felt just like queerbaiting to me if I’m honest because their “romance” (?) is going nowhere.  

If We Were Villains shows me again that Goodreads can’t be trusted lol. Neither the 4.2-star rating nor the queer tags are justified for this book. I guess I’ll have to read <i>The Secret History</i> one day to find out if at least the origins of dark academia are enjoyable. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Addiction, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Death, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Suicide, Homophobia, Infidelity, Murder, and Sexual content

Minor: Eating disorder and Vomit

jelliestars's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Addiction, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Drug abuse, Grief, Infidelity, and Drug use

Minor: Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Cursing, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, and Sexual harassment