If We Were Villains: The Sensational TikTok Book Club pick: M.L. Rio Paperback – 13 Jun. 2017

I loved this book - I was already a fan of dark academia (probably because I went to a dusty, wooden-panelled boarding school where I studied pretentious things like Latin so I feel at home in the creaky, slightly oppressive, candlelit setting), and then when you add in Shakespeare and a love of acting/theatre, well it just felt like a personalised cocktail of a tale.I thought M.L. Rio did a great job of grounding the text in Shakespeare without making it repetitive or alienating - the quotations were well-selected and helped give the reader an insight into what the characters were thinking, but also they served to keep us just at arm's length so we didn't fully get to know them, which I think added to the suspense of the mystery.The setting of Dellecher was excellent, and like in so many of the great Shakespearean plays, became a living, breathing character of its own - also doing its part to contain the secrets of the students.M.L. Rio must have intimate knowledge or experience of drama school and/or working with actors because the relationships and behaviours are so accurate - the inseparability they demonstrate, even when they've spent 24/7 with each other and are in the midst of a fearsome quarrel. The self-doubt masquerading as confidence, arrogance, ambivalence, when in actuality they're all terrified they're not good enough. The base instinct need for acceptance from their peers, to feel part of a troop - I think this has something to do with having to be so emotionally vulnerable and open onstage in order to act well that you seek acceptance and reassurance from those who were witness to that vulnerability. Honestly the list could go on, but the relationships felt incredibly vibrant, and real, and accurate to that experience as an actor.I loved the imagery and descriptions of the weather, the grounds, everything that helped establish the setting. Such a huge part of dark academia is the aesthetic and the atmosphere and if you can't vividly conjure the setting in the reader's mind, you've already lost their attention.Ugh if you can't tell I just loved it, definitely a fave of this year.

Firstly, I've you've read them both, it's near-impossible to review this book without mentioning its similarities to the Secret History, just with Shakespeare obsessives instead of Classics buffs. The elite school, the murder, the strange cliche, the intense friendships and rivalries and passions...I'll say no more about that in the review, good or bad, but it really is inescapable.Putting that aside and taking the book on its own merits, it's generally a compelling read. The plot is ultimately fairly thin, but it's the sense of place, the characters, and the atmosphere that keep you turning the pages. I particularly liked the elite college with its weird rituals and traditions - it felt as fleshed out and magical as Hogwarts and despite some of the unpleasantness, left me with quite the desire to attend.The characters were basically deliberate archetypes - hero, villain, seductress etc - which was quite a fun idea but rather laboured. The first few chapters spent far too much time spelling out every key character's background and personality rather than letting it come out naturally. The main character and narrator is generally cast as a supporting character, and feels like that's also the role he plays in college life. It was an interesting route to go down and I'm in two minds about whether it helped to make him relatable or whether one of the more flamboyant characters might have made a more compelling lead.I loved the way Shakespeare was woven into the plot, from the way characters behave and the plot plays out, to the way the characters always quote - or sometimes misquote - the bard, and above all, to the way the intensity of performing certain scenes was portrayed. Reading about the characters' experiences of performing and living these scenes bought the plays to life for me more than any theatrical performance I can remember.There's a bit of a dual narrative, with the book starting ten years after most of the action, with the main character newly released from prison for some sort of crime he did or didn't commit while at the college. Most of the proper story is what he's recounting to a now-retired policeman who originally investigated the case. I usually love flashbacks and other non-linear narratives, but I think this would have been best told in straight chronological order. From the present day scenes, it wasn't hard to work out what had happened in the past way before it was shown in the narrative, which killed some of the tension, and it didn't really add any particular twists or revelations.Overall, while this was far from perfect, I'd definitely recommend it.

Highly enjoyed it. Arrived in good condition as well.

If We Were Villains is often recommended to those who enjoyed The Secret History and it's easy to see why. Both take place at prestigious schools with a groups of characters who are enamoured with the arts. Perhaps the most obvious point of comparison is that both schools are rocked by the death of one their own. So the mystery unfolds.One thing that's unique to If We Were Villains is the constant use of Shakespeare's prose. I am a fan of the Bard but I must say that I found the insertion of his words to be clunky and unnecessary at times. Interestingly the writer does acknowledge in the notes at the end that this may seem 'pretentious' and I do wonder why in knowing this they proceeded so relentlessly to shoehorn in as much Shakespeare as possible.For me, the overload of Shakespeare became jarring and left me wondering how The Secret History could have ever been used as a yardstick to this novel. Now don't get me wrong, this is a brave first novel, but the author has a long way to go before they can be juxtaposed with such literary greats.