Reviews with content warning for Blood - If We Were Villains

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

446 reviews

alicelalicon's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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ellalillian's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

going to be thinking about this book for a long time for sure. thoroughly enjoyed it. dark academia always makes me feel weird/unsettled afterward... which is probably the whole point.

based on the reviews, i was kind of scared going into this book, but honestly, while i'm glad i knew it was going to be dark going in, i didn't think it was that dark - at least until the end. the epilogue honestly messed me up more than anything. (don't get me wrong, the whole book was still dark, just not as bad as i was expecting).

the biggest "twists" were pretty predictable, but i honestly didn't think that made it any less enjoyable in the slightest. i saw another review saying that how they're revealed is perfect; the point of this book wasn't plot twists, but almost character twists & oliver learning who the other characters, along with himself, truly are.

i wish i knew more shakespeare because i think that's the only thing that could've made this book more enjoyable.

definitely thoroughly enjoyed this book - if you ever want to feel unsettled & if you like shakespeare, this book it definitely for you!

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mimpart's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

My favorite book of the year so far. Incredible suspense, fantastic characters, really amazing plot development and twists in the pacing, love the ending. I kept getting mad at myself for not finishing the story to see how it ends. A must-read for the poetic at heart, the Bard enthusiasts and the dark academics

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theresa_timber's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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fireforferrets's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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athenian_frog's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

4.0

Was the policework a little unbelievable? Yeah, maybe. And sometimes these guys felt a little pretentious with their reasoning. But I had a hell of a time reading about these nerds perform. And the relationship drama? My God. It was almost funny watching three characters do the emotionally strained tango on the last year of Shakespeare school.

The other thing is that I wish there was more to Richard. And that we got to hear more about Oliver's family. Oliver was alright but he really shouldn't have been so shitty about some things, like someone having an eating disorder. I could see why the other cast members liked him but he had some iffy moments. I found the twist culprit to be REALLY easy to predict, I literally put together EXACTLY what happened like a little bit post murder, but I still had lots of fun.

If youre scared about reading without knowing Shakespeare I think you'll be fine. I've read like ONE work and I was able to get through this p easily. Once or twice I googled some of the characters they mentioned that I wasn't familiar with.

Oh btw I rlly liked Fillipa and Oliver just being supportive friends to one another. Felt like a nice break every time I read them being kind to each other.

I liked having the ending feel a little open. But, again, I wanted the characters to feel a little more fleshed out before the end.

Overall I'd give this like a 3.8 but I'll round it to a 4. I got through it fairly quickly.

Some spoilery notes:

-Idk I feel like I would have understood Oliver taking the fall more if he spent more time with James. I know he already had James first before Merideth in his head but you have to have a GREAT explanation for me to understand you doing 10 years in jail for a guy...

-I wish Filippa and Wren had been written a bit better to stand on their own? Instead of just as supports to other characters.

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