Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

25 reviews

thyme_paradox's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Grief, Abandonment, Bullying, and Drug use

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Infidelity, Addiction, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Rape, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

telepathicseagull's review

dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Blood, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Murder, and Stalking

bibliodiaries's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is a thriller with a capital T.  It is written in a way that you feel like you are involved in what is going on.  There is a plot twist that you don't see coming, and really changes the whole way you see the book as well as one of the main characters choices.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Death and Alcoholism

davinmotion's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I read The Silent Patient a few months ago and enjoyed it, but my friend read this, The Maidens, first and hated it so violently I decided I had to read it to out of curiosity. I wanted to know if his way of writing was the cause or if this book was so very different. I think I can safely say that while this book has some differences from The Silent Patient, it is similar enough that if you hated reading one of these books, you’ll likely hate reading another. Thankfully, I actually like reading his books and will likely continue to do so.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Blood, Domestic abuse, and Death

Minor: Animal death, Sexism, Alcoholism, and Car accident

If sexual abuse of a minor and implied grooming of a minor is a trigger for you, I suggest you skip this book.

threadsof_kate's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, and Violence

lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

It’s important to keep looking ahead. You mustn’t forever look back, over your shoulder. Think about the future.

Well, I didn’t see that one coming. It caught me a bit off-guard (only a bit because I suspected all of them ha ha ha). 

I enjoy reading Michaelides’ books because 1) I love mystery, and 2) I like that psychology is always incorporated. However, I have yet to read a work from him that will satisfy me. He does his descriptions well (he's a good writer, no doubt about that), but the “reveal” is always unsatisfying. The ending felt rushed. I read The Silent Patient and I had the same problems.

Side note: what was the point of Henry's character? Personally, I think there will be no difference even if his character didn't exist.

I’ll still read his future books, though... because I have a lot of fun reading about crazy people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, Abandonment, Addiction, and Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, and Suicide attempt

spillingthepomegranates's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Alcoholism

graveyardreads's review

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

1.5

300 pages of filler only for the book to climax and end in the last 20. The ending of this book left me feeling disgusted and betrayed by the author. Setting was cool, dark academia vibes and stuff but again the ending just really pissed me off. Also, Marianna, the main character is literally the most dumb, daft and clueless character I’ve read. This author truly had no idea how to write a woman dealing with creepy men. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Violence

pagesofniru's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

qotd : Your favourite dark academia read? 

The Maidens by alex.michaelides

My Rating🌟🌟🌟🌟: 4/5
Pages: 360
Genre: Dark Academia, Psychological Thriller, Mystery.
{TW: child abuse, violence, stalking, murder, self harm, death and sexual abuse}

“ᴏ ʟɪꜰᴇ  ᴀꜱ ꜰᴜᴛɪʟᴇ, ᴛʜᴇɴ, ᴀꜱ ꜰʀᴀɪʟ! / ᴏ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜʏ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴏᴏᴛʜᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ʙʟᴇꜱꜱ!/ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴀɴꜱᴡᴇʀ , ᴏʀ ʀᴇᴅʀᴇꜱꜱ?/ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇɪʟ, ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇɪʟ…”
I read “The Maidens” while ago but couldn’t review it. I call psychological thrillers as adrenalines. It increases your heartbeat till the end.
I am a big fan of  Alex Michaelides  prior psychological thriller “The silent Patient”. so I couldn’t stop picking this book and this is absolute treat of Dark Academia X Psychological thriller.
The story revolve around six characters: Mariana, Zoe, Edward fosca, sebastian fred and clarissa and mostly intense and shocking.
Mariana is aunt of zoe(a student at uni) is the prime character who is a therapist trying save zoe from the murderer . Mariana is still processing the death of her husband Sebastian takes the roller coaster ride to solve the murder mystery of Uni students and who part of secret society.
“ɪ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛɪᴍᴇꜱ ʜᴏʟᴅ ɪᴛ ʜᴀʟꜰ ᴀ ꜱɪɴ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴜᴛ ɪɴ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀɪᴇꜰ ɪ ꜰᴇᴇʟ; ꜰᴏʀ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ, ʟɪᴋᴇ ɴᴀᴛᴜʀᴇ, ʜᴀʟꜰ ʀᴇᴠᴇᴀʟ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴀʟꜰ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇᴀʟ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴏᴜʟ ᴡɪᴛʜɪɴ”
Edward fosca a charming professor  for greek mythology holds a private /secret study group only for women students. He is centred for the tragic murders of the women in the same group.
(Note: Greek goddess persephone in greek  is called as Kore - “The Maiden” and worshipped as goddess of death. The secret society refers to the persephone myth) 
I really loved every aspect of this book and the ending is surprising. Alex has woven this story so well It's perfect for DA and PT readers. I totally recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Body horror

lexslittlelibrary's review

challenging 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

4.0

I want to love this book so much! Up until the very last plot twist I was captivated by everything within the text. Given how convinced Mariana was that Fosca was a murderer I went into this going “okay so not him” but time and time again I was a bit unsure. I think there was one potentially really good red herring thrown in but he was too easy to dismiss. Same with the other attempts made at a suspect. 

Henry could have been such a great suspect if he wasn’t clearly too far gone to write that kind of text /

It was too easy as a reader to look at the letters of confession and know who could not have written them. However the plot twist at the end did nothing feel entirely earned. It came out of left field without much to substantiate it and honestly made a lot of the emotion I invested in some of the characters feel a bit wasted? 

Overall, the side characters who could have been compelling fell flat. We didn’t see enough of Fosca and the Maidens (in my opinion) and the Maidens we did see were hard to get a feel for. 

The two introduced Maidens who died just felt like a toss up of ‘oh I know that name. Didn’t contribute to who was a suspect or give much emotion for the victims /

Overall, I want to love this book. And it’s fun enough — until the very end with the very last reveal. That’s where it lost me. Solid read but fell a hit short for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Incest, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide