Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - If We Were Villains

This book changed me in the best way. A beautiful (haunting) exploration of obsession and addiction to art. the characters are intentionally relatable, but exaggerated in the way that only Shakespeare can.
A love letter to Shakespeare obsessors, tormented queers, and emotionally unwell theatre kids.
for fans of the marauders, any Shakespeare play, dead poets society, and dark academia <3

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kenalex15's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The book is a little slow to start, but picks up when the mystery starts. Had to pause a lot to look up Shakespeare quotes and plays but overall didn't take away from my understanding. I wish the main friendship was talked about a little more but it was still good. Don't know if I love or hate the ending.

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yzer2468's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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ayuming_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I had a lot of fun and mental anguish reading this book. I listened through an audiobook because the narrator helped deliver a lot of the Shakespearian lines in a way that I understood some or even all of the context of what was happening in a scene. If I was reading on my own my brain would have absolutely fogged over lol.
That being said, this book is probably one hundred times more enjoyable if you've read Shakespeare's works and understand the underlying context that is going on on and off the stage. I've only read like two or three plays, and they were so long ago that it was basically useless. I had to google a few of the plays to get an understanding of the type of cast our characters were playing.

I did love how the progression of Shakespeare plays also progressed the plot. What went on in one play was foreshadowing or metaphorical for something later on. The consistent comparison of James and Oliver with Romeo and Juliet had me screaminggggggggg.
These two were SO ANGSTY with one another oh my god. I thought I was just being delusional when I first thought James might have had feelings for Oliver, but then the most heartbreaking angst and yearning between the two plays out and you just want to scream at them!! Just fucking kiss already oh my god!!! I wish they could have been happy together. They really and truly deserved some inkle of happiness together, good God.
Also this shouldn't have been funny, but how like... obviously in love were Oliver and James? Because everyone except Oliver seemed to realize they were constantly giving one another heart eyes. Like James popping up in Ohio at 2am at Oliver's house because he was lonely?
"In tens years I have not found an adequate word to describe us."
THEY'RE KILLING ME YOUR HONOR!!!!!!!

Oliver is a very selfishly selfless person. He seems to think he's no one special, but in my opinion the entire plot of the book takes place not in spite of him, but because of him.

I didn't know what would happen until the nearing end when Oliver found the hook. After that, it became pretty clear to me that Oliver would do absolutely everything in his power to ensure that his friends remained clear of any crime. And how his stance answered Meredith's question from earlier in the book: "Are you jealous of me or him?". And then the letter at the end, once again showing that Oliver loves James more than anything. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
I really love Filippa and her love and dedication to her group of friends. Truly a found family moment. And the way she didn't tell Oliver for years about James' death because she didn't want to lose him, too. I can't imagine the sorrow she felt over that.

We'll never get it but I NEED ANSWERS. NOW.

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scottsland_yard's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was really good! The writing was very poetic and the inclusion of many Shakespeare quotes was accurate to the characters as well as a great way to really draw the reader into the world. A bit difficult to get the nuance of the Shakespeare quotes chosen if you aren't well-versed in shakespearean theater though. I'm sure there were references I missed.

SPOILER AHEAD!!

The ending really upset me and I don't think in the way the author intended. While it was very poetic and intense, creating a huge tension that just ramped up and up toward the last page, I feel like the ending didn't justify the means. While ostensibly a story about murder and passion and rage, it was also obviously a story about love and self discovery. I think having the main character be bi-sexual and technically in a relationship with both Meredith and James (in a way) was really smart story telling to showcase the difficulty he feels in trying to figure out who he is, not only as an actor, but as a lover. What I didn't appreciate (and it's not really Rio's fault so much as it's a tired and hurtful trope shares by many authors) is that the majority of stories that feature a gay couple require that they go through torturous and heart-wrenching levels of trauma in order to move the story along. As a gay man, reading the tension between Oliver and James over and over with little to now pay off didn't feel exciting, it felt like torture. I was being led along like a horse with a carrot, the promise of the possibility of Oliver and James professing their feelings for each other or ending up together, only to constantly be whipped with sex scenes with Meredith and violence with Richard. In the end, when you think Oliver might finally get yo be happy with James, we're slapped in the face with the blunt honesty of Phillipa letting us know that James killed himself after not being able to bare the weight of the guilt of killing Richard (in self defense, btw) and his lover taking the blame for it. So Oliver once again ends up with Meredith and I was left furious. And the last page does little to bandage those wounds.

I was left feeling empty, tense beyond belief, and with a heavy pit in my stomach. While the story was very good and the book was extremely well written, I am sick of this trope. I'm sick of gay characters being used as the martyrs in stories or being included only to drive the trauma train. (OH, also include the only canonically gay character overdosing and almost dying too)

I yearn for stories of gay couples/characters that include all the tense will-they-won't-they that straight romances have, but for once, I'd like them to actually end up together. I've learned this is not the book for that.

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llcardenas's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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