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

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

M.L. Rio’s ‘If We Were Villains’ was a book that just had something special about it that I can’t explain, it was such a vivid and engaging story that swooped the reader away to a place I adore, theatre and literature. It’s a dark academia about 7 students at Dellecher arts college that exclusively study Shakespeare, and when cast outside of their archetypal roles the system that they operate within slowly falls apart. 

The works of Shakespeare were so cleverly intertwined into this book in its structure, chapters being acts and scenes, the plot mirroring a classical Shakespearian tragedy and sections of speech structured in script (of which wasn’t a feature I was a huge lover of but just accepted as the story unfolded). Each character reflects the classic archetypes of Shakespeare’s tragedies and are equally all in some manner flawed, and this engagement with the bard across the book was honestly such a motivator to push forward through my chronological reading of his complete works. It was also reality accessible in the manner it was written, one does not need to be a scholar in Shakespeare to engage with and enjoy this book, it’ll just make you want to become a scholar in Shakespeare. 

It started so well with such a good exploration of friendship dynamics and life in academia and I was worried, knowing how the story was roughly going to unfold from the preface, about it becoming consumed by a murder mystery, but this aspect wasn’t too heavily leant on and it maintained its charm throughout which I was so glad for. Though the vibes were brilliant, the characters I struggled with a little more. They all play their archetypal roles for the most part and are largely dislikable figures but written to be so human that they were great, I just didn’t really get on with the protagonist Oliver. He was so painfully average, whining that he’s nothing special and just normal constantly and it gets such a brain numbing voice to be stuck seeing this story through the head of. He isn’t meant to be an overly likeable guy and we obviously see the world through his angle of it, but this overarch of constantly believing he as the mundane was hard to distance oneself from. 

The ending was also turbulent. I had so many perceived directions and it wasn’t the end I would’ve praised from a structuring perspective, it taking a more modern twist to a tragic finale rather than a direct mirroring. The initial ending I was very disappointed by I won’t lie, whereas the epilogue completely subverted this and had my jaw dropped, the sudden shift was so good and impactful. That being said there was a final twist that decayed the impact of the epilogue a little but I think it can largely be read as the reader desires so mentally am discounting such as having an impact on the story, or at least how I view it. 

Now I shall revel in the motivation to indulge myself in the next couple of Shakespeare’s plays on my list.