Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

136 reviews

erinbarton's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.0

this was a really fun thriller for the first 80% or so but unfortunately the ending was just not satisfying in wrapping up the plot. i really enjoyed the short chapters and multiple parts structure because it made the book feel very fast paced. the atmospheric cambridge setting was done really well i thought and the investigative narrative was engaging.

i thought the concept of the maidens and their charismatic professor was so interesting and created so many questions. however, i don’t feel this idea was explored well enough - the maiden’s barely had any appearances and didn’t do anything significant enough to really show how much influence fosca had over them. i was definitely expecting more of a cult vibe but apart from them inviting him into a group therapy session they didn’t do anything to support him.

i think the blurb and prologue announcing that mariana was convinced of fosca’s guilt was a bit misleading since she wasn’t really sure he was guilty until the halfway mark. this was more of a whodunnit with a lot of suspicious characters for the first half

henry’s confrontation of mariana and suicide attempt felt so rushed and anticlimactic — the whole henry subplot in general felt to me like it was added in after the main plot was written to add more threat and mystery to mariana, but the phone calls and room break-in were so obviously henry to the point where i thought there would be another actual twist that someone else had been threatening/stalking her. we learn at the very beginning that henry is stalking her and threatens her so it was hardly a twist.

the reveal of zoe being the killer and her motive being to kill mariana in a way that would frame someone else so that she could inherit mariana’s money was TERRIBLE. perhaps sebastian’s grooming of zoe would be enough to convince her to kill mariana so they could be together, but i don’t think it would be enough to convince her to kill three of her classmates and frame one of her professors, all to get to mariana after sebastian’s already dead. why not just kill mariana in london and frame one of her patients for it? why wouldn’t sebastian just kill her on their holiday and say she drowned? when the letter to zoe was revealed i knew it obviously wasn’t from fosca, but for a bit i did wonder if it was from fred and that he had orchestrated meeting mariana on the train and acted like a clumsy love-struck idiot to lure her into trusting him. this probably would have been a better twist. 

also, if the maidens and fosca had nothing to do with the murders, why did they act so strangely and apathetically after them? if zoe was the killer then these girls were really just a close-knit study group who had three of their members murdered and reacted by saying they were “stupid” and “deserved to be murdered”? just because they were all sleeping with the professor it doesn’t mean anyone would realistically act this way.

lastly, and perhaps my biggest question, is fred actually psychic? why did he seem to know so much about mariana’s past? how did he know mariana was in danger at the end?

overall, this to me had so much promise but left too many unanswered questions and plot holes. all of the characters act in a way that is incredibly unrealistic to arouse suspicion and provide red herrings. though it was definitely a fun and fast-paced read for the most part, the ending somewhat spoils that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Grief, and Stalking

feebles640'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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, and Drug use

gravesandyearning's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Murder, Self harm, Mental illness, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pedophilia and Blood

melisat00's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Grief, Self harm, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

kkeraunos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

STOP BECAUSE I PICKED THIS BOOK FOR MY BOOK CLUB AT SCHOOL AND ALL OF US LOVE IT AND I JUST- yeah it’s really goood and the twist was not what i thought 0_0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Self harm

hgunsch's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, Body horror, Stalking, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

mattsachs's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Self harm

graveyardreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

1.5

300 pages of filler only for the book to climax and end in the last 20. The ending of this book left me feeling disgusted and betrayed by the author. Setting was cool, dark academia vibes and stuff but again the ending just really pissed me off. Also, Marianna, the main character is literally the most dumb, daft and clueless character I’ve read. This author truly had no idea how to write a woman dealing with creepy men. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Stalking, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Violence

nicoleherz's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

An engaging mystery that kept my attention. So many questions I wanted answers to, and written well, in a way that was easy to fly through.
I was constantly speculating who the murderer(s) might be, and what twist the author would throw in.

I had considered the possibility it was Zoe, but never would have guessed that Sebastian had anything to do with it. It made it a great twist, but I'm not sure if it aligns well with all the clues given earlier. There definitely could have been more details given to make it more plausible.

I also found the epilogue to give me more answers than questions. Oh well, still a great read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Abandonment, Murder, Blood, Death, Grief, and Self harm

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Stalking, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Bullying, and Death of parent

maggie_hamel's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Stalking, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Blood, and Body horror