A review by soothebelle
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.75

Yeah, naw. This wasn't it. All I can think to say right now is how I'm never going to reread this. Everyone was one-dimensional, even the
"bad guy" who is so hamfistedly "bad" that you feel nothing towards his death. At least in The Secret History, that this book is so commonly compared to, you got a sense of Bunny's better points, so you can understand the various characters' guilt upon his death, but not here. Dude's just suddenly incredibly terrible and abusive in his fourth year, so when you get to him dying, like "okay sure whatever get on with it, dude sucks". Similarly, Meredith's hot, Wren's fragile, Alexander's eccentric, etc etc. There's nothing more to these characters.
Also, the "twist" at the end is really stupid, and there's too much direct quoting Shakespeare, it gets too dense with it. The atmosphere of the book was pretty good, I could easily imagine the setting and feel like I was there, but that's really only the main nice thing I can say about it. Otherwise, weak as hell.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings