Reviews

OKAYYYY i’ve finished this and I have Thoughts!!!

I’m not giving it a rating right now because I just don’t know what it deserves. I read this book in 5 days and enjoyed it and was very hooked on it, I hate to do this but I’m going to compare this to the secret history. I’m not sure is M.L.Rio was trying to imitate the secret history but it does pretty much follow a similar pattern, bad dickhead friend is a bad dickhead friend and then *spoiler*(?) gets killed, the main difference we have in this one is that we know in the secret history how bunny’s death happened and who was at fault whereas in If we were villains we are waiting to see what happened and how it happened. The book is very good, I’m not going to pretend it’s not, however I didn’t think the writing was to the upmost qualify, the book is fabulous and has very good writing but compared to the only other ‘Dark Academia’ book I’ve read it wasn’t as good. I STULL GERU KUCH ENJOYED IT THOUGH. that’s my thoughts tbh

also oliver and james deserved more

tarajsharma's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I liked it, but it felt so derivative of The Secret History that it was distracting. And it really suffers from the comparison. For all the tension and build-up, I found the plot twist underwhelming.

Some random spoilery thoughts:

Make James and Oliver GAYER. Don’t be afraid of more homoeroticism!
Truly do not understand why they just left Richard to die. James and Pip I can understand, as Richard would’ve spilled the beans on the attack. But why tf did Alexander suggest it? He was a violent jerk, but the severity of his attack probably would have meant he was physically incapable of seeing out the year with them. Also I did not get how they could go from loving him to agreeing he should die, even if he were a violent dick to them. I will charitably chalk it up to them being dumb college students.
This book felt like it was written to fill a trope. Not a fan of that.
I really loved the Shakespeare woven into the story and dialogue.
I really thought the ending was going to be that they all had a hand in killing Richard, much like his character in Caesar. Honestly, that would have been an interesting concept to explore, if maybe a bit predictable.

kanyay_'s review

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5.0

oh god of god oh god.

i'm giddy, enthralled, and severely devastated.
this was a love letter to Shakespeare and drama and clearly a labour of love on the author's behalf.

i adored the characters and wanted so badly to be a part of the seven and study at Dellechter and live in the castle and drink wine with them in the library and attend the masquerade balls. oh my god.

oliver you fool you break my heart. i wanted this book to never end.

secretforest's review against another edition

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3.0

I loved everything about this book–the descriptions, the dialogue, the Shakespeare!–except for the story, which I mostly hated.

makarina_20's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

palpateensy's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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