Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

19 reviews

brandywyne's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Bullying, Death, and Grief

ashleyvaleria's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

i read a few bad reviews before picking up this book and that usually affects my judgement but i for one very much enjoyed this book. very hard to put down and i couldn’t stop reading. i love the greek tragedy aspect of this authors writing which is what drew me to his other book The Silent Patient which i loved as well. i liked the little cameo with Theo, was a little shocked cause i didn’t know they were interconnected so it caught me off guard. ending is reminiscent to me of a Scream film. i guessed the killer but the backstory and motive was a complete shock to me.  i don’t care if the ending was abrupt and kind of out of nowhere cause my jaw was dropped and i was entertained and that’s all i need from a book at this point. only criticism is that many characters were introduced for no reason. the story could’ve done without their introduction and plot lines, kind of pointless to the story. but ending tied it all together for me and i loved it. his writing is great. would definitely read another one of his books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Car accident, Death of parent, Grief, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, and Violence

joperceptions's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

This book wasn’t bad (I’m being kind, it was quite bad). I think stepping into it after the silent patient, meant I had my own idea of the way the author may have set it up and I was right in a sense. It follows a similar vibe in regards to a mystery with a plot 
twist. The writing style was easy enough to follow for me. The only comment on that is, I feel as though the character development for supporting characters (important ones too) was just not as strong as it should have been at points. I found myself confused on who certain people were once I hit the end of the book, but that could easily just be a me issue. I’m not going back to check but I feel like it had some minor plot holes, or at least things that weren’t wrapped up in a way that was at all satisfying, nor helpful to answering any questions that the plot twist may have evoked. I feel like the reveal was dropped and somewhere it was forgotten that we’d still want to hear the aftermath (beyond the few pages of whatever we got). And also understand more about wtf that plot
Line was even about and elaborating on it more?? But we got none of that. It’s not a VERY BAD book, it’s actually a really good concept and I like the authors writing style in a general consensus, i just think this book could have been articulated a bit better and it would have been a really good read. 
⚠️SPOILER AHEAD⚠️

Spoiler

I really just don’t think Zoe being the killer made any sense to me, the whole ending  sort of felt like it was decided last minute. I don’t feel like it had any build up, or things that happened prior to even create a sense of suspicion toward her at all, which sort of made the reveal, shocking yes, but a bit less interesting. TW: (pedophilia, grooming) Also the lack of conversation on the fact that Sebastian groomed a minor, was so incredibly concerning to me. Like i understand it was brought up mid “fight scene” or whatever that last bit was. But I still feel like that bomb was just dropped and not at all critiqued besides her being upset that zoe and Sebastian weren’t who she thought they were. Not the literal fact that Zoe was a minor, a literal CHILD when all of that shit happened. It was not approached in a way that was appropriate in my eyes.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Medical content, Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Incest, Grief, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

gummifrog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I loved The Silent Patient, so I was excited to give this book a try. Although this one has a different approach to similar ideas, I felt it hit very hard at the climax and was equally exciting and twisty! 

The author is a master of misdirection, using literary analysis and psychological expertise to guide your thoughts in a specific direction. Although I guessed the killer about halfway in, the motive was so shocking that I yelled "WHAT?!" in my car, because it was SO much more fucked up than I had expected! But in thinking back, there were tons of clues. That's the best kind of mystery, truly. 

I felt the protagonist was particularly lovable in this one, if a bit unhinged and overly determined to be right when everyone is telling her she's blinded by her stubbornness. I really felt for her and I hope to see more of her in his work in the future. The little cameos from The Silent Patient were very welcomed in this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Police brutality, Animal death, Bullying, Alcohol, and Suicide attempt

kelisabeth's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Stalking, Murder, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Incest, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

madisonfrank's review against another edition

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

feebles640'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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, and Drug use

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.75

this was a fun mystery/triller. i’ve noticed with Alex Michaelides writing starts off incredibly slow for the first part of the novel and picks up in the last 50-100 pages. i loved the greek mythology in this but wished to see just a bit more. i wasn’t a fan of the reveal either which definitely knocks this down quite a few stars. i personally preferred The Silent Patient. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Murder, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Alcohol, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

nicoleherz's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

An engaging mystery that kept my attention. So many questions I wanted answers to, and written well, in a way that was easy to fly through.
I was constantly speculating who the murderer(s) might be, and what twist the author would throw in.

Spoiler

I had considered the possibility it was Zoe, but never would have guessed that Sebastian had anything to do with it. It made it a great twist, but I'm not sure if it aligns well with all the clues given earlier. There definitely could have been more details given to make it more plausible.

Spoiler

I also found the epilogue to give me more answers than questions. Oh well, still a great read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Abandonment, Murder, Blood, Death, Grief, and Self harm

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Stalking, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Bullying, and Death of parent

yulecogs's review

dark 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? It's complicated

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Car accident, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Murder, and Blood