A review by dreareads_
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
3.0
Elite season 1 but make it Shakespeare lol
The book was fine, the ✨vibes✨ were genuinely the best part.
I was interested by the premise of the characters being archetypes and the exploration of what that meant. But for the exception of a few, most of the characters felt flat & with little depth.
For a thriller the plot was also extremely predictable.
Now my two biggies:
1) there’s a lot of like casual racism & slurs used throughout the story for no reason. This includes the use of the terms g*psy and “sitting Indian style”, as well as Alexander being a POC character that is addicted to drugs… I don’t think the book is problematic per se but sensitivity readers could’ve really been used:
2) The ENDING
I am obviously in the minority of people and that is fine! I love that so many people loved this book, but it definitely wasn’t for me! On to the next one :)
The book was fine, the ✨vibes✨ were genuinely the best part.
I was interested by the premise of the characters being archetypes and the exploration of what that meant. But for the exception of a few, most of the characters felt flat & with little depth.
For a thriller the plot was also extremely predictable.
Now my two biggies:
1) there’s a lot of like casual racism & slurs used throughout the story for no reason. This includes the use of the terms g*psy and “sitting Indian style”, as well as Alexander being a POC character that is addicted to drugs… I don’t think the book is problematic per se but sensitivity readers could’ve really been used:
2) The ENDING
Spoiler
unnecessarily tragic queer ending. This felt both queerbaiting and kill your gays for NO REASON!! At least to me, it made no sense that this would happen. Maybe the death would’ve been more meaningful if we’d had more interactions between James and Oliver that were actually romantic.I am obviously in the minority of people and that is fine! I love that so many people loved this book, but it definitely wasn’t for me! On to the next one :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Abandonment, Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Murder, Death, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Violence, Addiction, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, and Eating disorder