A review by stateofgrace
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

2.75

I originally picked up this book because I was interested in the concept of a secret society of female students at a British university. However, despite being titled “The Maidens”, the book didn’t seem to care much for the female characters that made up the titular group. The characters were all very one-dimensional, with no real sense of personality or motivations. 

This book was marketed as dark academia, but besides the fact that it was set at a university, there weren't any elements of the dark academia sub-genre. The allusions to Greek mythology were clumsy at best and the psychoanalysis was entirely surface-level.

 

The writing style is very blunt, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but which I did not enjoy. I thought that the crossover between this book and “The Silent Patient” was cheap writing. I don’t think I’m ever going to pick up another Alex Michaelides book.