Reviews

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and woman merely players.” 

M.L. Rio’s debut novel If We Were Villains really takes those words to heart. As a Shakespearean scholar herself, it’s not shocking that the world she weaves is entirely Shakespeare centric. Hopping between the present and past, Rio weaves an elegant mystery that will leave you wondering what is true and what is just good acting.  

If We Were Villains is a story of friendship, love, loss and betrayal. Fans of Shakespeare will not be disappointed in how thoroughly the bard’s work is woven into the plot. Anyone scarred by their high school English paper on Romeo & Juliet, you’ve been warned. 

Ten years ago there was a murder at a small but elite arts college in Illinois.  

Oliver, one of only seven students to have made it to their senior year, makes his way back to campus and what he considers his true home. Having successfully navigated the brutal culling of students, the remaining seven theatre majors are unsurprisingly a tightknit group. Having spent the past 3 years perfecting their Shakespearean delivery, all seven know their prescribed roles (whether they are happy about them is another story): 

As the year goes on and the instructors switch up the roles, things begin to fall apart. 

Ten years later, Oliver, who has just been released from prison, is finally ready to tell the lead investigator, who never really believed he got the full story, what really happened.  

The ending will break your heart while simultaneously giving you hope for Oliver’s future. 

A princess/almost nun, a witch, a fairy godmother, a dog made of bones, and an ex-knight walk into a boarding house... 

Typical of T. Kingfisher novels, Nettle & Bone is a darker Grimm fantasy. Nevertheless, Kingfisher weaves a magical story that will have you falling in love with and rooting for the underdogs. The banter between characters, and worldbuilding make this story one to remember. 

Coming in at just 245 pages, Nettle & Bone is a considerably smaller time commitment than your average fantasy tome. But don’t be fooled, this novel packs a punch and delivers plenty of visual fuel.  

Nettle & Bone follows Marra, the youngest of three princesses from the Harbor Kingdom who has spent half of her life embroidering and delivering babies at an Abbey far from home. Caught between two feuding and powerful kingdoms, the Queen marries her oldest daughter Damia off to the Northern Kingdom’s prince. When Damia suddenly dies, Marra’s middle sister Kania takes her place. It becomes clear to Marra that not all ever-afters are happy in the Northern Kingdom. Married to an abusive and paranoid man, Kania is trapped in a game of politics that Marra will inherit should Kania befall the same fate as Damia. 

Embarking on a quest to save her sister, Marra enlists the help of a dust-wife who agrees to help only if Marra can complete three impossible tasks: 

• Build a dog from bones 

• Weave a cloak of nettles 

• Capture moonlight in a jar of clay 

Surprising herself and annoying the witch, (“No. Child, you give someone an impossible task so that they won’t be able to do it.”) Marra completes all three. Now they just need to get there in time, figure out how to kill a prince protected by a powerful godmother, and make it out alive. Easy enough. 

Along the way, Marra is joined by a troop of outcasts and learns that everyone has their demons, even chickens, and especially puppets. That, perhaps, she is capable of a great deal more than she gives herself credit for.