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A review by alexan13
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
4.0
I have somewhat complicated feelings about this book. On a surface level I really enjoyed the book and had a great time reading it.
On a deeper level it was...lackluster? Reading the summary, one thinks that this book is going to be an exact copy of Donna Tartt's The Secret History but worse (and subbing Classics for Shakespeare)...and that is actually kind of an apt description. If We Were Villains is certainly dark academia but it seems to simply be using the aesthetic of dark academia, rather than the philosophical ethos of dark academia -- questioning institutions, privilege, the meaning of knowledge production etc. -- which is apparent in (and the purpose of) The Secret History. If We Were Villains, in my opinion, simply adds nothing to the philosophical conversation. And it isn't trying to. That's fine, but that's not what I want from a dark academia novel.
I also find that I have an uneasy relationship with this novel's relationship to queerness. For me, it felt like queerness was simultaneously demonized and exoticized as a ""dark"' ""forbidden"" ""secret"" at the root of tensions in character relationships. While other queer readers definitely have different views of the novel, I personally didn't love whatever it was the author was attempting to do with the character's sexuality.
Ultimately I did enjoy this novel! But I found it to be pretty much pure entertainment, which while fine and good, is not what I personally look for in dark academia.
On a deeper level it was...lackluster? Reading the summary, one thinks that this book is going to be an exact copy of Donna Tartt's The Secret History but worse (and subbing Classics for Shakespeare)...and that is actually kind of an apt description. If We Were Villains is certainly dark academia but it seems to simply be using the aesthetic of dark academia, rather than the philosophical ethos of dark academia -- questioning institutions, privilege, the meaning of knowledge production etc. -- which is apparent in (and the purpose of) The Secret History. If We Were Villains, in my opinion, simply adds nothing to the philosophical conversation. And it isn't trying to. That's fine, but that's not what I want from a dark academia novel.
I also find that I have an uneasy relationship with this novel's relationship to queerness. For me, it felt like queerness was simultaneously demonized and exoticized as a ""dark"' ""forbidden"" ""secret"" at the root of tensions in character relationships. While other queer readers definitely have different views of the novel, I personally didn't love whatever it was the author was attempting to do with the character's sexuality.
Ultimately I did enjoy this novel! But I found it to be pretty much pure entertainment, which while fine and good, is not what I personally look for in dark academia.