Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

230 reviews

sugarbucky's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Michaelides has done it again!! You will NEVER guess the twist in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Violence

ericasbookshelves's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

I liked the book, didn’t like the characters and hated the ending. Which all made for a semi strange reading experience. I’m unsure on if I’ll read another book by the author but I might

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

gwenswoons's review against another edition

dark tense 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

la_karina1818's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Mental illness, Blood, and Murder

weirdgirlcoded's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

this book was astonishing. 

i was absolutely capitivated by the relationships that were built throughout the story, capitivated by the misdirection of the narrative. while a lot of my prediction was correct, i was also far off in integral ways to the plot. i am absolutely stunned by the way the story ended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide

Minor: Pedophilia

nehaanna's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I’m not entirely sure what this book accomplishes. It has the twists and turns of any murder mystery but the character development of the female characters is reprehensible. They are written through such a paternalistic and chauvinist viewpoint that it is overpowering to the plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

raynie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

bezekrj's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Blood

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