Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

257 reviews

duckizza's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Mental illness, Child abuse, Murder, Abandonment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Panic attacks/disorders

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

rachel1106's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.5

Ending was a tad rushed and a little predictable. Buildup was good. Characters were ok. A little bland. Everyone in this book has  daddy issues, my lord.

I did not like how Sebastian was a pedo? Why couldn't Zoe have just been delusional and unwell and therefore fantasize about him wanting her, instead of him actually loving his 15 year old niece? That's so weird, and you already had Fosca sleeping with his barely legal students. It wasn't needed. I don't know why Sebastian needed to be a nasty criminal in order for Mariana to finally start to move on from him. So that way she could not be as traumatized by learning that her niece is a maniacal serial killer who used Mariana's good will and want to protect her daughter-like figure from the danger that her own serial killer niece made up? It's a tad much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Violence

Moderate: Murder and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Drug use

mfox1015's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

It’s easy to feel drawn to suspect one character as the murderer but I felt suspicious of that. Didn’t see the twist coming. Solid thriller set on the academic world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, and Domestic abuse

sugarbucky's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Michaelides has done it again!! You will NEVER guess the twist in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

lalinamarie's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A thriller that did shock me, just not in the way I was expecting it to. In the same note it disturbed me most when I was not expecting it.

By this I’m referencing finding out Sebastian had groomed Zoe
I’m assuming since he’d met her as a little girl. Made my stomach turn. Though I had a feeling Zoe was in on the murders, I did not expect that.

The one thing I really don’t like about this book is how they try to make psychoanalysis into something so simple. “I can see it in your eyes,” and things like that throughout the book made me roll my eyes as someone who actually works in the mental health field. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Death

Trigger Warning

grooming

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epruta's review

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Drug use, and Alcohol

gwenswoons's review against another edition

dark tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Incest, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Torture, and Gore

lump's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Animal cruelty, Murder, and Animal death

Minor: Gore, Incest, Child abuse, Blood, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Domestic abuse

a_libraryghost's review

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

3.75

Rating this book is hard. On one hand it was a really enjoyable read that I completed in one sitting and I briefly considered rating it 5 stars just based on that but on the other hand many of the criticisms I’m seeing in the reviews are valid. 

There are a lot of red herrings in this book as Alex Michaelides is obviously very keen for you to not guess the ending which I don’t mind too much as I really enjoy the mystery but I probably would have preferred a couple of red herrings that were explored more deeply than a whole bunch of shallow ones. 

There’s one character I did actually really like but I do not understand their purpose in the story. I kept waiting for them to be linked to something, part of me was sure they were going to be the killer especially after the letter is found but nope. Pretty sure you could remove them from the plot and nothing would change. 

The twist is good, probably one of my favourites that I’ve read recently. Part of it wasn’t surprising but the other part was and it connects very well with what people keep telling the MC. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship