Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

57 reviews

paulina_laukova's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Death of parent, Violence, Sexual assault, Gore, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Animal death

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Car accident

beeper's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

Really enjoyed the first 3/4 of this book. The last 1/4 fell flat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

lbg352's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Pedophilia

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Violence

thebookpaiges's review

emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Self harm, Murder, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Blood, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Death of parent, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

stephmcnutt28's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

If you’re looking for dark academia books, this checks lots of boxes. Cambridge setting. Greek mythology. Shady professors. It’s all there. Unfortunately, that’s what carried this book along. 

Characters: To be honest, the characters fell flat for me. Obviously the each had flaws, and there was an attempt to make those flaws a part of the story, but Mariana came off as whiny, petulant, and childish instead of tortured and in a healing process. Everything about her actions felt overly exaggerated. 
Plot: the plot was fine until the twist. It felt like nothing really lined up to make the twist seem plausible. It felt more like playing a game with a three year old and partway through the game they change the rules without explanation. The way some of the loose ends were tied up felt hasty and amateur. I just didn’t feel satisfied at the ending. 
I did think it was neat how the author tied into The Silent Patient.  
Overall, this book did not live up to the social media hype for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Grief, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, and Mental illness

regent_ace's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Actual Rating: 2.5 stars


I enjoyed the atmosphere of it and I liked the main character a lot and sympathized with her.
I thought the red herring in the book got repetitive after a while and I really disliked the twist at the end. I felt the ending left a bad taste in my mouth (metaphorically)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Sexual content, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Stalking

jen1804's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

A good dark academia thriller with a decent mystery exploring Greek mythology and secret societies at Cambridge University. The plot does a good job of keeping you suspicious of multiple characters and keeps you guessing. Whilst the person responsible for the murders was definitely on my suspect list, I wasn’t able to unravel the full plot line and there was definitely a twist I wasn’t expecting. Unpredictability is always a good thing when it comes to mystery novels and this one kept me engaged, wanting to find out what happens next, with good suspenseful tension created at times.
Plus I’m a nerd for character crossovers so I was very pleased to see Theo make an appearance from Michaelides’ other novel The Silent Patient.
Satisfactory ending? Yes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Stalking, Death of parent, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, and Animal death

hermione_gilmore's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, and Death of parent

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

4.5

Super enjoyed this one. I didn't expect the twist like at all, but I'm also garbage at trying to figure out mysteries. Mariana is a good unreliable narrator, and l liked seeing her growth by the end. The ending did feel a little rushed and not entirely tied up, but I liked the reveal of who the letter/journal writer was. I feel bad for all the girls in the book who are victims of death and manipulation. 
There are some heavy topics within so def check out content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Alcohol, Body horror, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Rape, and Toxic relationship

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