We Are Villains
Kacen Callender
From bestselling and award-winning author Kacen Callendar comes a thrilling, dark academia YA about murder, blackmail, and the one person determined to discover the truth, no matter the costWhat happened to Arianna Reynolds? Ari’s death was ruled an accident, but for her best friend Milo, it’s shrouded in mystery. Why was she in the woods on the night of the fire? Had she been alone? Figuring out what happened the night Ari died is the only reason Milo returns to Yates Academy, even knowing he’ll be in constant danger. . . Liam is the King of Yates, a role he keeps hold of through his family’s old money—and the threat of violence. So when he begins receiving ominous letters from another student accusing him of murdering Ari, the suspect list is long. Desperate to prove his innocence before the accusation ruins his reign, Liam enlists Milo’s help to find the blackmailer. But the more Milo helps Liam, the more he becomes certain that Liam has something to hide. As Milo comes closer to the truth, he uncovers secrets that everyone wants to keep buried . . . Featuring a cast of queer characters of color, We Are Villains is an electrifying mystery that will keep readers guessing.
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**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.** Actual rating: 3.5 Kacen Callender expands into YA dark academia with We Are Villains. Readers follow a cast of diverse characters at the prestigious Yates Academy as they come back from winter break. Just before the break, scholarship student Arianna Reynolds was found dead by the lake, marred by the fire started by unknown means. Ari was one of the most recent targets of the decades-old "game" of bullying that is inherited by legacy through the student body. Liam Reeves, illegitimate son of a Wall Street businessman, is the most recent King of Yates. And he doesn't have an alibi for the night of Ari's death. Cue Milo Pace, scholarship student and the unofficial campus private investigator. He will find out what happened to Ari, no matter how many stones he has to upturn. There are many perspectives that this story is told through with the most constant storytellers being Ari, Milo, and Liam. Ari's perspective is written in a way that addresses Milo in second person, reflecting on what happened when she was at Yates. As such, readers get a bit of a fractured timeline with pieces of Ari's experience woven in with Milo, Liam, and the other perspectives. Readers tend to know primarily what Milo knows as he undertakes his investigation. I appreciated the fast pace of the story as there was never really an opportunity to be bored. I also appreciated that queerness was incorporated casually, but was rarely at the forefront of the plot. This is especially true for Milo, who is Black, trans, and ace, but was allowed to simply be himself rather than being reduced to solely representative of those identities. The bigger divide in the novel was socioeconomic, with scholarship kids falling into different social standing compared to legacy kids. Callender was not shy about conveying social and cultural messages within the story, and the messages delivered were very much in your face. That said, I feel like this style of delivery is appropriate for a younger to mid range of YA audience, which seems to be the target demographic. I had some issues with suspending disbelief at the ending and how things wrapped up, but still had a pleasant reading experience overall. I would happily recommend this book to its target audience or to adults hoping for a fast-paced, school-aged drama-filled read.
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