Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

238 reviews

raynie'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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Mental illness, Infidelity, Grief, Death of parent, and Animal death

thyme_paradox's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Grief, Abandonment, Bullying, and Drug use

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Infidelity, Addiction, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Rape, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

agavette's review

mysterious tense medium-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: Violence and Stalking

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Violence, Death, and Grief

arbramirez's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Death, Gaslighting, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Xenophobia, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, and Animal cruelty

james1star's review

dark 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

2.5

2.5 ⭐️ 

This has an interesting synopsis and start but definitely fell flat (I’m writing this 2 months after finishing it and literally cannot remember like anything) and was kinda boring. We follow psychologist Mariana who gets a call from her niece saying her friend at Cambridge uni Zoe was found killed so she goes to visit her. Once arriving,  she discovers the weird but adored professor Edward Fosca and his posse of female students called The Maidens. Mariana becomes convinced Edward is the culprit despite having an alibi and basically what ensures is the investigation into what might be lurking behind the university’s dark academic beauty. 

A lot of the book is slow paced, there’s quite a few red herrings and on the whole not much really happens. It speeds up towards the end with a rather rushed conclusion which I found alright but yh, it was just a bit lacklustre and one I didn’t particularly like all that much. I couldn’t really relate to or like the characters all that much, they’re underdeveloped, lacked nuance nor any real complexity. Personally I wouldn’t recommend this but it’s quite a decisive book so you may enjoy it, for me it was rather meh but not terrible. I’m still intrigued to read Michaelides’s other book The Silent Patient which’ll hopefully have more substance to it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Self harm, Mental illness, and Grief

siennaflynn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Grief, Violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Bullying, Child abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Rape, and Self harm

heartofhorrors's review against another edition

mysterious 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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Toxic friendship, Blood, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, and Sexual content

tadah's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Car accident, Suicide attempt, Grief, Death of parent, and Pedophilia

schausjk's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I flew through this book. The pacing was excellent, and there were so many red herrings that I wasn't 100% sure of anything until the end. That being said, a lot of the characters were a bit flat for me and I would've liked to have seen them better developed. There were also several loose ends that I really would have liked to have seen tied up in some capacity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Drug abuse, Blood, Domestic abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Animal death, Physical abuse, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Self harm

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

Minor: Emotional abuse, Car accident, Torture, Suicide, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Classism, and Medical content

bessadams's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Blood, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Infertility, Drug use, Murder, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Domestic abuse