A review by leweylibrary
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

dark 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

3.25

I read this for a book club and was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. I'm normally not a big "there was a murder and now the MC is investigating it before it's too late" premise, but maybe I'm alright with it in an audiobook?

It also helps that I just finished Pandora's Jar, so my mind was very much in a Greek myth mindset, and there was a TON of that going on. I feel like if I was more knowledgeable on Greek myths, there would be so much more to unpack in this book and connections I'm just not seeing immediately. This will definitely be a good one to discuss in book club I think, especially if someone there does know Greek myths well. 

I knew there was going to be a twist near the end, but I was absolutely wrong about what it was 😅 I thought for sure
Fred was going to be the killer but yeah no definitely not lol
. When it was revealed, I was on the train on my way to work and I audibly gasped. Mouth wide open and everything, the people sitting across from me were startled lol.

The twist is the part I'm most excited to talk about because there are so many aspects of it that I don't understand or have questions about. For example,
did Sebastian intentionally kill himself? I don't believe his plan was as genius and foolproof as the author makes it seem. The MC should be way more fucked up afterwards than she seems. How the fuck did she not notice they were "in love" sooner?? He was having sex with her since she was FIFTEEN and grooming her that whole time?? Wtf, how do you not get any vibes at all. She must have been incredibly oblivious which I guess tracks since she also said they never talked about their pasts and she was just okay with that??


My biggest issues with the book were the ending, particularly how quickly it was "resolved."
It makes no sense that the cops all of a sudden are so eager and willing to believe her when they do recently we're sure she was crazy and needed help.
I also just don't think the characters, especially the MC. She's not the worst male-written character I've read, but she does still fall flat for me. And why is she surrounded by creepy dudes who want to hurt her or get into her pants? And idk how to feel about her
relationship with Freddy/Fred/whatever lol and his whole prophecy thing, that aspect rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.
All of that aside, I did enjoy reading it in the moment, and that's the biggest thing that matters to me. 
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