The writing style and descriptions were fantastic, but the ending/reveal? Literally made no sense. I loved The Silent Patient but this fell wayyy flat for me.

Absolutely amazing! I think I enjoyed this one more than the silent patient! I loved the Greek mythological aspect of this one! I’ve always loved the Greek mythology in general so this was a must read for me!

I was pretty excited for this because I'm a fan of Greek mythology and have been wanting to read more mysteries/thrillers. However, for me this book was just fine. I was never dying to get back to the audiobook to find out what happens next; the romance elements were so weird and unnecessary; and there just wasn't enough of the Greek mythology element for me. I did enjoy how it tied into The Silent Patient (no, I haven't read it, but I know enough about the plot that I got the references), and I thought the twists were effective and fairly well plotted. Overall, would I recommend this? It wouldn't be the first on my list, but if someone mentioned they were thinking about reading this, I wouldn't warn them against it.

I really, really enjoyed THE MAIDENS, until the end. Michaelides does a masterful job of describing life at Cambridge and how students and teachers can become entangled with one another. The mystery is set up well, with a variety of potential murderers to choose from. But the ending is simply too absurd and there are no hints leading up to it to indicate what really happened. The ending ruined the book for me.

Good not great. I loved the Greek Classical references and the Cambridge University location. It’s my favorite kind of setting, full of ritual and creepy double meanings. But the main character was lack luster, the red herrings and prime suspects too obvious, yet the surprise conclusion too implausible. Definitely a page turner, as I wanted to find the ‘who’ in the ‘whodunnit’, but not memorable enough to stay with me for long.

I had a hard time getting into this book, but I pushed through... and unfortunately, I wish I had stopped. I couldn't relate or empathasize with Mariana, the main character, at all. She is a group therapist who has enough of her own problems to keep a therapist in business for ages. She's lost a lot of people in her life, which is tragic, but it also seems to define her.

When she gets a phone call from her niece Zoe that one of her friends has been murdered, she rushes to help her. This is fine until Mariana immerses herself into the investigation. The story is mixed with parts from Mariana's past, random entries that don't make sense until the end (and even then it's questionable), and red herrings of characters that are meaningless.

There is a theme of Greek tragedy running through the book, which isn't something I'm familar with, so perhaps if that was more your speed, you'd enjoy it more than I did, but overall, this was disappointing and the end was so ridiculous, it dropped the rating even lower for me.

Mariana is a psychotherapist who is still grieving the drowning death of her husband the previous year while they were on holiday. Marianna has had a life of tragedy and loss so when Zoe, her niece calls her from Cambridge worried about her missing roommate, Tara, she is on the next train. When she arrives Taras’ body has already been discovered and she promises Zoe that she will try to find out what happened. Zoe confides that Tara had been having an affair with a professor named Edward Fosca. Fosca is an American professor whose classes are the most popular on campus and he holds special study groups for a select few- all beautiful young women who call themselves The Maidens”. Marianne is convinced that Fosca is the murderer and puts herself in the crosshairs of not only the police whose investigation she keeps intruding on but the killer.
I received an early copy of this and I didn’t love it and I had seen so much praise that I decided to get the audiobook and try again. I didn’t change my opinion much. I do like twists and surprise endings but I like when I can look back and see “ oh that’s what I missed”
!” or realize the clues I missed out on. There are tons of red herrings in this one but the ending fell flat for me. I do think that Marianne must be the worst psychotherapist ever because of some of her actions. There are references to mythology that may have added to the story but not unless you know those stories. I don’t think fans of “ The Silent Patient” are going to like this one as much but he is an excellent writer and I will definitely read his next book as well. Thank you to # netgalley and the publisher for a chuffed copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Maidens was so incredible fun and was such a good follow up after The Silent Patient! I absolutely loved having Cambridge as the backdrop for such a fast paced thriller and that there were so many suspects!

I reviewed this on my YouTube channel in both a “reading vlog” and my “May Wrap Up”. Thanks Netgalley/Celadon Books!

3.5 stars. The premise of ritualistic murders being committed at Cambridge University. The suspected murderer being a professor of Greek mythology with a female student fan club calling themselves the Maidens. All of this sounded great to me. What I liked about the book is the atmospheric and detailed description of life at Cambridge. Felt like a student walking the grounds. I also liked the connection made to the authors first book The Silent Patient. What I didn’t like was the one person narrator Mariana. She is supposed to be a highly regarded therapist. Which doesn’t make sense if you realize that she has very vague and unhealthy boundaries regarding her patients. Overall the book was a fast paced read and had enough interesting moments to keep me reading to the end.

I know there are a lot of mixed reviews but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a little slow start but it eventually picked up and the mystery kept me intrigued. I also loved the atmosphere of this book which I think truly made it.

A thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you're expecting this to be a The Silent Patient read-alike, word to the wise, it is most decidedly not. And, while the sheer departure is a testament to the author's skill, I must confess that I didn't like this one nearly so much. Obviously my expectations were high - very high - as like most everyone and their mother, The Silent Patient rocked my world more than many so many books during the years before. There is nothing wrong here, there was just a lot that wasn't exactly right (for me at least.) I found that I had to start from scratch several times, which came as a suprise. What didn't surprise me was the ending, a fact that I definitely did not expect. To be fair though, I opted to listen rather than read and I have to wonder if I would have enjoyed it more had I done the former rather than the latter because while I feel a little mean for saying it, I was not a fan of the narrator, so...

Thank you so much to Celadon and Netgalley for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Anyone who knows me personally or on the internet has heard me scream from the rooftops how much I love Alex Michaelides debut novel, The Silent Patient. Quite honestly my favorite book of all time.
So I went into the Maidens with EXTREMELY high hopes and so much excitement.
It did not let me down.
I read it in one sitting and enjoyed every moment.
I especially loved the repeat characters, and the atmosphere that Alex created.
He is such a talented writer and I will read anything that he touches.

A slow starting book that never really picked up for me and didn't keep my attention. I usually know from the first chapters if a book is going to interest me. The Maidens just never really clicked with me. It was the same with The Silent Patient. It was just an ok read.

I was really disappointed with this book after all of the hype I've been hearing about it. This book honestly bored me and I couldn't stand the character Marianna, I was yelling at her so many times in my head throughout this book for how dumb and naive she was being. The only good thing it had going for it was the big plot twist at the end but it's not great enough to slog through the rest of this book.

*Many thanks to the publisher for my free copy for my review*

THE MAIDENS • Alex Michaelides • Pub Date: June 15, 2021 • ⭐️⭐️

Note to the Publisher: The following review will only be posted to my Goodreads account. It will be hidden as a spoiler. Because of the negative nature of the review, I won’t post it elsewhere as I don’t want to discourage others from reading this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for sending me not one, but two ARCs of this book. It was a joy to be able to deliver one of them to a LFL before the book was published. I can only imagine how excited the reader who came across it was! The second copy will be passed along as well now that I’ve had the opportunity to read “The Maidens”. My honest review is as follows:

It’s breaks my heart to say this because I LOVED Michaelides’ debut book, but I didn’t like this one at all.

⚠️ All of the following points I’m about to discuss are just one person’s opinion on this book (mine). There are many different ways to interpret a book, and so many others loved “The Maidens,” so please bear that in mind if you choose to continue reading my review. If I come off as harsh, it’s only because I am writing this review right after I finished reading and I’m quite frustrated because I wanted to like this book! No disrespect towards the author is meant.

What I Didn’t Like:

1. Mariana’s random obsession with the murders. Deciding to be a self-made detective just because a friend of your niece’s was killed is not a normal response, and certainly didn’t feel inline with Mariana’s personality.

2. All the dialogue felt so unnatural. The most glaring example (imo) was everything out of Fosca’s mouth when he first met Mariana in the Gardens.

3. Every single male seemed to form an immediate obsession with Mariana (Henry, Fred, Julian, Fosca!) despite the fact that she seemed to have NO personality whatsoever. It also seemed like every male she ran into was also super creepy (all men listed above, plus Nikos).

4. Speaking of creepy men, Henry’s entire storyline didn’t fit together with the rest of the plot AT ALL. A lot of the aspects of this story in general were kinda disjointed, but this piece in particular really didn’t fit.

5. All the coincidences linking Fosca with how Mariana viewed Sebsetian’s death were ridiculously unbelievable. Most people do not think a vengeful Goddess stole their husband. And then for that same Goddess to then be the theme of a murder? It is just too much of a stretch.

6. Mariana. Everything about her, but especially her lack of common sense. If you suspect a man of murder, why the hell would you join him for a private dinner in his room!? And then get drunk? OMG.

What I Did Like:

1. The Silent Killer Easter Eggs!

2. The excerpts from (who the reader assumes to be) the killer. This is far from a novel concept, but it really does enhance a murder mystery/thriller!

3. Ok, ok. The plot twist did catch me off guard. I can’t say I liked it? It almost came out of nowhere, but it was interesting so I’ll take it.

…TBH, not much else.

TL;DR: I will still sing this author’s praises and support all subsequent work of his, but this book was a total miss for me.

I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars! I enjoyed it immensely. I thought from the start I knew who the killer was but I couldn't have been more wrong! I loved the twists and little references to The Silent Patient. I hope his future novels somehow connect to this universe Alex Micaheledis is creating.

I really had to push myself to finish this book, it wasn't one of my favorites reads. I couldn't really get into the writing style nor the characters. I really wanted to like this but it fell short.

Mixed reviews, along with an unappealing cover, kept my expectations low, but I was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Mariana, a psychologist, is still in mourning over her husband’s untimely death. She’s truly all alone in the world, having also lost her parents and sister. Zoe, the niece she took in after her sister’s death, is all she has left.

When Zoe calls with news her friend’s murder, Mariana travels to Cambridge, where Zoe is a student. A professional colleague of Mariana’s draws her into the investigation, and it doesn’t take long for all suspicions to be focused on Professor Fosca, the creepy but magnetic professor who is beloved by his students and has a secret society comprised of seven girls, the “maidens”. Mariana is convinced of his guilt and will stop at nothing to prove it.

I enjoyed the mystery but what the author pulled off so well was the atmosphere of Cambridge, as well as Mariana’s character with her troubled past and struggles with grief. I enjoyed the nod to a Greek tragedy, but it wasn’t overdone and there’s no need to be well versed in Greek mythology (I’m not!).

Red herrings abound, and I turned my suspicious eye on nearly every character at different parts of the story. Even if the reveal wasn’t a complete surprise there was still a twist that took me completely by surprise.

Highly recommended!

3.5 rounded down to 3.

The Maidens was HIGHLY anticipated by me, as The Silent Patient was one of my favorite reads when it came out. This was a book I def screamed when I opened I was so excited, and I read it almost immediately.

When I read it I had only seen a few prior reviews. They were all glowing reviews from someone who loved it. When I started reading it I just found it really slow. A lot of time is spent discussing Greek Mythology, history was always one of my least favorite classes, so these parts had me feeling like I was reading through a text book. I guessed the twist early on, and the ending didn’t work for me. I did appreciate the Easter eggs and the uniqueness of this story, but ultimately it didn’t live up to my high expectations.

I absolutely will still look forward to the authors upcoming books, and will definitely recommend that you check this out for yourself. As mentioned the reviews are split so great chance you will love this one.

Thanks to @celadonbooks for my copy!

This book is full of thinly drawn characters, uneven plot twists, and a boring set-up. Definitely not worth the hype.