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rocketcityreader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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
Oh boy, where to start. I can’t say that I hated it, but I also thought it was ironically pretentious, and just a *little* boring? I rolled my eyes several times over the course of the story, annoyed with both how the young women outside of Mariana’s circle were written as vain and vapid, and at how the men were written as engaging, intelligent, and charismatic.
Fosca was irritating, which I assume was the point. Mariana, however, was also annoying, and incredibly stupid. And they didn’t feel fleshed out to me—they felt like the author had *tried* to write interesting and believable characters and then heroically missed the mark.
And I hated how every man made a point to talk about how beautiful they all found Mariana, only to be counteracted by her own internal thoughts and disagreements. Her continued insecurities and naïveté didn’t feel natural. I was surprised when she admitted to another character that she was 36 because she didn’t read that way at all. This was extra bothersome in context—Mariana is a group therapist, and therefore she should be sensible and intuitive. She was neither. However, she was continuously written off as being crazy (another therapist friend of hers suggested she seek help at one point), even though she was trying to present pieces of a puzzle and help solve the murders. So, the men found her beautiful, but quickly dismissed her whenever she wanted to talk.<spoilers>
It was also, irritatingly, predictable. Though the reveal of the real murderer was a nice surprise twist, I had put enough of the copious red herrings together to know who the murderer wasn’t, and to have guessed a lot of things about the actual murderer that were meant to be alarming.<spoilers>
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, and Pedophilia
CW for grooming._bookishbrina's review against another edition
dark
reflective
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? No
3.5
book genre: murder, mystery, greek mythology
pace: fast
overall rating: 3.5/5
storyline: ★★★✩✩
characters: ★★★✩✩
character development: ★★✩✩✩
writing: ★★✩✩✩
diversity: ★✩✩✩✩
attention to detail: ★★★★✩
ending: ★★✩✩✩ (a bit rushed)
originality: ★★★✩✩
is there smut? no, however, there is mention of sex but no description.
Will I be reading the next book? Unsure. After two books from this author, the first being the silent patient, I am becoming acutely aware of how he enjoys putting his female characters in positions where they think they become paranoid - when they are, in fact, not. It's like every man (literally more than one male character per book harasses the main women) becomes a threat to his female characters. It's not only annoying, but it should not be used as entertainment. I thought it created great context in the silent patient, and felt that it was totally unnecessary in the maidens. To me, it did not add to the general ambiance or lifted the storyline. As a woman, please stop.
However, I did enjoy the story. The plot was a bit more predictable, albeit not completely. Loved the little wink at the silent patient by meeting Theo.
pace: fast
overall rating: 3.5/5
storyline: ★★★✩✩
characters: ★★★✩✩
character development: ★★✩✩✩
writing: ★★✩✩✩
diversity: ★✩✩✩✩
attention to detail: ★★★★✩
ending: ★★✩✩✩ (a bit rushed)
originality: ★★★✩✩
is there smut? no, however, there is mention of sex but no description.
Will I be reading the next book? Unsure. After two books from this author, the first being the silent patient, I am becoming acutely aware of how he enjoys putting his female characters in positions where they think they become paranoid - when they are, in fact, not. It's like every man (literally more than one male character per book harasses the main women) becomes a threat to his female characters. It's not only annoying, but it should not be used as entertainment. I thought it created great context in the silent patient, and felt that it was totally unnecessary in the maidens. To me, it did not add to the general ambiance or lifted the storyline. As a woman, please stop.
However, I did enjoy the story. The plot was a bit more predictable, albeit not completely. Loved the little wink at the silent patient by meeting Theo.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Murder
Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
iamaemmafan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, 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
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
jenns_library's review against another edition
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
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Minor: Addiction and Adult/minor relationship
charlottes_library's review against another edition
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
3.25
Personally, I didn’t enjoy this book. It was alright but it felt juvenile to me. There was a lot of potential with the plot but i found the characters static and lacking motives. It is a murder mystery with a shock twist ending that was surprising and frankly the only interesting thing about the book. It is a very obvious attempt at creating a dark academia atmosphere but its done lazily (ie. chucking in ancient greek and mythology references). I understand this is supposed to create some deeper meaning considering the whole plot, setting and characters are related to greek mythology but it feels clunky and tacky. This story is Michaelides’ attempt at replicating the success of The Silent Patient and you know how I know that? A filler character was added to (for no plot or character driven reason) conveniently mention the main character and key selling points of The Silent Patient. Self-promo in the middle of a alright but not entirely gripping “thriller”. I recommend this for someone into YA fiction as it is not a difficult read. It is worded to get the plot across; this works for some but I prefer a book i have to think about. The literary equivalent of a lifetime movie: time-passer that requires minimal thinking but nothing mind-blowing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Murder
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Blood, and Gore
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Pedophilia
dsaiz's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, Self harm, Grief, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Medical content, Infidelity, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Death of parent, Child death, and Terminal illness
inkslinger's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
'The Maidens' is the newest release from Alex Michaelides, bestselling author of the debut sensation 'The Silent Patient.' A psychological thriller housed within St. Christopher's College, Cambridge, the author binds mystery and murder to themes of classic Greek mythology.
Told primarily through the narrative of Mariana, a group psychotherapist who's a year into mourning for her late husband, the woman is drawn back to the place where their love story began by what is quite likely the only thing that could motivate her to set foot there. A call for help from her niece, Zoe, regarding her best friend's murder.
Drifting between the memories of their courtship haunting her still and the secrets stacking up around her that seem to be held tightly by both the students and faculty members, Mariana struggles to put the pieces together. Strangeness is afoot amongst a select group of students referred to as The Maidens and their darkly charismatic professor, Edward Fosca.
From the opening pages, Michaelides captures grief exquisitely, affixing it to the page with the expertise of a collector.. as if it's a butterfly pinned neatly under glass for the rest of us to study. Above all else, it's the ability to convey those emotions.. so richly textured, that inextricably bound me to this story through its end.
It certainly doesn't hurt that the author himself seems to be well-read. More than once, though I was loathe to put the book down, I found myself pausing in search of referenced writings that I'd never cared enough to read prior. His romantic description behind Tennyson's grief drove me to read the 3,000 line masterpiece, 'In Memoriam.' I researched theses for Antigone, dissertations on Euripides, and though Aristotle is one of my favorites.. this book had me viewing 'The Poetics' through a different lens entirely.
Periodically, snippets of another narrative appear throughout the book. Snippets of what could be diary entries from an individual who has known great suffering and may in fact be inflicting the same on others. Interestingly enough, there are so many choices presented by the author, that it's difficult to even stick with a guess as to who it might be.
Eloquently penned, the story moves at a steady pace, weaving.. labyrinthine through the lives affected by the murder. Those ripples reaching in some cases much farther than we might anticipate, creating more difficult situations on top of the first.
Though Michaelides did keep me guessing to the end, my only complaint is that I felt almost cheated. I felt robbed of the moment where I might look back and say to myself, "I should have seen that," because it wasn't there. It wasn't just subterfuge and misdirection, it was a blank canvas. I like to call it the 'Saw' treatment.. and never have I been so infuriated by a film.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the book. In a lesser writer's hands that feeling would have won out, but it's just so beautifully crafted and so emotionally driven.. that I forgive him for taking a path that just personally displeases me. I'm truly grateful for having read this story, I haven't been so immersed in a long time.
If you like tense thrillers with a psychological bent and an elegant, artistic approach.. this is the book for you.
(I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)
Told primarily through the narrative of Mariana, a group psychotherapist who's a year into mourning for her late husband, the woman is drawn back to the place where their love story began by what is quite likely the only thing that could motivate her to set foot there. A call for help from her niece, Zoe, regarding her best friend's murder.
Drifting between the memories of their courtship haunting her still and the secrets stacking up around her that seem to be held tightly by both the students and faculty members, Mariana struggles to put the pieces together. Strangeness is afoot amongst a select group of students referred to as The Maidens and their darkly charismatic professor, Edward Fosca.
From the opening pages, Michaelides captures grief exquisitely, affixing it to the page with the expertise of a collector.. as if it's a butterfly pinned neatly under glass for the rest of us to study. Above all else, it's the ability to convey those emotions.. so richly textured, that inextricably bound me to this story through its end.
It certainly doesn't hurt that the author himself seems to be well-read. More than once, though I was loathe to put the book down, I found myself pausing in search of referenced writings that I'd never cared enough to read prior. His romantic description behind Tennyson's grief drove me to read the 3,000 line masterpiece, 'In Memoriam.' I researched theses for Antigone, dissertations on Euripides, and though Aristotle is one of my favorites.. this book had me viewing 'The Poetics' through a different lens entirely.
Periodically, snippets of another narrative appear throughout the book. Snippets of what could be diary entries from an individual who has known great suffering and may in fact be inflicting the same on others. Interestingly enough, there are so many choices presented by the author, that it's difficult to even stick with a guess as to who it might be.
Eloquently penned, the story moves at a steady pace, weaving.. labyrinthine through the lives affected by the murder. Those ripples reaching in some cases much farther than we might anticipate, creating more difficult situations on top of the first.
Though Michaelides did keep me guessing to the end, my only complaint is that I felt almost cheated. I felt robbed of the moment where I might look back and say to myself, "I should have seen that," because it wasn't there. It wasn't just subterfuge and misdirection, it was a blank canvas. I like to call it the 'Saw' treatment.. and never have I been so infuriated by a film.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the book. In a lesser writer's hands that feeling would have won out, but it's just so beautifully crafted and so emotionally driven.. that I forgive him for taking a path that just personally displeases me. I'm truly grateful for having read this story, I haven't been so immersed in a long time.
If you like tense thrillers with a psychological bent and an elegant, artistic approach.. this is the book for you.
(I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Blood
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