Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

230 reviews

intentions's review against another edition

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? Yes

1.0

wasted my time honestly. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia

ashleyvaleria's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

i read a few bad reviews before picking up this book and that usually affects my judgement but i for one very much enjoyed this book. very hard to put down and i couldn’t stop reading. i love the greek tragedy aspect of this authors writing which is what drew me to his other book The Silent Patient which i loved as well. i liked the little cameo with Theo, was a little shocked cause i didn’t know they were interconnected so it caught me off guard. ending is reminiscent to me of a Scream film. i guessed the killer but the backstory and motive was a complete shock to me.  i don’t care if the ending was abrupt and kind of out of nowhere cause my jaw was dropped and i was entertained and that’s all i need from a book at this point. only criticism is that many characters were introduced for no reason. the story could’ve done without their introduction and plot lines, kind of pointless to the story. but ending tied it all together for me and i loved it. his writing is great. would definitely read another one of his books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, and Violence

joensign's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Violence, Death, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, and Self harm

hannahjpackard's review against another edition

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape

Minor: Ableism

alexkudej's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Murder, Pedophilia, and Grief

Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Violence, Child death, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Cursing

Minor: Animal death and Suicide attempt

mar's review

slow-paced

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

1.0

the first 90% of this book was the least thrilling thriller i've ever read, the last 10% was an absolutely infuriating combination of nonsensical plot twists. literally the only good thing about this book is the cover.

ALSO, WHY IS ONE OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS BOOK WITH NO OTHER FANTASY ELEMENTS A PSYCHIC? i thought that him knowing things he shouldn't know about the main character would turn out to mean he's been stalking her or something*, but nope, he's just psychic. hello???????

* he does also literally stalk her later in the book but don't worry about it it's fine when he does it because he's the Nice Guy Love Interest <3

anyway. been a while since a book sucked so bad it made me feel like i was losing my mind, so. thanks. for that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Pedophilia

Minor: Self harm

dorin_d's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Rape, Pedophilia, and Suicide

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

stephmcnutt28's review

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

vibingandy's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Stalking, and Toxic relationship