M. L. Rio

A Novel

If We Were Villains

Entreated to tell his side of the story to a detective who put him in prison a decade earlier for a murder he may not have committed, Oliver Marks describes his past as a Shakespearean actor in college whose rivalry with a castmate escalated in dangerous ways.

Her words are tiny. Barely audible. “He drowned,” she says. “He drowned himself. God, Oliver, I'm so sorry. I wanted to tell you when it happened, but I was so afraid of what you might do.” I can tell she's no less afraid now. “I’m sorry.”

His voice emerged scratchy and raw from his throat. “Oliver. I don't understand,” he said. “Why?” 

“You know why” I was done pretending otherwise.

He stared up at me for a moment, then lifted his head and pulled me down to meet him. It was almost a brotherly kiss, but not quite. Too fragile, too painful. Soft whispers of surprise and confusion swept through the audience. My heart throbbed, and it hurt so badly that I bit his lip. I felt his breath catch and let him go, lowered him to the floor again. Silence lingered overlong. Whatever Camilo's line was, he had forgotten it, and so I spoke out of turn. “List a brief tale; / And when tis told, O that mny heart would burst”

love the “it was like watching a star explode”

“After you went upstairs with Meredith, something happened to Richard,” he said. “It was like Halloween, but worse. He came crashing out of the Castle in this.. uncontainable rage. You should have seen it. It was like watching a star explode.”

The world reeled as they hoisted me up, and I hoped duly that I'd lose consciousness and never wake up again.

this would resonate so well in the secret history too.

“You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough”

honestly oliver… it’s been a long time coming

He kissed her once more, this time long and lingering My mask was hot and sticky on my face, my stomach twisted insid out and aching like an open wound. I leaned heavily on the balustrade, trèmbling under the weight of parallel truths that I had, until then, been able to ignore: James was in love with Wren, and I was blindly, savagely jealous.

interesting words to use. if you let someone die, did you actually kill them or not? oliver also comments on this distinction that is losing its meaning with time. isn’t the guilt the same anyway? i love how they are torn apart because of guilt and how everything feels raw and make them cautious and eerily suspicious of everything and how the words are too precious and must be use correctly for their consciousness and the tranquility of their soul.

“We did not kill him,” Meredith said, instantly, angrily. I recognized the reflex, guilt kicking out against an allegation too close to the truth. 

“No. Of course not,” Alexander said, and made every word sting.“We just let him die” 

At the time, it had seemed such an important distinction. 

For someone who loved words as much as I did, it was amazing how often they failed me.

There had always been small rivalries between us, but never before such an open display of hostility. With a sin of tea I persuaded myself that we were all simply overreacting. Actors are by nature volatile—alchemic creatures composed of incendiary elements, emotion and ego and envy. Heat them up, stir them together, and sometimes you get gold. Sometimes disaster.

(…) if you haven’t made any enemies in life, you’ve been living too safely. 

Clara Gauthier

But that is how a tragedy like ours or King Lear breaks your heart—by making you believe that the ending might still be happy, until the very last minute.

it’s like I look at you and suddenly the sonnets make sense. The good ones, anyway.

Our sheer capacity for feeling got to be so unwieldy that we staggered under it, like Atlas with the weight of the world.

James looked up, looked right at me. He seemed surprised to see me standing there, though I didn’t know for the life of me why he should be. Was I not always his right-hand man, his lieutenant? Banquo or Benvolio or Oliver—little difference.

My chest ached, but the ache went deeper than muscle and bone, like some sharp thing had ripped a little hole right through me.

“Were you in love with him?” “Yes,”

“Yes, I was.” It’s not the whole truth. The whole truth is, I’m in love with him still.

“I don’t know, it’s like I look at you and suddenly the sonnets make sense. The good ones, anyway.”

How tremendous the agony of unmade decisions.

“Anything can feel like punishment if it’s taught poorly.”

“You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough.”

As my entry to dark academia (late, je sais) this was a feast 

Annabella

i loved the shakespeare atmosphere throughout the book and the main vibe of everything. i would say the lack of depth in some relationships between characters felt amiss in the book. some dynamics were awkward, i dare say for example between richard and wren who are cousins but we see nothing of their relationships so we do not understand some of their reaction towards each other’s. i would have loved more description of every characters and their relation to each others but alas! the book was good nonetheless and i loved the dramatics of all the plays and how mysterious the teachers were being.

Oliver Marks has just served ten years for the murder of one of his closest friends - a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he's released, he's greeted by the detective who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened ten years ago. As a young actor studying Shakespeare at an elite arts conservatory, Oliver noticed that his talented classmates seem to play the same roles onstage and off - villain, hero, tyrant, temptress - though Oliver felt doomed to always be a secondary character in someone else's story. But when the teachers change up the casting, a good-natured rivalry turns ugly, and the plays spill dangerously over into life. When tragedy strikes, one of the seven friends is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.

gay people be doing anything but saying I love you 

Claire Maguet

initially had a hard time getting into the book bc i was so self aware of how pretentious it was but once i could fully get into it i was so into it. 

yet another shakespeare-inspired novel that has left me audibly sobbing when i finished it. i loved it so much. oliver was my perfect narrator, my perfect main character, even more so because he always saw himself as secondary (real!). 

the reality of dellecher was wonderfully separated from the real world in an almost fantastical sense and yet also felt so real and physical. 

also the queerness in this novel is so special to me—it’s not pretty, and it probably isn’t healthy, but what’s a dark academia novel without some unhealthy codependency? 

anyway, i’m so glad i finally got around to reading this book after being recommended it like 3 years ago. 

initially had a hard time getting into the book bc i was so self aware of how pretentious it was but once i could fully get into it i was so into it. 

yet another shakespeare-inspired novel that has left me audibly sobbing when i finished it. i loved it so much. oliver was my perfect narrator, my perfect main character, even more so because he always saw himself as secondary (real!). 

the reality of dellecher was wonderfully separated from the real world in an almost fantastical sense and yet also felt so real and physical. 

also the queerness in this novel is so special to me—it’s not pretty, and it probably isn’t healthy, but what’s a dark academia novel without some unhealthy codependency? 

anyway, i’m so glad i finally got around to reading this book after being recommended it like 3 years ago. 

"For someone who loved words as much as I did, it was amazing how often they failed me."

• we don't need to be reminded how sexy and gorgeous Meredith is. i actually pity her

• the protagonist is nice to everyone but not to his sister who's suffering from ed

• i think half of the book contains lines from Shakespeare's works and it irritates me

"For someone who loved words as much as I did, it was amazing how often they failed me."

my thoughts while reading:

• richard deserves it

• we don't need to be reminded how sexy and gorgeous Meredith is. i actually pity her

• the protagonist is nice to everyone but not to his sister who's suffering from ed

• i think half of the book contains lines from Shakespeare's works and it irritates me

• it was obvious who did it

• i got goosebumps on the last chapter

Ally Perkins

This is one of my favourite books of all time. Is it almost exactly a copy of The Secret History? Yes, sort of, but I enjoyed it about 100 times more. It’s relatively simple, in some cases even predictable, but it really captured me and I’ll always come back to it when I don’t know what to read. What can I say? It’s Shakespeare and gay people, and I’m easily pleased.

Grace Stanger

fiquei devastadoramente miserável e completamente viciado

Pedro Rodarte

khush

a very enjoyable read to savour during the quiet days of autumn! i liked the setting and how the twisted mystery developed till the very end, but it's also not quite the masterpiece i expected from the reviews. the characters felt at times a bit one-dimensional, and the way everybody was quoting shakespeare all the time was a bit annoying (look, i know how unhinged theatre kids can be, but really, making them speak in quotes right after they indirectly killed their classmate...). other than that, i really appreciate the creativity that went into other aspects of the book, like how both structure and writing style are clearly inspired by plays (that exeunt omnes on the very last page made me smile from ear to ear), plus it's not overly heavy and flows very well. it's one of those i could easily reread!

Selle raamatu esteetika ja dark academia vibe oli lihtsalt IMMACULATE. Väga thought daughter raamat, pani mind mõtlema väga sügavate teemade peale. Ülesehitus ja karakterid olid nii hästi läbimõeldud, selle ülesehitus sarnanes väga Shakespearile, kellest raamatus VÄGA palju juttu on. Lõpp pani mind hämmingus lage vaatama (heartbraking). ALSO plot oli AAAMAZING.

“Per aspera, ad astra” (thorugh the horns, to the stars)

“I look at you and suddenly the sonnets make sense, the good ones anyway”

“Do you blame shakespeare for any of it? I blame him for all of it”

Mia Lisandra 

Selle raamatu esteetika ja dark academia vibe oli lihtsalt IMMACULATE. Väga thought daughter raamat, pani mind mõtlema väga sügavate teemade peale. Ülesehitus ja karakterid olid nii hästi läbimõeldud, selle ülesehitus sarnanes väga Shakespearile, kellest raamatus VÄGA palju juttu on. Lõpp pani mind hämmingus lage vaatama (heartbraking). ALSO plot oli AAAMAZING.

Mõned quoted:

“Per aspera, ad astra” (thorugh the horns, to the stars)

“I look at you and suddenly the sonnets make sense, the good ones anyway”

“You can justify anything if you do it poetically enough”

“Do you blame shakespeare for any of it? I blame him for all of it”



rating 4 dulu. ⚠️⚠️⚠️ insya Allah ini spoiler free review (not really a review karena ini bakalan kayak gw yapping experience gw baca buku ini).

first two act, gw sangat suka world buildingnya. ditambah di akhir act selalu ada tension yg bikin gw mau baca part setelahnya!!! awalnya gw pikir bakalan dnf ini buku karena banyak bgt shakespeare references dan gw kagak ngerti apa apa (ditambah bahasanya susah bgt brengsek), tapi lama lama ngerti ngerti aja karena quote yang dipake kadang berhubungan sm apa yg mereka lakuin/obrolin saat itu. TP TETEP AJA YA NAMANYA JG PEMALAS ada kalanya kayak mereka quote shakespeare/reenact shakespear play trs gw baca (obviously not understanding a single shit and wtv was going on) trs kayak YAUDAH gt ok cukup tau aj. tp kalo kayak gt apa YANG GW PAHAM!!! cerita mereka seputar itu, ended up ke chatgpt trs baca rangkuman acts dan tiap scenenya (sedikit membantu walaupun nggak paham sepenuhnya)

lanjut ke act III dmn gw udh mulai bisa adaptasi sm penulisan dan segala shakespeare references tsb. di act III banyak bgt yg terjadi (babak paling panjang jg) tp kagak ada yg resep gt adegannya di gw 😭😭😭 ini jadi babak yg paling membosankan (hufttt). act IV super forgettable (pendek dan flat bgt) dan act V lumayan shocking DAN SGT SEDIH (gak nangis tp tetep SEDIH). 

walaupun sinopsis ini novel nunjukin hint adanya murder mystery (jg yg bikin gw baca ni buku) tp main pointnya bukan itu, malah ini cuma jd kayak latarnya aja. main point di buku ini mostly ttg keadaan karakter-karakter ini setelah kematian salah satu temen deket mereka (bukan spoiler) (ada di sinopsis), their inner conflict and how their friendship (and them) is slowly falling apart. yang gw sayangkan, gw nggak begitu bisa merasakan jalinan persahabatan mereka (BAHASA GW). tp gw apresiasi, ini kayaknya jadi satu satunya buku yg gw baca di tahun ini dmn gw grow fond of the characters (nggak semuanya, tp biasanya di buku buku lain gw ke karakternya YAUDAH AJA) mungkin karena pacenya slow dan ceritanya lebih fokus ke karakter dibandingkan alur. 

i left so many tabs and highlights karena gw kayaknya bakal baca lagi to understand it better. sementara masih gw rating 4 dan mungkin berpontensi jadi 5 kl gw baca lagi dan lebih ngerti banyak, karena jujur baca ini SGT FUN walaupun susah, gw jd banyak belajar jg ttg englit. yah udh gt aja bingung jg gw mau nulis apa lg

hana

rating 4 dulu. ⚠️⚠️⚠️ insya Allah ini spoiler free review (not really a review karena ini bakalan kayak gw yapping experience gw baca buku ini).

first two act, gw sangat suka world buildingnya. ditambah di akhir act selalu ada tension yg bikin gw mau baca part setelahnya!!! awalnya gw pikir bakalan dnf ini buku karena banyak bgt shakespeare references dan gw kagak ngerti apa apa (ditambah bahasanya susah bgt brengsek), tapi lama lama ngerti ngerti aja karena quote yang dipake kadang berhubungan sm apa yg mereka lakuin/obrolin saat itu. TP TETEP AJA YA NAMANYA JG PEMALAS ada kalanya kayak mereka quote shakespeare/reenact shakespear play trs gw baca (obviously not understanding a single shit and wtv was going on) trs kayak YAUDAH gt ok cukup tau aj. tp kalo kayak gt apa YANG GW PAHAM!!! cerita mereka seputar itu, ended up ke chatgpt trs baca rangkuman acts dan tiap scenenya (sedikit membantu walaupun nggak paham sepenuhnya)

lanjut ke act III dmn gw udh mulai bisa adaptasi sm penulisan dan segala shakespeare references tsb. di act III banyak bgt yg terjadi (babak paling panjang jg) tp kagak ada yg resep gt adegannya di gw 😭😭😭 ini jadi babak yg paling membosankan (hufttt). act IV super forgettable (pendek dan flat bgt) dan act V lumayan shocking DAN SGT SEDIH (gak nangis tp tetep SEDIH). 

walaupun sinopsis ini novel nunjukin hint adanya murder mystery (jg yg bikin gw baca ni buku) tp main pointnya bukan itu, malah ini cuma jd kayak latarnya aja. main point di buku ini mostly ttg keadaan karakter-karakter ini setelah kematian salah satu temen deket mereka (bukan spoiler) (ada di sinopsis), their inner conflict and how their friendship (and them) is slowly falling apart. yang gw sayangkan, gw nggak begitu bisa merasakan jalinan persahabatan mereka (BAHASA GW). tp gw apresiasi, ini kayaknya jadi satu satunya buku yg gw baca di tahun ini dmn gw grow fond of the characters (nggak semuanya, tp biasanya di buku buku lain gw ke karakternya YAUDAH AJA) mungkin karena pacenya slow dan ceritanya lebih fokus ke karakter dibandingkan alur. 

i left so many tabs and highlights karena gw kayaknya bakal baca lagi to understand it better. sementara masih gw rating 4 dan mungkin berpontensi jadi 5 kl gw baca lagi dan lebih ngerti banyak, karena jujur baca ini SGT FUN walaupun susah, gw jd banyak belajar jg ttg englit. yah udh gt aja bingung jg gw mau nulis apa lg

Welcome to October and Welcome to the month of trying to read the books that fit the season a little better than the summer romance and what a book to kick start October then with a book that pulled me in and kept me guessing throughout! This is a book that has bene on my TBR for several years and I always get close to picking this one up but never got there but I finally decided that 2024 was the year to do it. 

A small elite school, a theatre program that is only about Shakespeare, seven friends, seniors, together from the beginning, strong, intense friendships formed. Oliver, our narrator, one of the seven, just released from spending tempers in prison. How did something so special, so promising, go so wrong?

Despite not being the biggest fan of Shakespeare as I always struggle with the language it was lovely to enjoy this one alongside the Shakespeare and truly this is a novel about love, obsession, friendship passion and betrayal. This group of people becomes more important to each other than their real families, than the real world. Shakespeare takes over their lives, the plays they perform, always having to be on, the intense study, rehearsals, they even speak to each other in Shakespearean quotes.

The Author does an awesome job at weaving al the quote into the book and often provided clues and foreshadowing into what has happened and I despite not getting each of the clues I was still able to enjoy the book and just get lost in this Dark Academia book.

Ian Brakspear

Welcome to October and Welcome to the month of trying to read the books that fit the season a little better than the summer romance and what a book to kick start October then with a book that pulled me in and kept me guessing throughout! This is a book that has bene on my TBR for several years and I always get close to picking this one up but never got there but I finally decided that 2024 was the year to do it. 

A small elite school, a theatre program that is only about Shakespeare, seven friends, seniors, together from the beginning, strong, intense friendships formed. Oliver, our narrator, one of the seven, just released from spending tempers in prison. How did something so special, so promising, go so wrong?

Despite not being the biggest fan of Shakespeare as I always struggle with the language it was lovely to enjoy this one alongside the Shakespeare and truly this is a novel about love, obsession, friendship passion and betrayal. This group of people becomes more important to each other than their real families, than the real world. Shakespeare takes over their lives, the plays they perform, always having to be on, the intense study, rehearsals, they even speak to each other in Shakespearean quotes.

 

The Author does an awesome job at weaving al the quote into the book and often provided clues and foreshadowing into what has happened and I despite not getting each of the clues I was still able to enjoy the book and just get lost in this Dark Academia book.

River 

I just felt so empty as Oliver as he found out about James "passing", after finishing If We Were Villains. 

The characters were so well written and i just fell in love with every single one of them. (Tho James my boy owned my heart the most xD) 

Nate Mason

I just felt so empty as Oliver as he found out about James "passing", after finishing If We Were Villains. 

The characters were so well written and i just fell in love with every single one of them. (Tho James my boy owned my heart the most xD) 

These mad, mad method actors. Thoroughly enjoyed this one,

Note to self: you found Alexander and James basically interchangeable until maybe the 300-pagd mark.

These mad, mad method actors. Thoroughly enjoyed this one,

Note to self: you found Alexander and James basically interchangeable until maybe the 300-pagd mark.

 

** spoiler alert **
           *enter the players

As a stage manager in my school i fell in love on how the character narrates the story and the use of "scenes" as a chapter of the book. 

As I was reading it, i knew that each characters has their own dark secrets. I was building my own theory, who is the killer among the 6 characters. I was getting scared as the story goes. Since Richard died, the 4th years ecperienced a lot of things, you can really sense their secrets and that they're scared that somebody may find out. And my theory was right that James killed Richard that night but I was shocked that Filippa knew what happened. 

Love, lies and regrets. The ending is so heart breaking, that i felt sorry and sad for Oliver... it's a tragic story 33

*exeunt omnes

I have not had a book keep me on the edge of my seat in an anxious, yet desperate to know what happens next, way ever before. The way the narrative grips you from moment one of introductions to the ensemble cast, to you slowly discovering something deeply personal to the perspective character along side him, is so uniquely genius. I will immediately devour any thing else this author publishes in the future. LOVED IT

Ghofran Mustafa 

I always expect more and end up being disappointed..

prawnie

I don’t think they were awards to even justify how I feel about this book. A masterpiece.

On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the thruth, and after ten years, Olver is finally ready to tell it. 
A decade ago: Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extra.
But in their fourth and final year, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students' world of make-believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convince the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent.

Andrea Morales

okay it's been a few days here are my thoughts (spoilers ahead though they're kinda vague)

as a 'the secret history' stan, I was very excited to read this book since I'd heard it's similar to donna tartt's novel and had amazing reviews.
but, sadly, as doja cat infamously proclaimed: 
"it was supposed to give, but it did not give what needed to be gave to the highest of giving."

maybe it was a mistake to compare it to tsh, maybe it's just not as good. 
i did like some of the characters (shout out to Wren and James), but the rest of the cast (including them, to some extent) felt stereotypical and shallow, they really were just as deep as an archetype can be. 
the constant shakespeare quoting was fun at first but got old real quick, and unless you have an extensive knowledge of shakespearean plays and texts, you'll miss quite a lot of stuff that could make the book interesting. 

also SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD but if the endgame relationship was going to be James and Oliver, I think they did Meredith specially dirty since they didn't really give her any substantial development beyond being someone's romantic interest. also the CONSTANT remarks of her body made me super uncomfortable, poor girl. 
the biggest thing that really put me off was the lack of regret or real consequences after the murder. yes, they did spiral into some kind of chaos in the aftermath, but the lack of remorse made the whole murder feel pointless?? like yes they died and that was it, no one felt particularly bad about killing them and it really annoyed me.

I do want to talk about what I did enjoy, the scenes where they were acting on stage were some of the best moments in the book (the romeo and juliet scene... if yk yk). some of the interactions between the main characters were really heart warming, and the 'two best friends in a room they might kiss' between J and O was chef's kiss. 

in a nutshell, this book is like the less cooler and slighly annoying younger sibling of 'the secret history', and though it had some truly great moments, I'd have to read it again and see if I like it better after I become a shakespeare stan.

This one is for us, pretentious girls, I'm so serious.

follows the story of seven Shakespearean fanatics. You can't blame me for calling them fanatics! They lived Shakespeare, they breathed Shakespeare. And they preferred each other's company over the world. Well, at least, in the beginning.

I hate this book actually. This book tore me apart and I suffered through the entirety. Truly a page turner. The plot was immaculate, the writing wonderful and the characters so deeply flawed you know they're going down and taking you along themselves. Sometimes, it feels like you're not just a reader but the eighth person in the group and if that's not truly one of the best reading experiences, then I don't know what it is.

“You can take the boy out of the theatre, or something like that.”

Oliver's entire life turns into one of those Shakespearean plays, a tragedy and I can't forgive the author for it. From the beginning, he's got this feeling that he's not as talented as the rest of his friends and lo and behold, he's the one who actually breathed Shakespearean.

One of the things that I did dislike were the casual misogyny. The objectification and treatment of Meredith were a sore point in my eyes, something that I did not like at all. But in some regards, it's slightly more passable than 

where the female characters barely served any importance, aside from being a plot object, of course.

now that I've read both the books, I can assure you they're not. While one book obsesses over Greek, the other prefers Shakespeare. Surely, there are obsessed students in both 

WHAT WAS THE ENDING? What do you mean James is dead? This is just cruel. Imagine spending ten years in a prison, just waiting for the person you love and boom, you find out that he had drowned himself. I HATE IT SO MUCH. Also, you've to love Filippa so much. She cared so much about everyone 

 Also, I can't be the only one who finds Richard's possessiveness over his cousin, Wren, weird? I mean, let the girl breathe? That was so off putting

sani

This one is for us, pretentious girls, I'm so serious.

"For someone who loved words as much as I did, it was amazing how often they failed me."

If We Were Villains follows the story of seven Shakespearean fanatics. You can't blame me for calling them fanatics! They lived Shakespeare, they breathed Shakespeare. And they preferred each other's company over the world. Well, at least, in the beginning.

I hate this book actually. This book tore me apart and I suffered through the entirety. Truly a page turner. The plot was immaculate, the writing wonderful and the characters so deeply flawed you know they're going down and taking you along themselves. Sometimes, it feels like you're not just a reader but the eighth person in the group and if that's not truly one of the best reading experiences, then I don't know what it is.

“You can take the boy out of the theatre, or something like that.”

Oliver's entire life turns into one of those Shakespearean plays, a tragedy and I can't forgive the author for it. From the beginning, he's got this feeling that he's not as talented as the rest of his friends and lo and behold, he's the one who actually breathed Shakespearean.

One of the things that I did dislike were the casual misogyny. The objectification and treatment of Meredith were a sore point in my eyes, something that I did not like at all. But in some regards, it's slightly more passable than The Secret History where the female characters barely served any importance, aside from being a plot object, of course.

Having seen so many discourses on how If We Were Villains is just a duplicated copy of The Secret History, now that I've read both the books, I can assure you they're not. While one book obsesses over Greek, the other prefers Shakespeare. Surely, there are obsessed students in both and a murder but that's where it ends.

SPOILER‼️

WHAT WAS THE ENDING? What do you mean James is dead? This is just cruel. Imagine spending ten years in a prison, just waiting for the person you love and boom, you find out that he had drowned himself. I HATE IT SO MUCH. Also, you've to love Filippa so much. She cared so much about everyone sobs Also, I can't be the only one who finds Richard's possessiveness over his cousin, Wren, weird? I mean, let the girl breathe? That was so off putting

If We Were Villains A Novel

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