Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

67 reviews

hcrawfo3's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Grief, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

saeruh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

3.0

I think that there was some really good writing in this book but ultimately there’s was just way too much going on at once for me to fully focus on it. There was too many characters, I felt like a new one was being introduced every other chapter. Henry’s storyline being there didn’t make any sense to me other than to create suspense and show how blind Mariana was to the things happening around her?? Also like I was creeped out by Fred for most of the book even though he’s kinda presented as a romantic love interest but I guess that was also part of the suspense/maybe he’s the killer factor. There was a good twist at the end that I wasn’t quite expecting but overall I just feel like a lot was left unanswered.

Like who was the writing talking about their messed up childhood from? Obviously you think it’s Fosca until the end but is it actually? Fred also mentions writing something/a book so was that supposed to be Fred’s writing?

Also I HATED the ending, it felt so dumb and unsatisfactory to me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, and Blood

madisonfrank's review

challenging 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Mental illness, Murder, Medical content, Sexual content, Stalking, Violence, and Pedophilia

florence143's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

.⋆｡⋆☂˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆.
Le rebondissement à la fin du roman a été brillamment exécuté, et le style d'écriture s'adapte facilement à l'intrigue. Les personnages sont mémorables et leur histoire est intégrée au roman d'une manière qui progresse agréablement.  (Le personnage principal de "The Silent Patient" a également été incorporé dans l'histoire, ce que j'ai trouvé très agréable).

.⋆｡⋆☂˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆.

The twist at the end of the novel was brilliantly executed, and the writing style flowed easily with the plot. The characters were memorable, and their backstories were woven into the novel in a way that progressed nicely.  (Also the main character from "The Silent Patient" was incorporated into the story, which I found to be a sweet touch.)
.⋆｡⋆☂˚｡⋆｡˚☽˚｡⋆.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Blood, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Drug use

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

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

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

pagesofniru'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

qotd : Your favourite dark academia read? 

The Maidens by alex.michaelides

My Rating🌟🌟🌟🌟: 4/5
Pages: 360
Genre: Dark Academia, Psychological Thriller, Mystery.
{TW: child abuse, violence, stalking, murder, self harm, death and sexual abuse}

“ᴏ ʟɪꜰᴇ  ᴀꜱ ꜰᴜᴛɪʟᴇ, ᴛʜᴇɴ, ᴀꜱ ꜰʀᴀɪʟ! / ᴏ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜʏ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴏᴏᴛʜᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ʙʟᴇꜱꜱ!/ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴀɴꜱᴡᴇʀ , ᴏʀ ʀᴇᴅʀᴇꜱꜱ?/ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇɪʟ, ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇɪʟ…”
I read “The Maidens” while ago but couldn’t review it. I call psychological thrillers as adrenalines. It increases your heartbeat till the end.
I am a big fan of  Alex Michaelides  prior psychological thriller “The silent Patient”. so I couldn’t stop picking this book and this is absolute treat of Dark Academia X Psychological thriller.
The story revolve around six characters: Mariana, Zoe, Edward fosca, sebastian fred and clarissa and mostly intense and shocking.
Mariana is aunt of zoe(a student at uni) is the prime character who is a therapist trying save zoe from the murderer . Mariana is still processing the death of her husband Sebastian takes the roller coaster ride to solve the murder mystery of Uni students and who part of secret society.
“ɪ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴛɪᴍᴇꜱ ʜᴏʟᴅ ɪᴛ ʜᴀʟꜰ ᴀ ꜱɪɴ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴜᴛ ɪɴ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀɪᴇꜰ ɪ ꜰᴇᴇʟ; ꜰᴏʀ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ, ʟɪᴋᴇ ɴᴀᴛᴜʀᴇ, ʜᴀʟꜰ ʀᴇᴠᴇᴀʟ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴀʟꜰ ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇᴀʟ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴏᴜʟ ᴡɪᴛʜɪɴ”
Edward fosca a charming professor  for greek mythology holds a private /secret study group only for women students. He is centred for the tragic murders of the women in the same group.
(Note: Greek goddess persephone in greek  is called as Kore - “The Maiden” and worshipped as goddess of death. The secret society refers to the persephone myth) 
I really loved every aspect of this book and the ending is surprising. Alex has woven this story so well It's perfect for DA and PT readers. I totally recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Body horror

angelsfw's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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: Stalking, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Body horror, and Grief

ravenpuff's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Infertility, Pedophilia, Rape, and Toxic relationship