Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

386 reviews

aheinicke27's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Having read The Silent Patient, I knew that this book was bound to have an interesting and dark twist at the end. Throughout the entire story, I contemplated who could be murdering The Maidens of Cambridge and whether I could really trust the narrator. It’s safe to say that despite my best efforts, I was totally surprised by the twist and definitely did not expect the story to take the turn that it did. Wow. Well done. 

This story is dark and distributing in a way that you can’t look away. As an English nerd, I loved all of the nod’s to classic Greek literature, which really added interesting layers to the story and foreshadowing. I also really liked the connections to The Silent Patient. Since it has been a while since I listened to that book, I didn’t notice them at first, but once I made the connection, it was so fun to return to that world. Overall, this is an excellent thriller and one I will definitely recommend! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Murder, Death, and Pedophilia

mckinleyelle's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Stalking, Death, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Mental illness, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Suicide attempt

kellyisntcool's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Death

Minor: Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

boop123's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Read this via audiobook, and I gotta say this is one of those books that makes you create many theories about what actually happened. Personally, I enjoyed figuring the ending out as I read along, but honestly, almost all of the characters here are annoying and/or stupid, especially Marianna (sorry to say). 

The ending was also unexpected but at the same time, did not give clues throughout the book at all??? So, although the third act of the book was intense and gripping, I was not expecting the ending to go that way at all, which was lowkey dissatisfying. Also, I rarely read books by male authors, but why are adult-minor/age gap relationships such a prevalent theme here???? Kind of a side eye, and like all of the male characters, they are major creeps and extremely annoying lmaooo 

Anyway, this was alright. I still read the whole thing, keeping me engaged until the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual content, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Death, and Pedophilia

Minor: Drug use

carolines's review against another edition

mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Animal death, and Sexual assault

filipa_maia's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I'm not a huge fan of 'The Silent Patient' and I found this book even less enjoyable. I definitely don't like Alex Michaelides' writing, I always feel like his books could be movie scripts. That is something that don't work for me.

Overall I liked the plot. The story is well built and the characters are interesting with complex and very dark backgrounds but the ending... my God... Why? I didn't like it one bit. It definitely subverted expectations but was completely unnecessary.

I enjoyed the "crossover" with 'The Silent Patient' though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Violence, Toxic friendship, Murder, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Incest, and Car accident

schmanderpants's review

dark mysterious 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

2.0

I only kept reading this to find out what happened and then threw the book across the room once I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Violence

Moderate: Death

sophiecarbs's review

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, Pedophilia, Stalking, Drug abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, and Death of parent

friesenag's review

dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Not a bad book but the ending was a little lack luster compared to the silent patient. But it was a good twist, I just think maybe the pacing was weird and only having like 10 pages left was not enough time 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Infidelity

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

dev921's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Drug use, Bullying, Sexual assault, Death, and Adult/minor relationship