If We Were Villains
M. L. Rio's If We Were Villains is a dark academia mystery set at a small, intensely competitive Shakespeare conservatory in rural Illinois, framed as the confession of Oliver Marks ten years after the events that sent him to prison. As fourth year students, Oliver and his six classmates have been cast in the same plays so often that their roles have begun to overwrite their identities, with the brooding lead, the villain, the ingenue, the comic, and the tyrant slipping between the stage and their dorm. When their group's hierarchy is disrupted by an unexpected fall casting and an act of off stage violence, one of them dies, and the survivors collude in a story about what happened that none of them quite believes. Rio writes the novel in long quotations from Shakespeare and Renaissance verse, treating the canon as both the language her characters reach for and the weapon they cannot escape. The result is a quietly devastating literary mystery in the tradition of The Secret History.
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Seven Shakespeare students at an isolated American conservatory cast each other in roles offstage as well as on. By the end of their final year, one of them is dead, and another is in prison for it.
If We Were Villains uses extensive Shakespearean quotations integrated into modern dialogue. Readers familiar with Shakespeare get more out of the book, but a working knowledge of Macbeth, King Lear, and Julius Caesar is enough. Most readers find it engaging despite the literary density.
Yes. If We Were Villains is widely cited alongside The Secret History as a defining dark academia novel. Both feature small groups of literature students whose academic intensity tips into morally compromising territory.
If We Were Villains was written by M.L. Rio, published in 2017 by Titan Books Limited.
If We Were Villains is 368 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, If We Were Villains takes most readers 6 to 8 hours to finish.
If We Were Villains is a standalone novel by M.L. Rio, not part of a series.
If We Were Villains is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
