Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

دوشیزگان by Alex Michaelides

317 reviews

fast-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

Please consider trigger warnings before reading this book. I went into The Maidens with fairly low expectations and indeed find it quite stupid in the end. I really enjoyed the Silent Patient but that was a time before I think I read critically or with conscience. Not to discredit my previous enjoyment but I just can’t turn off that part of my brain anymore (unless it’s fantasy smut x). I’m always very weary of a male author writing about the brutal deaths of young women; even more so when an adult woman is painted as crazy and is casually harassed along the way. Without spoiling the book I’ll just say, only a man would write an ending as such. I don’t think any female with an experience of any similarity would approach such a topic as is explored here. I found the inclusion of weird men like Henry & Fred to be lazy and the fixation on the professor got a bit boring towards the end. The big reveal was only half shocking because and I would have liked a bit more show than tell. Overall, it was fine, if you enjoy a mindless thriller definitely give it a read. If you can’t stand the suffering of women for mindless entertainment, I’d say give it a miss. 

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

The Maidens is a book about loss and lack of control. Our main character is a group Psychotherapist currently recovering from the tragic death of her husband. She receives a call from her niece/adopted daughter in Cambridge saying a student has been killed. Mariana decides to visit and that’s where our story begins.

The book was giving “I listen to a crime podcast so I know what I’m an expert” except our main character is a psychologist so she thinks she knows how murderers think. Although it is communicated with her many time to stay out of it she takes it upon herself to get involved and solve the murders.

There’s a very interesting yet obvious dialogue around death and how fate pulls her strings and gives us no control over it.

Overall I thought it was good for a semi-quick read, the audio book is only 9 hours long so it’s on the shorter end. But I really didn’t think it got too interesting until the last 30 minutes. The twist was good but there wasn’t really any suspense throughout the rest of the book. The red herrings were unnecessary and didn’t blend into the story as well as they could have.

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mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This book is dark, check trigger warnings. It was poorly written with a story that was interesting but not well executed. The ending is extremely unsatisfying.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense medium-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

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

.⋆。⋆☂˚。⋆。˚☽˚。⋆.
Le rebondissement à la fin du roman a été brillamment exécuté, et le style d'écriture s'adapte facilement à l'intrigue. Les personnages sont mémorables et leur histoire est intégrée au roman d'une manière qui progresse agréablement.  (Le personnage principal de "The Silent Patient" a également été incorporé dans l'histoire, ce que j'ai trouvé très agréable).

.⋆。⋆☂˚。⋆。˚☽˚。⋆.

The twist at the end of the novel was brilliantly executed, and the writing style flowed easily with the plot. The characters were memorable, and their backstories were woven into the novel in a way that progressed nicely.  (Also the main character from "The Silent Patient" was incorporated into the story, which I found to be a sweet touch.)
.⋆。⋆☂˚。⋆。˚☽˚。⋆.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

mixed feelings but overall i liked it. it was more of a murder mystery than i thought. kind of slow but also not? idk

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

Okay so this book was okay and fairly enjoyable. I love The Silent Patient and so I was looking forward to starting this. Both take place in the same universe and we get to see Theo again. But in my opinion, this wasn’t as hooking as the silent patient which was slightly disappointing. I didn’t really find the murder mystery that engaging but somewhere in the middle I did start to get more interested. I love the Greek references to the different tragedies, that was really enjoyable to read because I loved Greek Mythology. I didn’t think the prologue was that necessary and the plot twist really caught me off guard. I loved the twist at the end but looking back, I feel like I should’ve seen it coming because of how Zoe and Sebastian seemed to be.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional 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: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings