The ending was something you would see coming, but wouldn't see coming.The last line..GUYS the last line..i have no words Oliver - Our main protagonist, who is nice, and who is sweet, and who just wants to keep the peace between his group of friends. Also, Oliver is totally pansexual and no one can change my mind on this. this is the secret history for dummies with annoying theater majors and you can't convince me otherwise. if we were villains is a masterpiece crafted from the worst and deepest of our human afflictions. slowly watching each character spiral downward due to their own desire, secrets, heartache, and passion was so painful. it was also beautiful, in a devastating way. Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.

Oliver’s best friend and roommate. James is the most handsome and studious of the fourth-year acting students. He is often cast as the hero but wants more diverse acting roles. Hounded by Richard, James becomes increasingly distraught as the novel progresses. James is sometimes portrayed as jealous of Meredith and Oliver’s relationship. Meredith – New theatre department director of Dellecher Classical Conservatory. She is a talented director who has a strained relationship with Oliver and the other students. A collective decision to kill changes the way the marauders see each other as the guilt of their decisions catch up to them Language: English Words: 10,237 Chapters: 4/22 Comments: 2 Kudos: 5 Bookmarks: 2 Hits: 237 Chekhov's Gag: When Richard is complaining about how much work he had to do last year while cast in two plays, Filippa tells him not to worry because he's cast as Caesar this year and he dies in Act 3, so he's not got as many lines to learn. The book is structured like a play, and split into acts. Again, draw your own conclusions. The most loyal of the fourth-year students.Filippa is grounded and clear-headed and is often the peacekeeper in the group. Filippa becomes romantically involved with Camilo after she graduates from Dellecher.This book is a mystery-crime story and it debuts in the life of seven theatre students after one of them dies (quite tragically). Boarding School: Dellecher conservatory is a boarding school in the middle of nowhere, and the 4th year drama students live in a castle. Scholarship Student: Oliver pays his final semester tuition through loans, scholarship money, and work-study. I especially loved Rio’s take on the temptress trope – the woman who’s there to be beautiful and soak into the attention of men – I thought Meredith was so much more than that, her constant insecurities and hidden desires making her a complex character that was fascinating to read about. There was also Oliver, the main protagonist , the one who rather highlights the strengths of his counterparts instead of showing off himself and that becomes visible off stage as well. We constantly see the others through Oliver’s eyes and somehow, he always succeeds in bringing out those hidden parts, the ones that don’t necessarily play into the archetypes they’re supposed to fit into. He’s also the one that introduces us to the story as a confession to the one who brought him to justice years ago on the charge of murder. He asks for immunity to the ones involved, making it obvious from the very beginning that nothing is as it seems.

For us, everything was a performance.” A small, private smile catches me off guard and I glance down, hoping he won’t see it. “Everything poetic.” Who Murdered the Asshole: As the investigation goes on, the main investigator is more and more suspicious that most characters resented Richard before his death and had a reason to kill him. considering this perfect storm of elements, it’s not surprising when life and art get blurred and one of them ends up dead. but is it the result of an accident or murrrrrderrrr? the events of that night are murky, but our verbiage-spouting narrator oliver marks confessed to the murder and has spent the past ten years in jail. his release coincides with the retirement of detective colborne, the lead investigator in the case, and oliver is ready to tell colborne exactly what happened that night. his way.Overall, I thought this was fantastic, and I highly recommend it. Murder mystery mixed in with the drama of the theatre and the passion of Shakespeare. What's not to love? M.L Rio’s plume is without contest deadly addictive. While reading and trying to dissect every complex character encountered during the course of this insane retelling, we keep swaying between hate and love, frustration and compassion. We question the gravity of their actions and the sanity of their thoughts. However, we don’t quite lose hope or faith on their souls. The obnubilating —unanswered— questions that were creeping like a sword of Damocles over the heads of our 7 talented characters; kept the story enticing and the obsession to satisfy the "unknown" alive. Who was the culprit? What was the triggering event that derived the trajectory of their promising futures into a grayer one, painting them as criminals, liars and void bodies? Following Thanksgiving, everyone begins working on scenes for Romeo & Juliet for the yearly Christmas masque. James plays Romeo, while Oliver plays the hero’s companion Benvolio. James’s behaviour becomes more highly secretive. Tormented by his guilt, he frequently vanishes from the castle for extended periods of time. Oliver & Meredith start dating, much to the dismay of their classmates from previous years. Asshole Victim: Richard becomes truly despicable and gets into conflicts with most characters before he's killed.

set after oliver got imprisoned, maybe not totally time-accurate but you can justify anything if you do it poetically enough right?? (yeah this gc isn't poetic tho) Language: English Words: 794 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 3 Kudos: 27 Bookmarks: 6 Hits: 426 There was much more of a mystery aspect than I was expecting. I would not go so far as to call it a thriller, but there was a definite eerie, who-done-it vibe. I was thoroughly invested in the story and all of the characters the entire time. And the ending.It broke my heart but in a good way and it probably boosted this book another star for me When James is cast as Macbeth in the yearly Halloween play, Richard is reduced to the part of a spirit. This enrages the ambitious Richard, who becomes angry & bitter. Parallel to the Macbeth sessions, the companions are rehearsing Julius Caesar, with Richard in the title role. Richard’s demeanour during Caesar practise becomes progressively obnoxious. Richard almost drowns James after the Macbeth performance, despite his assertions of innocence. The others save James and chide Richard, but they all agree to keep the incident hidden from their professors. this is absolutely sensational, a true work of brilliance. i am so enamoured by this story and everything it has to offer. its quite clever and beyond invigorating - the type of book that fully immerses you whilst reading it.Gwendolyn Oswald, one of only two main teachers of the fourth-year acting students at Dellecher. A strict woman who favors Richard as her favorite student.