The Cloisters

DNF at 25%.

I got so bored. There was very little happening and I didn't really find the characters engaging.

Langzaam, maar meeslepend.

“Choice is the one thing we all share. It's the ultimate level playing field.”

Voor een groot deel van het boek gebeurt niet zo bijster veel en moet je het als lezer vooral hebben van de atmosfeer, die perfect wordt opgebouwd en je als lezer steeds verder lokt, sust en bedwelmd. De plot is mysterieus en blijft vaak op de achtergrond, terwijl eerder focus wordt gegeven aan de charismatische personages en hun invloed op ons hoofdpersonage. De onthullingen en wendingen waren interessant en het einde was bevredigend.

3.5 stars

It's time to graduate from Dark Academia University. Congratulations on not getting murdered! Sadly, your humanities degree is useless in the real world - time to enter the equally murderous world of Dark Post-graduate Internships!

The Cloisters is set in a small New York University where a charismatic researcher and his beautiful interns are researching the artistic history of tarot cards. Murder, intrigue, and betrayal ensues.

I really loved this book. I think the characters were really compelling and interesting to read, the occult elements were given just enough ambiguity to make the book feel slightly eerie without tipping into any magical realism territory and there was the odd twist that really took me by surprise.

The one thing that somewhat lets it down, for me, is actually the setting. I kept thinking that the author really wants reviewers to bring out the old ‘the setting was really another character in the book' cliche, but she never really earns it. Every so often we are told how much the Cloisters are impacting the characters' psychologically, but I couldn't see any evidence of it. This element felt like a total miss, which is a great shame given that it's a brilliant idea - a medieval cloister turned into a museum: claustrophobic, haunting, and mysterious - it could have been so great.

But this is a small gripe. Overall I really loved it and would put it up there with books like The Secret History as top reads in the Dark Academia genre. I hope Katy Hayes writes more books, I will definitely read them!

hum... the vibes were exactly what I expected them to be, but the plot felt flat to me
I didn't LOVE it, but I didn't HATE it either, it was a pretty good time overall

2.5 ⭐

The book comes in at 297 pages. For the first 200 pages, I would feel like we were on the tipping point – the book feels like it's about to get interesting – but then it didn't. From about the 230 page mark it slowly picked up, but there was nothing surprising revealed. Idk I'm just disappointed.

On a positive note, the writing was beautiful. If you're into atmosphere, this book brings it – just don't expect much else.

It kept me interested for about two thirds, but the final third was a slog as the story became increasingly predictable. For a story about occult knowledge and the power of intuition is especially disappointing that the author feels the need to spell things out. Disappointed.

3.5

I wanted to enjoy this, but got to about 75% and stopped liking ANY characters. The narrator is semi-unreliable and unlikable. There's a plot twist I didn't see coming that felt shoehorned in and unnecessary, and another that was entirely predictable. Finished, but meh.