Amazing! Especially for Shakespeare fans!

I loved this! Fans of ‘The Secret History’ I imagine will love this too. Such interesting characters, full of twists and turns right up to the last minute. So good!!!

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just perfection

I loved this book when I first read it but if anything I've loved listening to it more, this audiobook is so well read that it makes the story and characters come to life and the sections with a lot of Shakespeare lines which I found quite hard to understand and get meaning from in the book work so much better when you listen to it.
the story itself is so well put together it's something you just can't help but fall in love with.
I could never reccomend this book enough.

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Lovely

great book and narration, emersive and easy to understand, finished in two days please read

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great for fans of Shakespeare and dark academia

loved the story and how morally grey each character was, unexpectedly could relate to all of them. the end made me surprisingly emotional. the only bit that frustrated me was the narrator's voice for Wren was so squeaky and comedic when it wasn't supposed to be

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the plot twist and the relationships of all the main characters

I think the plot twist and the relationships of all the main characters was wonderfully written

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If it be not now yet it will come.

Ten years ago, Oliver had been one of a group, both male and female, of seven aspiring actors, the only survivors in their chosen genre to obtain the fourth year of a rigourous ànd prestigious arts college. They lived, worked and played together, grew close, knowing each other's foibles, strengths and weaknesses. Apparently a tightly knit band of friends, internally there were, nevertheless, growing rifts of tensions, love, fear and jealousies.
The intervening ten years, Oliver had spent in prison.

A beautifully crafted book, If We Were Villains takes the reader inside the almost isolationist group, seeing their last year together from Oliver's point of view, introducing and giving life to each of the other six companions as well as a few other members of the college faculty, and delightfully engages in a few of the productions - Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar and, finally, King Lear - in which the group took centre stage. Shakespearian quotations are frequently used by the students in conversational repartee.

Continuing the theatrical theme, the book is divided into five acts, each of which is subdivided into scenes, written in the first person, as Oliver relates to a just retired police detective the events that had occurred in the period ten years ago which led to his imprisonment. And each act begins with a single prologue set in present day, the situation as it now exists. This device works well and makes understanding easy. The whole story works well, simple to follow, as well as helping to build tension. And the story itself is a good one although flattening out somewhat towards the end.

Narrator Robert Petkoff had a formidable task: not only to read clearly, with understanding of the text, but also to portray the individual protagonists both in conversation and as actors performing in the Shakespearean plays, a double identity conundrum. And he succeeds admirably, each being distinct and recognisable - a remarkable achievement and one which greatly enhanced the experience of the book.

If We Were Villains has been likened to Donna Tart's Secret History, and there is a similarity of feeling, but they are very different. M.L.Rio's book is less of a mystery but still a complex interaction of a close 'family' of strangers, at the beginning of their adult lives and each with their future hopes and expectations, brought together by their love of Shakespeare.
An easy and absorbing read. A book to savour and enjoy.
Recommended.

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4 people found this helpful

Quite an interesting read

this is more of a meander than a page turner, the narration is good but the plot is thin and there aren't any surprises. I like a bit of Shakespeare and a bit of amdram but still found the world in which they all lived a bit too overly emotional, that said it's not a bad read if you don't expect anything more to unfold than is presented in the first 50 pages.

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Too similar to “The Secret History” to read both

Although the premise is interesting, the story is way too dragged out and overly dramatic

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This is a beautiful story you must read!

I don't know what can I say to convince you to read it or listen to it! It took my breath away and kept me guessing until the last moment. I purchased the audio version of the book and gosh it was the right thing to do. The passion, intonation and overall delivery of the person reading make this book so much better. One of my favourites for sure ♥️

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Not as good as it thinks it is

The Shakespeare was wonderful. The story was thin and I found that I didn’t care about any of the characters. The narration was good other than dodgy English accents. Not a patch on Donna Tartt.

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