3.5 stars.

I love a dark book with secret societies and a college setting. The creepier, the better. The Maidens gives a taste of that...but only a taste. I was so bummed. The story is okay and there is a moderate level of intrigue, but everything felt like it just scratched the surface. I really wanted more from it.

The atmosphere was good and there was a solid pace to the narrative, so that made the story move alright and I was interested enough to want to read through the end and did not consider DNF. But this didn't wow me like I had hoped.

Mariana was a bit of an annoying protagonist. She didn't make great decisions and she certainly didn't act appropriately when faced with individuals acting appropriately or when placed in potentially dangerous situations. She was not believable for me and I just wanted to smack her a few times. In fact, most of the characters were unbelievable. Everyone had over-the-top personalities that completely lacked subtlety. Nearly everyone came off creepy or as a potential bad guy. It was just over done.

Now that my griping is done, this wasn't a complete waste of time, but it certainly wasn't the gripping thriller I was looking for. The pacing certainly helped it out since I was able to more or less breeze through, but I have yet to read The Silent Patient and I'm really hoping that everyone's hype for that one is well-founded. Hopefully this book is only a case of the sophomore novel slump.