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A review by natalie_and_company
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
4.0
This book is really great at making you want to read more. Even upon finished all I wanted to do was pick up another book and submerse myself in the literary world again. I think this is because while Shakespeare is a theater thing, the reading of and analyzing of it while reading If We Were Villians was a deeply literary experience. Filled with symbolism, allegory, and so many more literary devices that have been used to try and decipher Shakespeare time and time again. Maybe this is why Dark Academia is such a popular thing, because it's a literary adjacent experience.
Spent the whole book waiting to find something likeable about the characters but I failed. I think this was done on purpose though and it is done very well. The unlikeable characters are not distasteful in their personality traits but deeply flawed at their core which makes it a different experience than a simple array of sucky characters does. The vibes are spot on and I flew through this book within two days despite its size.
I did guess the ending, mostly because it is modeled after shakespere's plays and we know how most of those turn out (as the book itself also points out) but because I didn't really like any of the characters I found it hard to feel too emotional over the ending. Although the fact that the very very end of the book was left open was done so extremely well. I am not the type of person who enjoys when things are left open and strings left untied but this ending was written so well I wasn't even mad. I was truly satisfied.
Spent the whole book waiting to find something likeable about the characters but I failed. I think this was done on purpose though and it is done very well. The unlikeable characters are not distasteful in their personality traits but deeply flawed at their core which makes it a different experience than a simple array of sucky characters does. The vibes are spot on and I flew through this book within two days despite its size.
I did guess the ending, mostly because it is modeled after shakespere's plays and we know how most of those turn out (as the book itself also points out) but because I didn't really like any of the characters I found it hard to feel too emotional over the ending. Although the fact that the very very end of the book was left open was done so extremely well. I am not the type of person who enjoys when things are left open and strings left untied but this ending was written so well I wasn't even mad. I was truly satisfied.