Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

7 reviews

dblue236's review

dark mysterious tense slow-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

Trigger warnings: Violence, gore, brief mention of an inappropriate relationship between an adult and a minor. 

This book vaguely ties in with this author's The Silent Patient, but you do not have to have read that book in order to follow this one, or vice versa. It amounts to a brief mention of a couple of characters who are included in the other book that doesn't relate to the story, and both books can be read as standalones. Having said that, I definitely felt The Silent Patient was the stronger of the two. This one certainly wasn't anything like BAD, but the pace was so painfully slow I struggled to follow the plot for about the first half of the book. It did finally pick up toward the end and it turned out to be well worth sticking it out, but of the three books I've read by this author so far, this was definitely my least favorite. It's still worth reading, but maybe don't make it the starting point by which you judge the author's work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Pedophilia

miggyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Torture, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

joperceptions's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book wasn’t bad (I’m being kind, it was quite bad). I think stepping into it after the silent patient, meant I had my own idea of the way the author may have set it up and I was right in a sense. It follows a similar vibe in regards to a mystery with a plot 
twist. The writing style was easy enough to follow for me. The only comment on that is, I feel as though the character development for supporting characters (important ones too) was just not as strong as it should have been at points. I found myself confused on who certain people were once I hit the end of the book, but that could easily just be a me issue. I’m not going back to check but I feel like it had some minor plot holes, or at least things that weren’t wrapped up in a way that was at all satisfying, nor helpful to answering any questions that the plot twist may have evoked. I feel like the reveal was dropped and somewhere it was forgotten that we’d still want to hear the aftermath (beyond the few pages of whatever we got). And also understand more about wtf that plot
Line was even about and elaborating on it more?? But we got none of that. It’s not a VERY BAD book, it’s actually a really good concept and I like the authors writing style in a general consensus, i just think this book could have been articulated a bit better and it would have been a really good read. 
⚠️SPOILER AHEAD⚠️

I really just don’t think Zoe being the killer made any sense to me, the whole ending  sort of felt like it was decided last minute. I don’t feel like it had any build up, or things that happened prior to even create a sense of suspicion toward her at all, which sort of made the reveal, shocking yes, but a bit less interesting. TW: (pedophilia, grooming) Also the lack of conversation on the fact that Sebastian groomed a minor, was so incredibly concerning to me. Like i understand it was brought up mid “fight scene” or whatever that last bit was. But I still feel like that bomb was just dropped and not at all critiqued besides her being upset that zoe and Sebastian weren’t who she thought they were. Not the literal fact that Zoe was a minor, a literal CHILD when all of that shit happened. It was not approached in a way that was appropriate in my eyes.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Medical content, Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Incest, Grief, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

mheiling's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Violence, Murder, Toxic relationship, Gore, Stalking, Grief, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Medical trauma, Infidelity, Infertility, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Forced institutionalization, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Pedophilia, and Drug use

layla_reads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

i did like this but why does mariana have zero reaction to anything 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Incest, Pedophilia, Gore, Infidelity, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Blood, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt

madroche's review

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Blood, and Body horror

killerpancake's review

mysterious 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

Things I did not enjoy about this book:

• Every bit that involved psychotherapy. It seems in order for this topic to be interesting in books that it always has to be approach unethically.
• The Greek tragedy themes feeling like window dressing
• The extremely obvious red herrings

This just didn't do it for me on any level. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical trauma, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Child abuse, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship