Rating: 82% | B- | ★★★★☆
Warnings: + Violence Synopsis (from Goodreads): Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail - for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he's released, he's greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago. As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless. Spoiler-Free Review: A note to my freshman self: it's a good thing you took that intro-level Shakespeare course. In fact, I have a vivid memory of opening my scratchy red Norton Anthology to the syllabus's last play, King Lear, and being excited when reading Edmund's speech: "[W]e make guilty of our / disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as / if we were villains by necessity; fools by / heavenly compulsion." Still, there were more than a few Shakespearean references that escaped meg when reading M.L. Rio's novel—for the better. Rio's encyclopedic knowledge of Shakespeare is what allows Dellecher and its students to come to life, engrossed in the whirling emotions of their material and their own drama. By far the most impressive quality of If We Were Villains is the setting—Dellecher is a dark fantasy that does not feel overly wrought or fictional. It could easily stand as a conservatory somewhere in the world, attracting young thespians. However, there is a noticeable lacuna between the sense of eeriness that Rio aspires to and the behavior of the main cast. Oliver, Richard, James, Meredith, Alexander, Wren, and Filippa are too muted, too real—not the misfits Oliver believes them to be—to be united with their backdrop. As the story progresses, the plot also takes on this muted quality, as if Rio is uneasy with exploring darker and gorier themes. As a work of what TikTok has dubbed "dark academia," If We Were Villains falls short. The scaffolding is there, but the execution could be even more heavy-handed. I found myself speeding through the book, patiently waiting for the climax, only to be met with a stubbornly consistent chain of events. Still, If We Were Villains is a solid read, perfect for a rainy afternoon or for visiting a drafty castle full of secrets. (Click "Read More" for spoilers.)
Plot (23/30)
Beginning (8/10), Middle (8/10), and End (7/10) Being able to delve into the depths of Dellecher is exhilarating. I have always loved and admired campus novels; If We Were Villains is no different. And after decades of Shakespeare being lambasted as the worst part of high school English, it's refreshing to see him returned to darker, more primal roots. It's seductive—the idea that there exists a place where talented young people don't have to study math or science or distributional requirements and instead dedicate themselves to a single craft. (I really ought to fulfill my physical education requirement before it's too late.) It was just us--the seven of us and the tree and the sky and the lake and the moon and, of course, Shakespeare. He lived with us like an eighth housemate, an older, wiser friend, perpetually out of sight but never out of mind, as if he had just left the room.
The story stumbles after Richard's demise. The dark ambiance loses its appeal as the players cover up his death—without much fear. Only Oliver seems to feel the pressure of hiding evidence; the rest of the cast is nonchalant, even Meredith. The second and third acts fall into an unsteady, more typical college saga as Oliver travels home and new romances start among the players. Richard's shadow hangs over them intermittently, and not long or threateningly enough to infuse the story with urgency. And, at the end, it's doubtful that the police would have ever been able to pursue the case to its end without James confessing his guilt.
What is disappointing about If We Were Villains is Rio's refusal to dig into the darker themes typically associated with dark academia novels. The novel attempts to tell the story of actors who lose themselves in their roles, but apart from Richard, no one truly abandons civilization. Even James never fully becomes a villain, despite his role as Edmund. And the students of Dellecher operate very much within the limits of the real world—cooperating with police, for instance—shattering the illusion of a school that exists outside the boundaries of mundane quotidian life. There is the recognition of higher powers that seems to prevent the students—and the story—from attaining its ideal status as a psychological thriller.
Characters (26/30)
Development (14/15) and Allure (12/15) Rio's intentional typecasting of the characters into roles such as "the ingénue" and "the hero" allows her to quickly define them, without too much time dedicated to exposition. The first chapter at Dellecher, in which all six players are running lines, further cements these labels and suggests the opportunity for subversion. But there are moments when Rio errs on the side of too typecast. The characters become too predictable, especially Meredith, who resents her reputation as a flirt yet cannot or does not do anything about it. No character outgrows their label, frustrating efforts to reflect on how they have developed—or how they have not. He smiled crazily at me and echoed, "Where is the villain, Edmund? A pause, for punctuation, yes? But not the playwright's—commas belong to the compositors."
Writing (15/20)
Descriptions (7/10) and Flow (8/10) Any novel that wrangles dual timelines must find a way to minimize how flashforwards and flashbacks interfere with pacing. Though Oliver's interactions with Colborne occasionally disrupt the main action at Dellecher, ten years in the past, they are sufficiently short enough to add to the story rather than detract from it. In fact, in paralleling the reader's progress with Colborne's realization of events, Rio adds a great deal of suspense to the story. And the organization of the novel into acts and scenes immerses the reader even more. I find myself wondering if Rio remains true to the Shakespearean five-act play structure—if the story actually climaxes after Richard's death rather than at the very end. We don't talk about James again. I know that whatever else happens, we never will.
Closure/Set-Up (18/20)
Logic (8/10) and Closure (10/10) Of everything I've written so far, I think by far the most controversial opinion will be this: I'm not sure about the ending. Just as Oliver finds his equilibrium again—with Meredith, whom the reader can't help sympathizing with—James's letter introduces a completely new mystery. A hint at a sequel? No, according to Rio herself. Reading If We Were Villains was like waiting for a sneeze for 350 pages. And the ending is the culmination of that—dipping your face in a huge vat of peppercorn, waiting to let it all out but nothing happening. Despite this, I'm excited for Rio's future ventures; this is a pleasant debut, despite its flaws.
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