Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - A jeśli jesteśmy złoczyńcami

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A jeśli jesteśmy złoczyńcami by M.L. Rio

271 reviews

skillyillian's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

this isn't my usual bag but i really enjoyed it. perfect dark academia, rainy autumn, murder at a fancy, secluded college book. i think i would have enjoyed it more if i knew literally anything beyond the very very basics of shakespeare, as the characters spend probably a quarter of their dialogue speaking exclusively in shakespeare quotes or references i didn't understand. that being said, it doesn't ruin the book by any means if you don't fully get every easter egg. the author had some kind of degree involving shakespeare iirc? and you can tell she is extremely knowledgeable about all of his works, it's incredibly well done.

the plot felt a little predictable at times? but i was reading for the spooky dark academia vibes and not the most complicated murder mystery plot in the whole world. i've heard people say they didn't really love the ending or how open it was, but i liked it and thought it was pretty clear what happened.

Spoiler

i wish they had just admitted to being in love sooner. i hate that it took until richard said his garbage homophobic shit for oliver to be like "ah, yes, well. maybe we are in love" like please, be so fuckin for real right now. the lack of communication right there would have saved so much trouble.

anyway what a good spooky read. the vibes were immaculate, the mystery was fun, the characters felt like they had their own personalities and goals. the writing style was really unique, especially in that the dialogue between characters speaking back and forth didn't use dialogue tags but sometimes was just written like a script would be. my favorite line was probably "Me: [sneezes]" lmfao.

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sfdogmom's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No

3.0

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kirstenpod_'s review against another edition

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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

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sarasreading'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? 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.

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