Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

14 reviews

siennaflynn's review

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

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

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

brookey8888's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

This was so entertaining! 
Honestly, it was just vibes like nothing was happening, but a lot was happening and I was interested the whole time if that makes sense. I really liked the character‘s and the little dash of a romance. I did not see that ending coming like at all I was actually shocked , I don’t know this was really entertaining and fun it’s not the best mystery. I feel like but I wasn’t trying too hard to guess and I didn’t guess. I think this is my first like dark academia book and I ate it up. I’m excited to read the silent patient now because I saw those little Easter eggs about it. When I was reading, I actually had to stop and like scream a little and because I was like there’s no way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Infertility, Sexual assault, Violence, Animal death, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Abandonment, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, and Grief

kccool12255's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

That ending has me SHOOK. Literally what the heck. I LOVE these mysteries, they're so thought-provoking and well thought-out. I'm giving a 4.75 because I just feel like I should've paced my reading time better, it's not because of any faults with the actual book, although there were some things. 

There are MULTIPLE adult-minor relationships in this book that make me feel icky (Fred and Mariana I don't count because that's a 7-year age gap, but they're both adults), and there's just a lot of sex this time around that I feel like was unnecessary. The Maidens is basically just a big orgy with Edward Fosca, one of the other professors is sleeping with one of The Maidens too, and Zoe and Sebastian had a relationship going while he was married to Mariana, and it's just...a lot. I haven't even mentioned the fact that one, Zoe and Sebastian have a 16-YEAR AGE GAP, and two, HE IS HER UNCLE BY MARRIAGE. It's fornication, infidelity, adultery, incest, adult-minor relationship, it's all the things. They also DON'T EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HE'S HER UNCLE. I just...feel SO bad for Mariana. 

BUT THEO FABER IS IN THIS BOOK. HE IS IN THIS BOOK.

AND THIS IS A PREQUEL, BUT THIS IS AFTER HE KILLED GABRIEL AND IS ABOUT TO MEET ALICIA AGAIN. AND WE KNOW HE'S A KILLER, AND MARIANA DOESN'T, AND THAT...IS CRAZY.

AND MARIANA TELLS HIM TO APPLY FOR THE JOB AT THE GROVE. AND SHE SEES ALICIA BERENSON, THE SILENT PATIENT HERSELF, IN THE END. AND ZOE AND MARIANA ARE NEVER MENTIONED IN THE SILENT PATIENT, SO SOMEONE DIES. Sorry that was in all-caps, but I didn't think these books were even in the same universe, and THEY ARE, AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH. 

In conclusion, wow. Just wow. Alex Michaelides writes some messed-up stuff. (also, are you okay, dude? I'm not even that concerned about all the murder and sex and stuff, but your characters have some MESSED-UP families. Did you have daddy and mommy issues? Because your MCs do. Just some food for thought.) A lot of messed-up things, but I love them. These books have FANTASTIC plot twists, and I want to do something like that in my own characters, especially with the MCs meeting each other. Just incredible. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Incest, Grief, Infidelity, and Murder

Minor: Gore, Alcohol, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

literaryinluv's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

2.5

it was really okay. i appreciated the literary references and the allusions to greek mythology, but it just felt so forced sometimes? the way the author tried to force tennyson and the myths in SO MUCH. to, like the littlest detail. and mariana was so flat and sticking her head in a crime scene, which is not realistic at all. and fred??? 

0.2 seconds after meeting her: "marry me"

the red herrings were just so... forced. like,

oh fred has a picture with a dog, and the letter mentions "premonition," which he claims to have, it must be him!!! but like nobody thinks that, he's just some guy.

everything felt forced, and like the author was booping my nose and saying, "catch that? let me explain!"

despite all this, i enjoyed the pacing and the ending, as well as the

actual culprit

. i probably won't read it again, tho.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Cursing, Physical abuse, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Incest, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcohol, Abandonment, Rape, Sexual assault, Car accident, and Infertility

alexkudej's review

fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Murder, Pedophilia, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Violence, Child death, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Cursing

Minor: Animal death and Suicide attempt

alexisgarcia's review

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? Yes

3.75

this was a fun mystery/triller. i’ve noticed with Alex Michaelides writing starts off incredibly slow for the first part of the novel and picks up in the last 50-100 pages. i loved the greek mythology in this but wished to see just a bit more. i wasn’t a fan of the reveal either which definitely knocks this down quite a few stars. i personally preferred The Silent Patient. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Murder, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

nicoleherz's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

4.0

An engaging mystery that kept my attention. So many questions I wanted answers to, and written well, in a way that was easy to fly through.
I was constantly speculating who the murderer(s) might be, and what twist the author would throw in.

I had considered the possibility it was Zoe, but never would have guessed that Sebastian had anything to do with it. It made it a great twist, but I'm not sure if it aligns well with all the clues given earlier. There definitely could have been more details given to make it more plausible.

I also found the epilogue to give me more answers than questions. Oh well, still a great read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Abandonment, Murder, Blood, Death, Grief, and Self harm

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Stalking, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Bullying, and Death of parent

glutenfreemaggie's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• 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

Kept me guessing, but eh… The Silent Patient was way better.

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Content Warnings

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

lizzieinmt's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This book reminded me of Secret History, it's setting and first half was really interesting. But I feel like I'm it's attempts to carry on as a thriller and provide a twist ending it really fell apart. There were characters who really didn't need to be in the book at all, that were given a lot of time. But the main characters weren't really challenged or put together for much of the book so by the end it felt really forced. I enjoyed it as escapist fiction but honestly wouldn't read again. Just read secret history if you want a dark academia murder mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Animal death

Moderate: Abandonment and Grief

Minor: Toxic relationship, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Cursing

truffletree's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Stalking, Pedophilia, Infidelity, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Cursing