Bizarre Historical Events Book Tag

Hey guys! Last month I came across this fabulous history-inspired book tag created by A Book Without End and just knew I had to do it. I love history, I even debated doing my Master’s in it or getting a professional degree in Public History before settling on becoming a Librarian, so the history love runs deep. What better way to learn about both bizarre events in history and books than with this incredibly fun book tag?!

|Emperor Elagabalus drowning his court in flower petals. Literally.| Name a book villain who would totally do this.

This sounds like it would fit The Empath, the fabulously dramatic, beautiful, but ruthless antagonist of Vale Aida’s clever fantasy novel Elegy. The Empath has long red hair and a billowing red cape, and the author’s tag for her character on tumblr is #drama emperor dervain teraille, so this is right up his alley!

|When King Philip II of Macedon sent the Spartans a lengthy threat of what he’d do if they did not yield to him, and they answered with a sarcastic one-word response -“if”| What hero/heroes would most likely answer like this to a threat from the antagonist.

Apparently I like my heroes and anti-heroes snarky, because two immediately popped into my head: Breq, the brusque former Justice of Toren ship from Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series and everyone’s favourite teenage criminal mastermind, Kaz Brekker of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology. Breq does not care at all what others think of her (she’d also fit the Alexander Hamilton fighting the entire party one) and is in the process of taking revenge against the emperor of the galaxy Annander Minnai herself, so I can’t imagine her being scared off by a lengthy threat. Kaz Brekker is just clever enough to call a bluff and to follow through on a crazy heist plan that can’ be done. He’s definitely the type to reply in this fashion!

|When Australia declared war on the Emus, and lost| A book that did not end up like you expected (in the terms of the plot).

I didn’t really know what to expect from The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner and I spent the first half thinking, ‘okay it’s good but I don’t think it’s 4.26 stars on goodreads good!’ and then the last third of the book hit me like a train. I totally didn’t see where the book was going and I found it to be moving, well-written, and an excellent portrayal of depression. It’s definitely a book that’s somewhat inconsistent and rough around the edges, but it does all come together in that poignant last third of the book.

|Lichtenstein sending its army of 80 men to attack Italy and coming back with 81| A book you thought would be bad but actually ended up really liking.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho when I first started reading it and for the first sixty pages I thought it would be simply a poor imitation of one of my favourite books, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. But as I kept reading I found that yes, certainly there are similarities. Both are books about magic and magicians set in regency England. But I was quite charmed by Sorcerer of the Crown, which is ultimately lighter and fluffier, but also more diverse (both protagonists are PoCs, one a woman and the other a freed slave). Additionally, its diversity allows the author to comment on prejudice at the time.

|Alexander Hamilton challenging the entire democratic-republican party to a duel| A character who would totally do this.

I guess there are a few ways to take this, either a character who is all out of fucks to give and doesn’t care what others think of them, in which case Breq from Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Sword fits (that’s actually kind of the plot of the book – the world going but that’s not how it’s done! and Breq shrugging and carrying on), or an impulsive and stubborn character issuing a foolish challenge. The second meaning is definitely Will Scott in Dorothy Dunnett’s The Game of Kings. He blunders right in, especially early in the book, without listening to advice and it’s endearing but also makes me want to facepalm. Oh Marigold.

|The Chinese setting monkeys on fire and launching them at British ships|  A book based on a great idea/concept

Sure these days the YA dystopia is a genre in and of itself, but even within the genre there’s room for innovation and that’s what I found in Erin Bow’s The Scorpio Rules and The Swan Riders. The duology is set in a world where wars over water are common, but an artificial intelligence called Tallis has taken over and has an unusual way of keeping the peace. Tallis has taken a hostage from every world leader – their child heirs – and if any government declares war, their hostage’s life is forfeit.

|Emperor Caligula calling for an assembly just to tell everyone he could kill them all| A villain who just loves to gloat

The first villain who comes to mind is actually Voldemort in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Voldemort seems to love gloating over Harry, doing so in Goblet of Fire and waiting for his followers to arrive to kill Harry, and again in the final book when he believes that Harry has been defeated. Villains who gloat before they’ve actually done the deed really need to take a page from Adrian Veidt’s book…

|An old civilian woman aiding in the killing of their besieger King Pyrrhus by throwing a tile at him| A minor character you can totally imagine helping the heroes like this)
I had trouble coming up with a minor character at first but then it hit me, Calla from The Raven Cycle quartet. I can definitely see bold Calla throwing a tile (or more) at someone who deserved it.

|When the US sent tanks, Special Forces, Tae Kwon Do experts, soldiers with M-16s grenade launchers etc., all just to cut down one tree| A book you really don’t understand all the hype around it.

I never understood the buzz about Uprooted by Naomi Novak. I read it last year after it had been nominated for just about every major fantasy award, and assumed I would therefore love it and I just didn’t. I didn’t really like any of the main characters, I would have been more interested if Agnieszka’s love interest had been her pretty best friend from childhood instead of the (frankly) quite boring and rude Dragon, and I didn’t find it twisted fairytales or was enough of a unique spin on one to keep me interested.

|That one time in Prague when a Protestant threw a Catholic out of a window, only to have him survive by landing in horse shit which resulted in a large war| Favorite rivalry in a book (series)

My favourite rivalry is not always antagonistic. In fact, it starts out as a teacher-trainee relationship, and develops into a partnership of equals, but quickly dissolves as the two magicians find that they have completely different methods and approaches towards performing magic. I’m talking, of course, of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I love the odd couple vibe of young, daring Strange and reclusive prickly old Norrell and the dependency of their relationship as the only two practicing magicians in England.

|That one time a bucket started a war| A book whose sole existence makes you question humanity (and the publishing industry). 

How could I say anything else but Pierce Brown’s Red Rising trilogy? I want to scream at the top of my lungs about how much I don’t understand the appeal of this series, especially given how blatantly misogynistic the books are. The female characters (which there are few of to begin with) are all there to be treated as sexual objects or love interests only. There are gratuitous rape scenes. There is the fact that the male protagonist’s wife is killed off in the first forty pages of the book purely to further the male character’s story and to give him man pain. The worldbuilding is shoddy at best, a strange hybrid of The Hunger Games, random Greek/Roman mythology, and a bizzare colour system. The protagonist himself is not at all likable, despite being a Gary Stu, and in general the book reads like a Michael Bay movie. Save yourself. Do not read this book!

|Julius Caesar being taken hostage by pirates, only to be angry at the low amount of money they demanded and made them demand even more money for his freedom| Some character who would definitely act like this if taken as hostage.

I’m pretty sure this is Felix from Sarah Monette’s Doctrine of Labyrinths series. When he’s in his right mind (so not half of the first book) Felix is an incredibly flawed protagonist. He’s vain in appearance, has a damaging view of himself as better than everyone around him (while secretly harboring the inner belief that his humble origins actually make him worth less than others), and he speaks in a deliberate upper class accent. I can definitely see Felix being offended at being offered for a low price.

|The Mexican president who was in office for only about 45 minutes| A character you just feel sorry for.

If you don’t feel badly for Jude St. Francis in A Little Life, there’s probably something wrong with you. After surviving a truly horrific past of physical and sexual abuse when he was a child, Jude is physically and emotionally scarred. However he carries on, becoming a top-notch lawyer, and associating with a group of friends who respect and care for him. A Little Life is a bit of a reverse fairy tale though, or at least one of the oldet fairy tales without the Disney happy ending, where everything that can go badly does. For every good thing that Jude has in his life, something awful balances it out, and he can never fully escape his past, even when he is surrounded by people who love him.

|The General whose last words, before getting shot under the left eye, were “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance”| Which character would most likely meet their end this way.

I took this as a character who is so completely oblivious about what’s right in front of them and my answer is Oliver from If We Were Villains. I was going to say he’s the most oblivious character I’ve ever encountered, but Jerott in The Lymond Chronicles gives him a run for his money. I could see both of them being unaware enough of the world around them to get taken down like this.

I’m not going to tag anyone in particular, but this is a REALLY fun and unique book tag to do, so I highly encourage anyone who is interested to fill this out, pingback to Ella who created it, and feel free to consider yourself tagged and pingback to me too – I’d love to read your answers!

Books: If We Were Villains

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Published April 11, 2017

As a former English major who developed an appreciation for the Bard not through high school courses but because of an excellent Shakespeare undergraduate course taught by an enthusiastic professor, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy of If We Were Villains. Although it’s not without its flaws, I wholeheartedly loved the book and it has definitely made me want to dive back into a collected edition of Shakespeare (or as I liked to refer to the Norton Shakespeare in university due to its immense size, the murder book) and read my heart out. M. L. Rio’s stunning debut is a love letter to Shakespeare that can be enjoyed by both devotees of the bard and newcomers to his works.

Told from Oliver Marks’ POV ten years later, If We Were Villains is the story of seven fourth year drama students at the exclusive Dellecher Classical Conservatory, where actors perform only works by Shakespeare. Each student in the close knit group plays the same roles offstage and onstage. Bold, larger than life Richard plays leaders, kings, and tyrants, handsome studious James takes on heroes and lovers, delicate Wren is the ingenue, while beautiful and seductive Meredith plays confident temptresses, and Alexander the villains. Oliver and Filippa fill in the gaps, playing the leftover roles. But when the instructors decide to mix up the casting, the balance of power begins to shift and cracks appear in the group dynamic until, a few months later, one of them is dead. Oliver Marks is convicted of the crime and serves ten years in prison, but after he’s released he is persuaded to tell his story to the police detective who arrested him, so long as his conditions are met.

Oliver is one of the most oblivious fictional characters I have ever encountered, which makes him a fascinating choice of narrator. I always find unreliable narrators intriguing and Oliver is no exception. In this case, although Oliver claims to be telling the whole story to Colborne, the police officer who arrested him ten years earlier, and even sets out conditions before he begins to relate the tale, I had to wonder how accurate his version of events is. After all, Oliver is a former drama student who trained to lie for a living, and proves over the course of the narrative just how far he’s willing to go to protect those he cares about. But even if Oliver believes he’s telling the truth, he’s such a naive character that he routinely seems to miss what’s going on around him, even amongst his closest friends, so I wondered if he was unwittingly not providing the whole story.

Rio’s prose, peppered liberally with Shakespeare quotes, can be pretentious and takes some getting used to at first but, as the author herself says in the afterward, she was assured that it’s absolutely how some drama students talk and I completely buy it, particularly in the secluded environment of Dellecher.

I found all of the characters really interesting, but I do have some gripes. I wish we had spent more time exploring Wren, who is so thinly written at times that I assumed she was a red herring and there would be more from her later in the book. Similarly, although there’s more of Meredith in the story and she does have layers, it would have been nice to see more of her vulnerability. In general, the female characters are really interesting… I just wanted more of them!

I also got the impression that some of what the author wants to convey doesn’t quite come across in the text. Reading Rio’s explanations on her tumblr account for things such as the abrupt change in one character’s behaviour and turn towards violence, as well as the seemingly dismissive treatment of Oliver’s sister’s eating disorder, everything made sense, but I missed some of this meaning in the book itself. Since both of these cases could also be seen as plot devices to move the action forward in particular ways, it’s a shame that more motivation for these events wasn’t offered within the book itself.

Despite these flaws, I LOVED this book. The Shakespeare productions described sound so complex and interesting that I wish I was able to watch them come to life (especially the masque), and unlike The Secret History, which If We Were Villains is frequently compared to, most of the characters were very likable. My favourites were definitely Filippa, who is unruffled and enigmatic even in the face of tragedy, but also protective of her fellow actors, who she sees as her family, and James, the kind of person you’d probably want to hate because he’s wealthy, handsome, and talented, but you can’t because he’s also such a good friend and works so hard for his success.

I really didn’t expect to be as moved by this book as I was. I guessed some of the plot twists before our oblivious narrator, but the novel is still so well-crafted, the prose so perfectly fitting, that it brought me to tears anyway. The ending may not appeal to everyone, but without spoilers I have to say that I absolutely adored it  and thought it was a very fitting end for a book about Shakespeare. If We Were Villains is an original, highly intelligent, and well-written read that should appeal to just about anyone, whether you’re a casual Shakespeare fan, an enthusiast, or only have a passing familiarity with his work. Certainly the enthusiast will get more out of this book, but as a casual fan, I greatly enjoyed it, even if some of the references likely went over my head. Highly recommended for all readers.

Sunday Snapshot: Stories in Stratford

I spent a wonderful Saturday in Stratford, Ontario, shopping, eating, and taking in two shows (reviews to come!) at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, both of which I enjoyed. Although it was a long day, capped off with a bus ride that returned me to downtown Toronto at 1 AM, it was completely worth it. And what better to read by the River Avon than M.L. Rio’s If We Were Villains about seven Shakespearean actor students at a prestigious conservatory?!