Because You Love To Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy
Edited by Ameriie
Published by Bloomsbury
Paperback (purchased)
YA, anthology
Leave it to the heroes to save the world--villains just want to rule the world.
In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view.
These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!
Featuring writing from . . .
Authors: Renée Ahdieh, Ameriie, Soman Chainani, Susan Dennard, Sarah Enni, Marissa Meyer, Cindy Pon, Victoria Schwab, Samantha Shannon, Adam Silvera, Andrew Smith, April Genevieve Tucholke, and Nicola Yoon
BookTubers: Benjamin Alderson (Benjaminoftomes), Sasha Alsberg (abookutopia), Whitney Atkinson (WhittyNovels), Tina Burke (ChristinaReadsYA blog and TheLushables), Catriona Feeney (LittleBookOwl), Jesse George (JessetheReader), Zoë Herdt (readbyzoe), Samantha Lane (Thoughts on Tomes), Sophia Lee (thebookbasement), Raeleen Lemay (padfootandprongs07), Regan Perusse (PeruseProject), Christine Riccio (polandbananasBOOKS), and Steph Sinclair & Kat Kennedy (Cuddlebuggery blog and channel).
I was super excited to read Because You Love To Hate Me because I love villains, especially those who are complex and well executed, and ah, I just love villains. Of course, there was also the fact that Victoria Schwab was one of the authors, and I was so ready for her take on a villain tale. I had high expectations, and some of these short stories more than lived up to those expectations. However, not all of the stories were on same level and while I adored some, others I had neutral feelings or I just didn't like them at all. Few of the stories didn't even feel villainous at all, which was really disappointing. I had four favourites, all of which more or less blew my mind: Victoria Schwab's, Andrew Smith's, Adam Silvera's and Sarah Enni's.
I'm well aware of the huge controversy that came with this anthology, concerning the booktubers and their contribution. I don't have much to say about the matter as my feelings towards it are quite neutral. After reading the whole book, including the essays that the booktubers wrote, I think that some of the prompts were brilliant and some weren't. The essays, well, I don't think they added anything, because most of them just analysed the short story and I do prefer to think for myself. However, I have to mention that I really liked Jesse George's because it wasn't an analyses but really creative writing.
Okay, so I reviewed all the short stories and rated them, and the rating for whole book was the average of the individual stories.
The Blood of Imuriv by Renee Ahdieh - 3 stars
I haven't read anything by Ahdieh, so I was pleasantly surprised that the writing was really good. The main character Rhone was intriguing and I really liked him. The short story just felt like a prologue to a novel and it wasn't satisfying enough. There was just a little bit too much of history, intentions and culture crammed to the story that it took some of the charm from the story. I'd definitely read a full novel about Rhone if that was possible!
Jack by Ameriie - 1 star
This story was just boring. Mostly because I couldn't identify with any of the characters, and the writing was not the best. The prompt was weird and maybe that's why the story suffered some, but it was quite predictable and well, boring.
Gwen and Art and Lance by Soman Chainani - 1 star
I was quite excited about this because the prompt was right up my alley - because hey, what can go wrong with mashup of King Arthur legend and Hades/Persephone myth? Apparently everything can go wrong. For one, the setting was modern American high school and the story was told in text messages; the text message format made it hard to connect with anything, and the high school setting just followed up all the stereotypes. The characters were also, well, not likable. Gwen was plainly a selfish bitch, and while Arthur and Lance had potential to be something, they were both doormats and so easily manipulated by Gwen. And there wasn't really anything villainous either! I was just so disappointed.
Shirley & Jim by Susan Dennard - 1 star
I know, do these one stars never end? At this point I was just so over with the trope of retelling a great British classic that was set in modern American high school. More than that, this wasn't a story about a villain - it was more of a story how Shirley (gender-swaped Sherlock) became who she was destined to be, and it wasn't that much about Jim Moriarty. It all just left me cold because I hoped for truly villainous stories and I didn't get it.
The Blessing of Little Wants by Sarah Enni - 4 stars
This was a little bit strange, but in a good way. I absolutely loved the setting in Britain, especially the part where the characters traveled to northern Scotland! The writing style was good and very engaging and brilliant. The main characters, Sigrid and Thomas, were also just so cool. This was a really nice villain origins type of story, and I'd love to read more about Sigrid.
The Sea Witch by Marissa Meyer - 4 stars
This wasn't a surprise because Meyer is one of the best authors to write a retelling. I mean, this short story had it all from great character arc to plot and motives! Such a good and solid villain origins/fairytale retelling. There was absolutely nothing bad about this.
Beautiful Venom by Cindy Pon - 2 stars
It might have been just me, because I did look up the prompts before reading the short story. The prompt was Medusa, and basically while the story does a nice spin on that by setting it in ancient Asia rather than Greek, the story was predictable. I knew from the very beginning where the story was going and thus I wasn't very engaged with the story. I yearned for some mystery, for some thrill, but got nothing. Don't get me wrong, this deals with important topic that should be discussed more, but that did not save the story from being predictable.
Death Knell by Victoria Schwab - 5 stars
This was simply so great and true Victoria Schwab style! Death waking up at the bottom of a well? Yes please! Schwab certainly delivers because the prose is amazing, and the story itself if intriguing and magical. Brilliant villain, stunning story, everything was just perfect.
Marigold by Samantha Shannon - 3 stars
This was good and engaging because it was hard to tell who was the villain because of the qualities every character had. There was also plot, solid storyline and atmosphere of nineteen century London. The only thing that I struggled with was the characters. I just didn't like any of them and that ate some of the enjoyment of the story. It was a good story, just unlikable characters.
You, You, It's All About You by Adam Silvera - 5 stars
This, if anything, blew my mind. I had no expectations going in but oh my, did I fell in love. This had to be the most villainous story because the villain was terrifying - I almost don't believe that a villain like this was included in YA anthology because of how ruthless the main character was. I loved the writing style and that it was written in second person. Just brilliant and genius story with truly intriguing villain. I basically loved everything!
Julian Breaks Every Rule by Andrew Smith - 5 stars
Oh my, this was so good. I mean, psychopath as a main character? That's unreliable narrator if anything, and I loved it! Julian is so charismatic, and the story was full of suspense, and just so brilliant. I need to know more! I demand full novel of this, it was so great!
Indigo & Shade by April Genevieve Tucholke - 4 stars
I liked the story, especially the main character Brahm, who was just so brilliant Gaston-type of character full of bravado and arrogance. The story itself was interesting and twisty, something that's so Tucholke's type.
Sera by Nicola Yoon - 1 star
I just didn't click with the story. Prompt itself had potential with gender-flipped god of war, but the story fell flat for me. It doesn't even feel like YA because most of the time the narrator was the main character's mother and I felt like I was reading a story meant for mothers. I just didn't care about any of the characters and was bored throughout the story.
I'm going to give this three stars, because there were stories that I gave five stars but also stories I gave one star. Overall, I'd just say that there are stories that are absolutely worth to check out, but then some are not.
3 of 5 stars
Bout of Books 20 was a week long readathon that finished last Sunday. Here's my sign up post for more information about the readathon itself. This post is just to wrap up how I did during the week and which books I read.
