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

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

3.0

If We Were Villains - M. L. Rio

☆ ☆ ☆ 

Short Review (TL;DR):

     ⤑ Need to not hate Shakespeare

     ⤑ Very similar to The Secret History, but not so much that it’s boring

     ⤑ Kind of predictable

Long Review:

I was a little nervous coming into this simply because it’s always recommended in those “If you loved The Secret History”, you’ll love this!” threads, and that has done me dirty many times.

In many ways this book is similar to TSH: the greek introduction of the tell all prologue, the flawed characters, the academic and eerie setting. Perhaps it seems like a rip off, but all of those are found in both greek tragedies and Shakespeare. 

I don’t think you need an understanding of Shakespeare to enjoy this, but you can’t be put off gratuitous use of his works; and if you do know some Shakespeare that almost does you a disservice. I felt pretty confident in my theory about the end very early on simply because of how purposeful the use of Shakespeare was; who was assigned what part, who quotes who frequently, the characters names in general.

Because I figured out the twist so early I did experience some reading burnout half way through - it does drag a bit, but I can’t tell if that’s simply because I was no longer in suspense or if it was just written strangely.

All that being said - this is a nice book. It holds up against other dark academia thrillers, and I loved being immersed into Shakespeare’s works (it made me want to pick up some of my old copies). Is it phenomenal? No. But it’s a good read!