Scan barcode
A review by nenya
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
5.0
This was absolutely incredible, I literally devoured this book so quickly - it‘s very addicting.
It is structured like a Shakespeare play and incorporates a lot of his plays into the plot as well as the characters dialogue, which makes it even more intriguing. The characters themselves are at once love- and hateable and you end up not really knowing if you should be rooting for them or not since they‘re doing a lot of morally very wrong stuff (you end up rooting for them anyways). The ending also really packed a punch with some predictable elements but some totally „I did not see that coming“ kind of twists - it also had me sobbing in the middle of the night.
At first I thought this would be too similar to „The Secret History“, which in some cases it was, however it was unique enough to be appreciated on its own. (However the inspiration is quite obvious)
It is structured like a Shakespeare play and incorporates a lot of his plays into the plot as well as the characters dialogue, which makes it even more intriguing. The characters themselves are at once love- and hateable and you end up not really knowing if you should be rooting for them or not since they‘re doing a lot of morally very wrong stuff (you end up rooting for them anyways). The ending also really packed a punch with some predictable elements but some totally „I did not see that coming“ kind of twists - it also had me sobbing in the middle of the night.
At first I thought this would be too similar to „The Secret History“, which in some cases it was, however it was unique enough to be appreciated on its own. (However the inspiration is quite obvious)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Body horror, Drug use, Addiction, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Mental illness