Okay, so you've probably heard of the It Girl of Booktok's dark academic genre, and that is this book - If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio. Lots of people were comparing this book to The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which is actually what inspired me to read it. So was it worth it? Well... that's a little complicated.
I mean, let's start with what I enjoyed. The character dynamics within the friend group were cute, realistic (for the most part), and enjoyable. I liked seeing them interact with eachother, and I liked that they all actually cared for eachother and didn't hate everyone else around them's guts. Like despite their weird cult, they were just normal university students, so that's a plus.
I also deeply loved the fact that each of them fit a character archetype (as it states in the description of the book). It was entertaining to figure out who was who, and it did make it easier to understand their actions, ultimately. While there were certainly some characters I liked more than others, by the end, I could empathize with all of them (except freaking Richard, but he was irrelevant for most of the book anyway. Is that a spoiler?)
Here's what I imagined each character to be ;)
Hero - Filippa (just because I think her actions were the most well thought-out, ethical, justified, and I just liked her)
Villain - Alexander (it almost feels unfair to put him here)
Tyrant - Richard
Temptress - Meredith
Ingenue - Wren
Extra - Oliver
There's no space for James, oh well.
Either way, plot-wise, this book also didn't have much of a plot, but the entire thing was just a little build-up and compilation of tensions which lead to a final breaking point, and then repeat. What really made it interesting was the characters, and their interactions.
For example, the whole Meredith-James-Oliver (and I guess, Wren) thing. It was very interesting to see this dynamic, but I'm not going to mention too much because no spoilers! However, the first act of this book I will say was a little less interesting, then say, the third act, especially because in the third act we got to see it all come together. I did love the narration thing where Oliver was telling Colbourne what happened, because I found it interesting to see how the whole thing impacted them some 10 years later.
Now, let's talk about the ending. Wow, it was heartbreaking, and it definitely left some things up to interpretation. Because I'm hopeful, I'm going to hope that it ends up being a happy ending for them after all, even if I don't know it. I felt so bad for Wren, though (not for Meredith, I hated her the whole way through. If you read the book, you'll find out why).
So overall, is this book worth reading? Well... I'd say, if you're a Shakespeare-obsessed theater buff, then yes. I'd say this book is more enjoyable if you know stuff about Shakespeare because the entire time they were doing Shakespear plays and quoting his rhetoric, etc. and for me, who knows next to nothing about Shakespeare, it was a little overwhelming and boring at times. However, definitely, even if you don't know Shakespeare, some scenes come through anyway and they are just chilling.
I'd rate this book about a 3 out of 5 for its solid characters, some-what dynamic plot, but excellent incorportation of Shakespeare into a literary piece. If that (and dark academia) is your thing, then go ahead and read it!
⭐⭐⭐
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