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boliv3's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Suicide attempt
chemeducator's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Drug use, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
Minor: Eating disorder and Homophobia
yinthe__'s review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Suicide attempt
xchloe_bxx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
_verena_'s review against another edition
- 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:
Or Meredith,
Oliver:
The rest of the thespians:
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
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:
And: why did Oliver cover up for James? Makes no sense at all!
I found some things to be quite confusing too, like:
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:
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...
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
madalina0_0's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
noahhh_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
reading_bunny's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Favourite quote:
"You can justify anything of you do it poetically enough"
- Oliver Marks
Review/my thoughts:
This book took me a long time to read, partially because I went through and looked up every quote they mentioned, but also because the book was dense, the writing wasnt too hard to read through it was just a dense book.
I really enjoyed the story, and I thought it was paced nicely, only revealing informationto the reader as the characters learn about them which lends to the bizzying and disorienting feeling of the narrative.
The characters were all stellar, and Oliver's unreliability as a narrator was at times a little frustrating because I would have loved to learn a little more about the others but Oliver is fairly dismissive of a few if them for whatever his reasons.
The relationship between
Overall, this is not a book that I would re-read but it is one that I would recommend to someone who is very into Shakespeare and/or cannparse it well enough to understand the meaning of the prose, as well as those who are into the Dark academia aesthetic since this book is not only a corner stone of the genre/aesthetic but also because this is a lot like the secret history in its core expects
In the end, an enjoyable experience and I'm glad I gave this book a chance and the time it deserved
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Eating disorder, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
kit_kove's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
daniellereadslikealot_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol