If We Were Villains

“Actors are by nature volatile—alchemic creatures composed of incendiary elements, emotion and ego and envy. Heat them up, stir them together, and sometimes you get gold. Sometimes disaster.” 

 

Summary
After ten years in jail Oliver Marks finally leaves his prison cell. Waiting for him is the same person who put him there, detective Colborne. He wants to know what happened. He wants to know the real story. And Oliver finally wants to tell it.

Writing
The prose in this book is pure art. It’s flowery, lyrical and eloquent. I tend to not enjoy books that are this… grandiloquent, but I still have to give kudos to the author. I know beautiful writing style when I see it. And truth be told, it suits the story very, very well.

Characters
This book introduces a set of 7 characters that are important to this story. But they were all so bland that I really struggled to differentiate between them.

But honestly, I wasn’t really bothered by that. What pissed me off what the fact that those people have a really annoying habit of breaking into lines from Shakespeare in the middle of a normal conversation. Who does that?  It’s just a group of pompous assholes pretending that they are more than they are. Which is actors in a school play.

Plot
I went into this book thinking it’s a mystery novel. It’s not. It’s a book about struggles of adolescent actors Shakespearing their way through life. The mystery aspect takes a definitive backseat. Plus, it’s predictable. REALLY predictable.

Overall
So, first of all. I know that this book is beloved by many and I just shat all over it. But that is a book review written by a person who doesn’t like Shakespeare at all.
And if you want to ask me why did I chose to read a book that revolves around Shakespeare’s plays, the answer is – I just didn’t know! I didn’t know! I simply thought I am starting just another mystery novel.

So, for all of the Shakespearian fans out there – you are going to love this one! Well… probably.
But if you are more like me – please don’t bother.

You can find this book on Goodreads and Book Depository