Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The Maidens

This didn't wow me. It was alright and I was surprised by the twist but it didn't really capture me in the way I'd hoped.
I liked the Greek Mythology lens.

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maggie_hamel's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.75

SPOILERS!!!!! I really didn’t expect the ending but it made me more sad than intrigued. I felt so bad for the young Zoe who was taken advantage of. I also felt like they threw a lot of things in the end that I didn’t have time to process. But it was pretty good!

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lexslittlelibrary's review against another edition

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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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cuddlewithbooks's review

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mysterious medium-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

2.5

I guess I'm underwhelmed? I expected much more reference to Classical literature/mythology and a deep dive into it. As well as it being sprinkled across the plot of the story. It felt like that part of the plot was small and insignificant.
I did not love the mystery. The singular focus of the MC made it hard to decipher who else it could be with little foundation.
And the twist, it felt like it came out of nowhere. I am of the mind that I want a twist to have plausibility. I do not want just shock value.

This book was just not my cup of tea. However, I am not a big mystery/thriller reader so other reviewers might offer something much more insightful than me!

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bronzeageholly's review against another edition

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dark tense 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? Yes

4.0

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