If you’ve spent any time on "BookTok" or scrolled through the moody, dark academia aesthetics on Pinterest, you’ve hit the wall of M L Rio books. Well, specifically, you’ve hit the monolith that is If We Were Villains. It’s everywhere. Even years after its 2017 release, it sits on those "Must Read" displays in Barnes & Noble like it just came out yesterday. Honestly? It’s kind of wild how one debut novel managed to grip an entire subculture by the throat and just... never let go.
But there’s a weird tension here. People talk about Rio like she’s a prolific veteran with a shelf full of trilogies. In reality, her published bibliography is surprisingly slim. This isn't a Stephen King situation where there's a new doorstopper every six months. It’s a quality-over-quantity game. M.L. Rio—or Maya Rio, if we’re being informal—is a Shakespeare scholar. She has a PhD. She actually knows the difference between a folio and a quarto, and that academic weight is why her writing feels so much heavier than your average "murder at a boarding school" trope.
The Absolute Grip of If We Were Villains
Let's just be real: most people looking for M L Rio books are looking for more of If We Were Villains. It’s the blueprint. The story follows seven young Shakespearean actors at the elite Dellecher Classical Conservatory. They’re obsessed with the Bard. They literally speak to each other in Shakespearian verse in casual conversation, which sounds like it would be annoying, but Rio somehow makes it feel like the only way these characters could possibly breathe.
Then, someone dies.
Oliver Marks, the protagonist, goes to jail for it. The book starts when he gets out ten years later and finally tells the "real" story to the detective who put him away. It’s a tragedy in five acts. Literally. The book is structured like a play.
Why does this specific book work when so many other dark academia novels fail? It’s the authenticity. Rio doesn't just "like" Shakespeare. She understands the visceral, almost violent nature of theatre departments. Anyone who did drama in high school or college knows that weird, cult-like closeness that happens when you're in a cast. You spend sixteen hours a day together. You're touching, you're screaming, you're crying. The lines between who you are and who you’re playing get blurry. Rio takes that blurriness and turns it into a crime scene.
It’s messy. It’s sweaty. It’s heartbreaking.
What Else Is Actually Out There?
If you finished the tragedy of Oliver and James and went searching for more M L Rio books, you might have felt a bit of whiplash. For a long time, there wasn't a follow-up.
Then came Lure.
Released in 2024, Lure is a completely different beast, yet it feels like it grew in the same dark, damp soil as Villains. It’s a novella. It’s short. You can finish it in an afternoon, but it stays with you longer than most 500-page thrillers. It’s a "creature feature" set in an old hotel on the coast.
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Think Gilded Age glamour mixed with body horror and siren myths. It follows a man named Nicky who gets a job at this mysterious hotel, but the "entertainment" isn't what he expected. It’s about performance—just like her first book—but instead of the stage, the performance happens in a tank of water.
There’s also her contribution to the Dead Letters anthology. It’s a short story titled "The Guest." If you’re a completionist, you need to track it down. It’s Rio doing what she does best: high-tension, atmospheric prose that makes you feel like you’re being watched from the corner of a room.
The Scholar Behind the Scenes
You can't separate the M L Rio books from Maya Rio’s actual life. She didn't just wake up and decide to write a hit. She studied at King’s College London and the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon. When she writes about the "Fourth Folio" or the specific cadence of a monologue from King Lear, she isn't Googling it.
This expertise is what protects her work from being "cringe." Let’s be honest: teenagers quoting 400-year-old plays to each other can be incredibly cringey if not handled with absolute precision. Rio handles it like a surgeon. She understands that these characters use Shakespeare as a shield. They use his words because their own emotions are too big, too raw, or too illegal to put into modern English.
She’s also a musician. You can hear it in the rhythm of her sentences. She varies her length perfectly. Short, punchy thoughts. Then, long, winding descriptions of blood on a dock or the way the light hits a velvet curtain.
Why Dark Academia Still Loves Her
The "Dark Academia" genre has seen a massive boom lately. You’ve got The Secret History by Donna Tartt at the top of the mountain, obviously. But M.L. Rio is the undisputed queen of the second peak.
What she gets right that others miss:
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- The Stakes: It’s not just about grades. It’s about identity.
- The Isolation: Dellecher feels like it’s on another planet.
- The Cost: In Rio’s world, art isn't free. It costs you your sanity, your friendships, and sometimes your life.
A lot of people complain that If We Were Villains is too similar to The Secret History. Kinda. Maybe. They both involve a group of pretentious students and a body. But Tartt’s book is a critique of the elite; Rio’s book is a love letter to the theater. One is cold and cynical; the other is hot-blooded and desperate.
The "Infallible" Ending Debate (Spoilers, Sorta)
We have to talk about the ending of If We Were Villains. It’s the reason people are still making TikToks about M L Rio books seven years later.
Without giving away the absolute final page, there is a "Pericles" reference that has launched a thousand fan theories. Was it a suicide? Was it a disappearance? Is he waiting for him?
Rio has been asked about this a million times in interviews. She usually stays pretty coy. She likes the ambiguity. She thinks the reader’s grief is part of the experience. Honestly, that’s the sign of a great writer—someone who trusts their audience enough to leave the door cracked open instead of slamming it shut with a "happily ever after" or a confirmed funeral.
Actionable Steps for the Aspiring Rio Reader
If you're looking to dive into the world of M L Rio books, don't just randomly grab a copy and start reading. To get the full, atmospheric experience she intended, you should probably do it "right."
- Start with "If We Were Villains": Do not skip the prologue. Read it slowly. Pay attention to the way Oliver describes the forest. It matters.
- Listen to the Audiobook: This is one of the rare cases where the audio version might actually be better than the physical book. Robert Fass narrates it, and his voice for the Shakespearean segments is chilling. It sounds like a real performance.
- Keep a Shakespeare Glossary Nearby: You don't need to be an expert, but knowing the basic plots of Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and King Lear will make the foreshadowing in the book hit ten times harder.
- Read "Lure" for the Vibes: Once you've recovered from the emotional trauma of the first book, pick up Lure. It’s a great palette cleanser that proves Rio can do horror just as well as she does drama.
- Check Her Website: Rio is surprisingly active on her site and social media. She often shares playlists for her characters. Music is a huge part of her writing process, and listening to her curated tracks while you read creates this weirdly immersive, 4D experience.
The reality is that M L Rio books aren't just stories; they're moods. They’re for the people who stayed late in the library, for the people who felt a little too much for their friends, and for anyone who ever felt like they were born in the wrong century.
Maya Rio has carved out a very specific, very sharp niche. She isn't trying to please everyone. She’s writing for the nerds, the actors, and the people who think a well-placed sonnet is more romantic than a diamond ring. And judging by the way her books stay on the charts, there are a lot more of us than people think.
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Stop waiting for a "new" version of these books to appear. Go back and re-read them. You'll find something in the subtext you missed the first time. I guarantee it. Look at the way James stares at Oliver in the second chapter. Look at the way Colborne asks his questions. It’s all there. You just have to be willing to look past the curtain.
To truly appreciate her work, go beyond the plot. Look at the structure of her sentences. Notice how she uses silence. That is where the real story lives. Once you finish the published works, look for her essays on Shakespearean performance—they provide the "why" behind every "what" in her fiction.