Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

16 reviews

lizzieinmt's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This book reminded me of Secret History, it's setting and first half was really interesting. But I feel like I'm it's attempts to carry on as a thriller and provide a twist ending it really fell apart. There were characters who really didn't need to be in the book at all, that were given a lot of time. But the main characters weren't really challenged or put together for much of the book so by the end it felt really forced. I enjoyed it as escapist fiction but honestly wouldn't read again. Just read secret history if you want a dark academia murder mystery. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Animal death

Moderate: Abandonment and Grief

Minor: Toxic relationship, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Cursing

truffletree's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Stalking, Pedophilia, Infidelity, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Cursing

krdavis02's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

vivmorris's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

killerpancake's review against another edition

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

justagirlwithabook's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

Not quite sure where to rate this one. Definitely a page-turner and finished it in a day, but not as good as The Silent Patient. I was hoping to have it land on a solid 4-star but I think the way the ending turned out, it puts it more at a 3-3.5 for me.

What I enjoyed:
- I really loved the incorporation of mythology and how it was seamlessly woven into so many events throughout the story.
- I loved the fast-pace! This was definitely a page-turner. 
- I liked the psychotherapist perspective of our main character and having little typed letters from our “villain” sprinkled throughout.
- I was excited to see a clever little nod to The Silent Patient and its main character, Theo. Fun Easter egg!
- There were red herrings everywhere but I love that about mystery/thrillers. It kept me guessing the whole time about who was really responsible. 
- The descriptions of Cambridge were wonderful!

What I didn’t love:
- I was hoping for a grand twist like we had experience in The Silent Patient and was disappointed when it didn’t turn out as twisty as I was hoping for.
- Some aspects of the ending were tough and, content-wise, I was disappointed it went the direction it did. 

Overall, fairly enjoyable read, fast-paced, good mystery/thriller that doesn’t require too much brain-bending to enjoy!

Content Warnings:
Death/murder, ritualistic sacrifices, child abuse, spousal abuse, animal death

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Stalking

Minor: Sexual content and Cursing