Reviews with content warning for Infertility - The Maidens

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.

Content Warnings

antidietleah's review against another edition

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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? It's complicated

2.0

Content Warnings

daybreakreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

5.0

I finished this book in a day and a half. It was impossible to put down. I haven’t read his other book — I find it interesting that most of the negative reviews simply say that this one isn’t as good as The Silent Patient (makes me wonder how great that one is if I loved this one so much) — but I’m happy I read this one first because there’s a subtle connection between the two.

I actually suspected the right person early on (ultimately for the wrong reason), but mostly dismissed it because of a very powerful red herring (even though I at one point suspected the red herring as being such). I would say the true ending would be very difficult if not impossible to guess the first time through; I almost want to re-read it again now that I know how it ends.

The audiobook was fascinating to listen to; they used a different voice actor for the alternate perspective.

Content Warnings

sashea's review

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Well, this book had dark, and academia. With an interesting setting, and plenty of murders, this had the main ingredients down- just half-baked in execution.

Initially intriguing but quickly got repetitive and almost boring. Only the short length of the book made me finish it. The men presented as suspicious have similar backgrounds

of abusive fathers

and the narrator pushes her professional observations/unfounded assumptions on them, making none of them particularly likeable in the process. Also just tons of lapses in judgement that don't make sense

if you keep getting threats of a guy you know to be unstable "watching you", and notice a man consistently following you at night... maybe stop going out alone at night for a little bit? Stay in and read something, maybe? Let the police know? Honestly Henry's whole inclusion felt unneeded. It felt like the author had wanted you to assume he was there to kill Mariana when he finally confronted her at Cambridge because he had the knife, but that part resolved so quickly and he already had a history of self-harm to get her attention so in effect it felt more like just wrapping up the loose end of "hey is this guy ever going to get any kind of help since obviously it is not coming from Mariana?"

.

The twist at the end (for the motivation at least) was surprising but there was no connection to any of the characters and too many heavy-handed obvious red herrings that I wasn't even interested enough to guess at

why Zoe did it. Zoe wasn't even in it enough to make me care about her being a killer, let alone her affair with Sebastian - though to be fair she did need to be out of the narrative view to be committing the murders so maybe not much to be done there

Even with the reveal it was less of a "WHAT?!? I can't believe I didn't see it!" and more of a "uh, okay then."

In summary, this book is "Daddy issues and the (two-dimensional) women who pay for it."

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mushymargo's review

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slow-paced

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

2.75

So predictable, slow, depressing

Content Warnings

minimicropup's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

Atmosphere 🧐: Mostly set at Cambridge University in the UK. Can't quite figure out why, but it wasn't immersive or atmospheric for me.
-Writing suffered from "the" syndrome, but instead of "the living room" "the house" "the car", we get "The (name of Cambridge building)", "the courtyard", "the main arch".
-The atmosphere and plot are driven by nostalgia, but we are seeing the University solely through the MCs eyes as alumni, so there is a lot of updating the reader about why certain buildings or characters are meaningful after the fact.

Main POVs:
-A Greek-born, Cambridge University educated psychotherapist specializing in group therapy. They are grieving the accidental death of their spouse while on vacation. They had an emotionally neglectful childhood, experienced a series of tragic losses of loved ones, and the only family left is their niece (who is currently studying at Cambridge University).
-Introspective-style journal entry or letter of an unknown character describing their life.

Cred Rating 👎: Nonsensical to outlandish. This is not an absurdist/bizarre/speculative fiction, and it's not over-the-top/campy/satirical fiction. Yet somehow the writing manages to tip toe back and forth between those directions while aiming for realistic tragedy. It felt inconsistent and erratic, which kept pulling me out of the story and diluting the plot.

Growls and Howls 🐺 (many...but I didn't dislike this book)
-A lot of the memory lane tellings didn't seem relevant to the plot, just something the reader had to know to explain the camaraderie (or lack thereof) between the MC and various characters. I wish we had another POV. Maybe from one of the 'Maidens' or the niece.
-I don't know much about Greek tragedy but the way it was presented felt more like explaining a religion? There is explanation given but it disrupted the dialog (almost like the MC had to turn to us to explain things to readers like me mid-sentence). Academic discussions went on for awhile, leaving me feeling lost. That's 100% on me for being ignorant, but I got the feeling that even if you were knowledgeable on the topic it may still feel forced into the plot sometimes?
-Lack of depth for the MC and their quirks. Why don't they lock doors?! Why do they put themselves so obviously in danger? Why are they so overconfident and skeptical and other times so blindly trusting? Were they always this way? Did this start after their spouse died? Why?
-The whodunnit may range from reveal to twist for you, but that wouldn't ruin the book. The whydunnit does though. It's a well done 🤯 unpredictable twist ruined by 🤨 "wait, whut? that makes no sense" motivation.

Reading Journey 🫠: Friend wants to take you somewhere via their scenic nostalgic route, but their memories are long-winded and totally lost on you. A lot of polite smiling to hide the "are we done yet?" thoughts.

Possible match if you like:
-Mysteries in academic settings
-Metaphors, similes, and archetypes from Greek literature
-Hyperbolic characters
-Descriptive, "telling"/exposition type narratives
-Incompetent police, pathologists, security
-Whodunnits and amateur sleuthing

Content Heads-Up: Death of a spouse and fertility issues.

Format: Library Digital via Libby

Content Warnings

literaryinluv's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

glammster's review

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dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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