“A dark psychological and slow burner story that mixes the mysticism of the Greek myths with modern monsters and motives”
Inkish Kingdoms
When you are an author like Alex Michaedelis that hit the debut shelves with such force you know that your upcoming novel has to be better or as better as the first story. But was Alex able to blow our minds with The Maidens??
The story starts with pure exposition. We have Mariana, a psychotherapist, who was hit with tragedy as her husband died. There are mentions about her origins, early life, and the probably greek tragedy that changed her life. We listened to the audiobook, and nothing interesting happens in the first 6 hours. – I listened to it at an x1.7 speed to get the plot moving, or I would have dropped the whole thing – The plot twist is what matters in these books, but it better be mind-blowing to be worth the struggle. However, although the twist was decent, the execution was terrible.
In matters of characters, we have Mariana, the main character. She has no common sense, intelligence, or analytical skills. Her lack of actions was annoyingly exasperating. – Sometimes, I wonder how this woman is still alive and how she is a therapist – Zoe was another character that played such an insignificant role in the plot. She was there next to Mariana doing pretty much nothing. Then, we have the introduction of a random and useless character: Freddy. – I question the purpose of this character and its use. Alex introduced this character so randomly, and Mariana acknowledges this person almost immediately as they knew each other for ages. – If you want to see a flat and static. He does not change, he is the same person, and he is simply there. I even think that his whole purpose was to get stabbed.-
The Persephone “myth” could try to justify Mariana’s personality and behavior. A Persephone woman does not act and waits for others to act. They are passive, obedient, and do not know who they are, which is how Mariana has been for a long time. This part of the novel then explains the ending – somehow because she finally saw the light -. However, the author never gave any explanation about the myth in the story.
In matters of the audiobook, we have two narrators, the main character and a suspicious male voice (spoiler at the end). We do not know who the male narrator is, but we know his background, which takes us nowhere. – Honestly, the editorial team or even the reader can skip all the male parts, and the story will still “make sense,” and the book would have been shorter. The story still had a decent plot twist that nobody saw coming because it seems that it was written at the last moment without justification. – If you ask me, I would have changed so many things about the male narrator to give a proper kick to the climax moment -.
The twist was decent. The characters lack depth and interest. The most shocking part of the book is the connection it has with Alex’s first novel! That was totally unexpected and way better than the whole book.
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides had the gasping moment where it shouldn’t have had it. Sadly, an element added as a “nice to have” was the best part of the book. – Inkish Kingdoms
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Spoiler: The male narrator is Mariana’s Husband.
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Inkish Kingdoms 
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