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A review by e_flah
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
dark
mysterious
tense
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
0.0
Wow, The Maidens made me very mad. The book starts off strong with a delightfully intriguing prologue and then everything seemed to go downhill from there. The two things that bugged me the most about The Maidens was the characterization of the female characters and the utter lack of tension.
Let's start with the characters. Mariana was such a flat, boring character that hearing the story narrated through her perspective was downright painful at times. What little character development we were given was often through telling rather than showing. If this had been done through the guise of an unreliable narrator, it could have added an interesting dimension to the story but instead it just made Mariana seem even more like a plot device than an actual character. To top it all off, her motivation for pursuing the mystery made little sense.
The other female characters in The Maidens, of which there are many, also received minimal characterization. What little the reader is given often relies heavily on stereotypes, such as the self-absorbed heiress. I expected to get to know the students that make up the Maidens within the story yet we barely learn the names of all of them. The rich, complex characterization is saved for the few male characters in the story, which infuriated me.
The other truly baffling thing about The Maidens was its utter lack of tension. This story is billed as a thriller and yet I felt absolutely no desire to keep reading to find out what was going to happen. It felt like there were no real stakes in The Maidens. The murders felt like they were happening completely outside of the plot. Mariana's "crime solving" efforts focused largely on her obsession with Edward Fosca. The short chapters seemed to speed up the book but masked a plot that lacked a strong driving force.
As both a thriller and a dark academia book, this was a huge disappointment. I honestly don't have anything good to say about The Maidens.
Let's start with the characters. Mariana was such a flat, boring character that hearing the story narrated through her perspective was downright painful at times. What little character development we were given was often through telling rather than showing. If this had been done through the guise of an unreliable narrator, it could have added an interesting dimension to the story but instead it just made Mariana seem even more like a plot device than an actual character. To top it all off, her motivation for pursuing the mystery made little sense.
The other female characters in The Maidens, of which there are many, also received minimal characterization. What little the reader is given often relies heavily on stereotypes, such as the self-absorbed heiress. I expected to get to know the students that make up the Maidens within the story yet we barely learn the names of all of them. The rich, complex characterization is saved for the few male characters in the story, which infuriated me.
The other truly baffling thing about The Maidens was its utter lack of tension. This story is billed as a thriller and yet I felt absolutely no desire to keep reading to find out what was going to happen. It felt like there were no real stakes in The Maidens. The murders felt like they were happening completely outside of the plot. Mariana's "crime solving" efforts focused largely on her obsession with Edward Fosca. The short chapters seemed to speed up the book but masked a plot that lacked a strong driving force.
As both a thriller and a dark academia book, this was a huge disappointment. I honestly don't have anything good to say about The Maidens.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Toxic relationship