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A review by sarcastic_fish
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
2.0
this book sucked like are you guys for real
this does nothing but corroborate my opinion that booktok has no taste what so ever
this had the potential to be so so good but it honestly just sucks from the moment they discover Richard’s body.
They basically do nothing bad???? like it’s all a bit grey and “oh they didn’t mean to do it or they did nothing” and I just can’t. they don’t take much agency and that’s so boring like they’re not villains at all it’s so…urgh
you wanted a tragedy?? they should have conspired against Oliver and manipulated his good will into making him sacrifice himself when really they’re pushing him to do that so that he can go to jail in their stead bc he’s the bystander in the group, and then reveal this to him as the ultimate betrayal. They’re actors…they could have made it work. that would have been shocking. it’s like the classics mistake of wanting people to like your characters so you make them good but then inadvertently boring because you let stuff “happen” to them. like this had the potential to be down right Machiavellian in its antics but was such a let down. it’s dark academia like you can’t gun for a happy ending?? the book even says the thing that makes tragedy hurt so hard is that you really think it’s all gunna be fine till the last second? why say that if you’re not gunna commit
also this whole idea that Meredith knew James did it from him reciting one line to her is absolutely ridiculous. and why would she have run off to rat him out. For him to have done that to Wren would have been so much better and conflicting.
AND WHY WAS COLBORNE IN THEIR HOUSE SO MANY TIMES. HE JUST WALKED IN. LIKE SIR. THATS DEFO NOT ALLOWED.
and for fucks sake, the thing with the boat hook??? THE LAKE. YOU CHUCK IT. IN THE FUCKING. LAKE. NO FINGER PRINTS, NO BLOOD, AND TOTALLY REASONABLE FOR IT TO HAVE BEEN THERE.
and if James felt to bad about Oliver getting convicted you would have just confessed. like come on.
the writing was also just inconsistent, sometimes gr8, sometimes using “as if” and “like” an absolutely unbearable amount. It makes the writing so clunky.
don’t get me wrong I enjoyed lots of it, esp till they discovered Richard but it kinda all went down hill from there.
I also think there are way too many instances of plot being the priority, like the whole thing of his sister having an eating disorder and then him needing to work/study?? like you wasted so many words on plot that you should have spent on character bc I was so unemotionally involved that I literally don’t care about the characters by the end. Like I literally do not care. how could I? They’re cardboard cut outs of the roles they play. Why is it critiqued upon and then just um left like that? I know NOTHING about any of the characters, you don’t know them at all, it’s so superficial, they don’t feel human
this was such a let down, the real tragedy being how there was so much potential.
this does nothing but corroborate my opinion that booktok has no taste what so ever
this had the potential to be so so good but it honestly just sucks from the moment they discover Richard’s body.
They basically do nothing bad???? like it’s all a bit grey and “oh they didn’t mean to do it or they did nothing” and I just can’t. they don’t take much agency and that’s so boring like they’re not villains at all it’s so…urgh
you wanted a tragedy?? they should have conspired against Oliver and manipulated his good will into making him sacrifice himself when really they’re pushing him to do that so that he can go to jail in their stead bc he’s the bystander in the group, and then reveal this to him as the ultimate betrayal. They’re actors…they could have made it work. that would have been shocking. it’s like the classics mistake of wanting people to like your characters so you make them good but then inadvertently boring because you let stuff “happen” to them. like this had the potential to be down right Machiavellian in its antics but was such a let down. it’s dark academia like you can’t gun for a happy ending?? the book even says the thing that makes tragedy hurt so hard is that you really think it’s all gunna be fine till the last second? why say that if you’re not gunna commit
also this whole idea that Meredith knew James did it from him reciting one line to her is absolutely ridiculous. and why would she have run off to rat him out. For him to have done that to Wren would have been so much better and conflicting.
AND WHY WAS COLBORNE IN THEIR HOUSE SO MANY TIMES. HE JUST WALKED IN. LIKE SIR. THATS DEFO NOT ALLOWED.
and for fucks sake, the thing with the boat hook??? THE LAKE. YOU CHUCK IT. IN THE FUCKING. LAKE. NO FINGER PRINTS, NO BLOOD, AND TOTALLY REASONABLE FOR IT TO HAVE BEEN THERE.
and if James felt to bad about Oliver getting convicted you would have just confessed. like come on.
the writing was also just inconsistent, sometimes gr8, sometimes using “as if” and “like” an absolutely unbearable amount. It makes the writing so clunky.
don’t get me wrong I enjoyed lots of it, esp till they discovered Richard but it kinda all went down hill from there.
I also think there are way too many instances of plot being the priority, like the whole thing of his sister having an eating disorder and then him needing to work/study?? like you wasted so many words on plot that you should have spent on character bc I was so unemotionally involved that I literally don’t care about the characters by the end. Like I literally do not care. how could I? They’re cardboard cut outs of the roles they play. Why is it critiqued upon and then just um left like that? I know NOTHING about any of the characters, you don’t know them at all, it’s so superficial, they don’t feel human
this was such a let down, the real tragedy being how there was so much potential.