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pagesofniru's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The Maidens by alex.michaelides
My Rating🌟🌟🌟🌟: 4/5
Pages: 360
Genre: Dark Academia, Psychological Thriller, Mystery.
{TW: child abuse, violence, stalking, murder, self harm, death and sexual abuse}
“ᴏ ʟɪꜰᴇ ᴀꜱ ꜰᴜᴛɪʟᴇ, ᴛʜᴇɴ, ᴀꜱ ꜰʀᴀɪʟ! / ᴏ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜʏ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴏᴏᴛʜᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ʙʟᴇꜱꜱ!/ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴀɴꜱᴡᴇʀ , ᴏʀ ʀᴇᴅʀᴇꜱꜱ?/ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇɪʟ, ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇɪʟ…”
I read “The Maidens” while ago but couldn’t review it. I call psychological thrillers as adrenalines. It increases your heartbeat till the end.
I am a big fan of Alex Michaelides prior psychological thriller “The silent Patient”. so I couldn’t stop picking this book and this is absolute treat of Dark Academia X Psychological thriller.
The story revolve around six characters: Mariana, Zoe, Edward fosca, sebastian fred and clarissa and mostly intense and shocking.
Mariana is aunt of zoe(a student at uni) is the prime character who is a therapist trying save zoe from the murderer . Mariana is still processing the death of her husband Sebastian takes the roller coaster ride to solve the murder mystery of Uni students and who part of secret society.
“ɪ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛɪᴍᴇꜱ ʜᴏʟᴅ ɪᴛ ʜᴀʟꜰ ᴀ ꜱɪɴ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴜᴛ ɪɴ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀɪᴇꜰ ɪ ꜰᴇᴇʟ; ꜰᴏʀ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ, ʟɪᴋᴇ ɴᴀᴛᴜʀᴇ, ʜᴀʟꜰ ʀᴇᴠᴇᴀʟ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴀʟꜰ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇᴀʟ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴏᴜʟ ᴡɪᴛʜɪɴ”
Edward fosca a charming professor for greek mythology holds a private /secret study group only for women students. He is centred for the tragic murders of the women in the same group.
(Note: Greek goddess persephone in greek is called as Kore - “The Maiden” and worshipped as goddess of death. The secret society refers to the persephone myth)
I really loved every aspect of this book and the ending is surprising. Alex has woven this story so well It's perfect for DA and PT readers. I totally recommend it.
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Body horror
lexslittlelibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
It was too easy as a reader to look at the letters of confession and know who could not have written them. However the plot twist at the end did nothing feel entirely earned. It came out of left field without much to substantiate it and honestly made a lot of the emotion I invested in some of the characters feel a bit wasted?
Overall, the side characters who could have been compelling fell flat. We didn’t see enough of Fosca and the Maidens (in my opinion) and the Maidens we did see were hard to get a feel for.
Overall, I want to love this book. And it’s fun enough — until the very end with the very last reveal. That’s where it lost me. Solid read but fell a hit short for me.
Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Incest, Grief, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
glutenfreemaggie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Stalking, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Violence
mfrisk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Death, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Self harm, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Suicide
trycerabel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, Stalking, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Physical abuse
mykes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Incest, Alcohol, Body horror, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault
alomie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Some of the "origin stories" were a bit harrowing, and it's not easy going in that respect, however, as we are trying to understand the motives of a serial killer it makes sense contextually. These messed up childhoods absolutely might create a serial killer.
Kept me guessing right to the end and was actually quite gripping.
Found this to be a slow start but really picked up in the third act and personally I could have done with a bit more pace, potentially this is an audio-book issue rather than a book issue. I liked it overall but I don't think I would go back to it.
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail
Warning Re the Dogerinlaura's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Stalking, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Infidelity
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, and Car accident
marie_is_reading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt
jayisreading's review against another edition
1.0
Initially, I thought maybe I should have read The Silent Patient to understand the hype, but I probably won’t considering how annoyed I was with The Maidens.
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Stalking
Minor: Alcoholism