Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

137 reviews

mfrisk's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I can’t fully decide yet how I feel about this one but I’m going to try to capture my experience. I really enjoyed the world building, the character building, and the fast pacing due to the shorter chapters. Where I struggle is with the conclusion and the final reveal. I’d have to reread to see if it really makes sense but I’m not sure I feel the reveal was built enough into earlier details of the book. Which I guess could be intentional but the reveal seems overly reliant on the idea that our main character essentially didn’t see what was right in front of her within her relationship. It just seems a bit too neatly wrapped up and convenient. The prologue also could have gone a bit further as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Death, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body horror, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Self harm, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Suicide

ladyashhbooks's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Animal cruelty, and Self harm

Moderate: Drug use and Sexual assault

Minor: Child abuse

mjwhitlock18's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

I came into this after having LOVED The Silent Patient, and was so disappointed. I simply didn’t care for any of the characters, and so many of them felt more like caricatures of people than truly human. I also wasn’t absorbed by the suspense aspect,

because I knew it couldn’t be Fosca, I knew from early on that the biographical chapters were written by Sebastian, and I knew Zoe was suspicious for not admitting her involvement with the Maidens and for pointing the finger at Fosca, who I knew didn’t do it.

. I did listen to the audiobook, which was well-narrated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Stalking, Domestic abuse, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

stephaniezd's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Solid thriller/whodunnit. I felt lost at times due to not having any background in Greek mythology. The ending caught me by surprise, tho, so that was really a nice twist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Murder, Self harm, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Violence

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Pedophilia, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Violence, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Rape

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Suicide attempt

grace_of_avi's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

Def will reread this. Left me speechless 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Self harm

Moderate: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

Minor: Suicide attempt

____emily____'s review

dark mysterious slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, and Mental illness

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

nokibay'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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm

ameliacollins's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Stalking, Mental illness, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Addiction, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Suicide