BOOK REVIEW: ‘If We Were Villains’ by M. L. Rio
It feels like half a lifetime ago that we featured ‘If We Were Villains’ by M. L. Rio on the The Dark Academicals (a podcast that explores the mythos of Dark Academia, one book at a time), and if you missed it you can check out the episode right here:
The aim of the podcast is to discern whether a particular book, often described as “Dark Academia” or featured on Dark Academia lists, can actually be shelved as such. Whether or not we decided ‘If We We Villains’ was Dark Academia or not you’ll have to listen to the podcast and find out!
But what I can give you is my overall thoughts on the book itself, looking at it as a general reader rather than through a Dark Academia lens.
Long story short: I really enjoyed it.
Anything that features Shakespeare in such a cerebral and heavily integrated way is going to pique my interest. And ‘Villains’ does this with great aplomb.
We actually started making a list of all the plays featured within the book, and we both gave up because it’s essentially all of them. It does lean on certain texts more than others, primarily Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth.
The story itself is easy to sink into, and I read this in next to no time (maybe two or three sittings?) which immediately tells me how readable and engrossing the writing is.
I think where this book trips itself up is in trying to do too much. It’s almost too clever for its own good. There are a lot of layers at work. You’ll see characters, speaking through a character from a Shakespeare play, and then you need to be able to interpret the meaning of the chosen lines and how that applies to the situation at hand. I think at times this is too much for the reader to pick apart and so maybe some of the overall meaning is lost.
There are some increibly impactful and memorable scenes. In particular the part where they act out some of the scenes from Macbeth on the shores of the lake. Stunning. And near the end, again on stage, where we see everything come to a head between two of the characters. It’s very satisfying to read.
There are, however, some missed opportunities, namely the queer romance between the characters of Oliver (the protagonist) and James. I think this is almost shoehorned in rather than it being explored to its full potential. Also, as we detail in the podcast, there are some interesting choices when it comes to the representation of queer characters, and women.
Overall, if you enjoyed ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt you’ll probably enjoy this. If you didn’t enjoy ‘The Secret History’ then you’ll find ‘If We Were Villains’ much more accessible and will probably enjoy it. It’s a romp of a thriller, with an academic Shakespearean slant that fans of the bard will appreciate.
It’s a solid read. I would recommend it.
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Written by Sarah
