If We Were Villains Site

4.5/5 stars. For fans of dark academia, Shakespearean tragedy, and morally complex characters.

We are thrust back ten years to the closed world of the Dellecher Classical Conservatory. This is not a modern university. There are no cell phones, no laptops, no distractions. There is only Shakespeare, the lake, and the stone walls of the theater. Fourteen years later, Rio’s setting remains one of the most vivid in fiction: a place where the trees are "old enough to remember when the world was young" and the air smells of "rain and rotting leaves." If We Were Villains

The story opens with Oliver Marks being released from prison after a decade. He’s served time for a murder he may or may not have committed. In exchange for his freedom, he finally tells the truth to the one detective who never believed he was guilty. The narrative then flashes back to Oliver’s final year at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a secluded, intense drama school where fourth-year students live and breathe Shakespeare. When a rivalry among seven close-knit actors turns deadly, the line between performance and reality blurs until it shatters. This is not a modern university