Reviews tagging 'Death'

Fecioarele by Alex Michaelides

421 reviews

lmaokaro's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5 stars.

I usually give many reviews as I am reading but this time I was so enthralled in the story, I had no thoughts to share, I just wanted to keep reading. 

This story was so addictive towards the end. Whilst I do have some issues with some of the choices in this book, I overall felt it was so good. Definitely would recommend it if you enjoy whodunits and psychological thrillers although it's more of a whodunit than psychological thriller. 

Minor note, going to be extremely vague here so as to not spoil anyone but I am still so disappointed that the ending and the revelations weren't explored more. Like with therapy and psychology being so central to the book how could no attention be given to the grander issues at play and the unfair consequences it dealt everyone who it seems didn't deserve it. That for me knocked a few points off.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Forced institutionalization, and Stalking

Minor: Drug abuse

sandracatt's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow wow wow. A hyped mystery book that doesn't disappoint!

It's pretty descriptive with the settings a lot but that helps building the visual and mood. It presents us with one mystery after another, along with suspect after suspect. It kept me guessing and on edge. I couldn't see the ending at all, my jaw was on the floor reading the last 15 pages.

This is the second book from Alex Michaelides after the highly praised The Silent Patient. I like his debut novel wayyyyyy better but The Maidens is still such a decent read. This is actually a prequel standalone of The Silent Patient with different main characters, so if you're new to Alex Michaelides' works, you can totally start with The Maidens and end it with a high note with The Silent Patient.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

thyme_paradox's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Alcohol

missgrangerr's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A little predictable however that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. I like the reference to Silent Patient and would hope he continues to give backstories like this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

agavette's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Stalking

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Violence, and Grief

arbramirez's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gun violence

telepathicseagull's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

aine_murrayx's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

james1star's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

2.5 ⭐️ 

This has an interesting synopsis and start but definitely fell flat (I’m writing this 2 months after finishing it and literally cannot remember like anything) and was kinda boring. We follow psychologist Mariana who gets a call from her niece saying her friend at Cambridge uni Zoe was found killed so she goes to visit her. Once arriving,  she discovers the weird but adored professor Edward Fosca and his posse of female students called The Maidens. Mariana becomes convinced Edward is the culprit despite having an alibi and basically what ensures is the investigation into what might be lurking behind the university’s dark academic beauty. 

A lot of the book is slow paced, there’s quite a few red herrings and on the whole not much really happens. It speeds up towards the end with a rather rushed conclusion which I found alright but yh, it was just a bit lacklustre and one I didn’t particularly like all that much. I couldn’t really relate to or like the characters all that much, they’re underdeveloped, lacked nuance nor any real complexity. Personally I wouldn’t recommend this but it’s quite a decisive book so you may enjoy it, for me it was rather meh but not terrible. I’m still intrigued to read Michaelides’s other book The Silent Patient which’ll hopefully have more substance to it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Mental illness, Self harm, and Grief

siennaflynn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Rape, and Self harm