Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - As Musas

This book was awful.
I could feel it's star rating slowly dipping lower and lower, and I was prepared to give it 2 stars right up until it's ending, which was so bad it mad me angry.
Probably the worst book I've read this year. Yikes.

Content Warnings

alegna's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious tense fast-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

Content Warnings

livvcw's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

1.5

Content Warnings

junkyard's review against another edition

Go to review page

fast-paced

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

2.0

Content Warnings

thecriticalreader's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

0.25

I picked this out as my June Book of the Month because the premise sounded interesting. It was listed as a thriller.

Plot:

I had a hard time suspending my disbelief regarding the plot, even at the start. As the synopsis states, one of the professors at Cambridge has a “secret society of students known as the Maidens.” However, this secret society doesn’t seem that secret, and no one at the school seems concerned with this obviously inappropriate society. Michaelides is good at making the plot seem intriguing (everyone seems suspicious), but in general, it is completely nonsensical.

The ending is especially absurd. So, the main character (Mariana)’s husband is secretly having sex with their adopted niece, and he wants to kill Mariana so he can get rich. So instead of coming up with a normal plot to kill her, he decides he is going to have the niece kill a bunch of college-age girls, frame a professor, and count on Mariana investigating and eventually getting killed???? This plan has so many variables and so many ways it would not work. What if the security cameras caught the niece killing? What if Mariana, like a normal human being, simply took Zoe out of school to get away from the murders? What if the police actually suspected the professor (as they should have) and arrested him before Mariana got too deep into the investigation? The more I think about it, the more it makes absolutely no sense.

Characters:

Michaelides is good at making characters seem suspicious and off, which made the thriller interesting for the first part of the book. However, all the characters are ultimately one-dimensional. The worst character is Mariana, the main character. She makes the absolute most terrible decisions. It’s like she wanted to die, and I was kind of disappointed she didn’t. Additionally, it was clear that Mariana was written by a man, which made her character seem ersatz.

For example, she falls in love with a random young man who is creepily stalking her and harassing her. Now, this might have been fine if the book painted this as unhealthy or abnormal, but instead it’s portrayed as romantic. This is NOT romantic. This is creepy, and it only sends the message to men that they should harass and stalk women until they get what they want.

Setting:

The book mostly takes place at St. Christopher’s College, probably because it is a dark academia book. Michaelides manages to convey the beauty of the location well enough, although I never felt like I could picture it vividly.

Themes:

The Maidens is way too focused on outmoded Freudian psychological theories. There is a lot of talk about father/mother complexes, split evil/good personalities, etc. This sort of thing might fly in the 1950s, but in 2021 it really doesn’t make sense.

At first I thought it would be a powerful mediation on death and grief, but that all ended when Mariana reveals that her dead beloved husband was actually ~evil~. And then the book pretty much just ends.

Writing Style:

Michaelides’s writing is fast-paced and engaging.

Conclusion:

The Maidens pulled me into the mystery, and I was hooked until the last fourth of the book when everything all fell apart. The main character is hard to root for because she makes terrible choices.

For example, she agrees to meet a man she thinks is a serial killer ALONE in a NON-PUBLIC place and EATS HIS FOOD and gets mildly DRUNK. Clearly, she wants to die.

. The plot is ridiculous and ruins the entire thriller.

Other Points:

· The cover is gorgeous

The police in this book are absolutely useless. Any sensible person would suspect Edward Fosca, at least after the second murder. He has a secret, creepy cult of young women who follow him around, and two of them ended up dead. Sebastian’s plan relied heavily on the police not suspecting this, which seems like a huge oversight.

Content Warnings

killerpancake's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

2.0

Things I did not enjoy about this book:

Every bit that involved psychotherapy. It seems in order for this topic to be interesting in books that it always has to be approach unethically.
The Greek tragedy themes feeling like window dressing
The extremely obvious red herrings

This just didn't do it for me on any level.

Content Warnings

lillyfei's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

The Maidens, a secret society comprised of female students at Cambridge University. They particularly admire one professor, Edward Fosca. Mariana is certain Fosca is a murderer but doesn't know how to bring him to justice. As Mariana begins to investigate Fosca and The Maidens, her life begins to spiral. How far will she go to catch a killer?

How does Michaelides do it? I thought I could predict the ending after getting a sense of his writing style from The Silent Patient. I predicted half of the twists and was still shocked by the ending. The book was full of suspense and had fairly disturbing material. For the most part, it was paced well. The ending felt rushed and was a bit confusing regarding characters' motivations. I'm still curious about Mariana and had hoped to see more character development following the main events.

I enjoyed the easter eggs and how there are The SIlent Patient references and characters making appearings in this book. It's a nice treat for readers and helps add extra context to this book's universe. Overall, another stellar read from Michaelides. I am excited for his next works. He has definitely become a go-to author for me.

Content Warnings

More...