The Cloisters by Katy Hays is an excellent read for fans of dark academia and magical realism. Ann Stillwell, desperate to leave the town she grew up in and move on from the death of her father, moves to New York to work for the Met for the summer. When a mix-up happens, she instead finds herself working on a research project at the Cloisters, a museum dedicated to European Medieval art and architecture. She and her colleague, Rachel, are helping the curator research tarot cards from the early Renaissance era. But Ann learns that there’s more than just visual art that makes the cards intriguing.

I really enjoyed the Cloisters, even though it was a slow build up. The main question put the reader is whether our fates are sealed or things happen by chance. The author (or main character, at least) seems to lean toward an unalterable future, with tarot cards and astrology being an insight into what it will be. I differ on this opinion, but the book was enjoyable nonetheless.

The main characters were complex and interesting, each one with positive and negative characteristics. In fact, I wasn’t very fond of the main character, Ann, by the end of the book, even though I felt empathy toward her situation. But despite not being the most likeable characters, their motivations and the conflicts they faced were believable. Ann’s relationships to each of the people in her life is intricate and meaningful to the story.

The whole atmosphere of the book is eerie. Hays uses the claustrophobic heat of summer in New York City to her advantage for this, giving Ann a reason to spend even more time in the coolness of the Cloisters. The surrounding of historical artifacts, manuscripts, and architecture adds to the overall dark academia feel. Add to that the occult theme of the characters’ work and the unhurried plot, and you’re overwhelmed with the expectation that something very dark is about to happen at any minute. The foreshadowing alone in the story was enough the keep me reading, but the author also kept just enough details from you to make you feel the need to get to the end and discover the full picture. I was genuinely surprised by the twists at the end.

One of my favorite places in New York, maybe the world, is now one of my favorite books of the year. THE CLOISTERS brings gothic vibes, complex and intriguing character dynamics, and meticulous plotting to the beautiful uptown extension of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that displays medieval art in a reconstructed monastery.

Fresh from Walla Walla, Wash., recent grad Ann Stillwell considers her summer job at The Cloisters — achieved in a moment of serendipity — and living in New York City the chance of a lifetime, a chance to leave her previous pedestrian life behind. This summer — and her relationship with The Cloisters’ curator, gardener and, especially, fellow summer employee, the beautiful and wealthy Rachel Mondray — will change Ann’s life forever. And perhaps the city itself plays a part:

"New York had shown me how hungry I was. Hungry for joy and risk, hungry to admit, aloud to everyone around me, my ambitions. Hungry to realize them."

The blurb compares The Cloisters to a cross between "The Secret History" and "Ninth House." Having read neither, I’ll judge Katy Hays’ debut novel on its own merits. The novel drags a bit in the first half, but stay with it: The second half is a rollercoaster ride of emotions and suspense. Ann discovers who she really is, who she subconsciously was all the time. And the ending? A shocking surprise.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from

Taking place at the Met Cloisters, this novel smoothly juxtaposes a medieval cloister feel with the bustle of NYC. The Cloisters is so vividly depicted that I longed to work alongside the two young researchers studying divination and searching for 15th century Tarot cards. There's a supernatural feel to the story and the suspense and guessing the character's motivation keeps you on edge.

I was really exicted about this one and received an egalley from Netgalley.

Unfortunately I did not feel all the feelings other reviewers and the jacket copy told me I would feel. It sort of felt like a gothic, dark academia novel set in NYC but made of cardboard cutouts, it looks like the thing but isn't really the thing. I just needed more. More exposition which should have been easy since the plot doesn't really get going until about 50% in. If we weren't getting the outer turmoil from plot we should have gotten some inner turmoil and that was missing as well.

All in all it was a lot of telling not showing. It lacked the tension and the feeling of urgency in the "race for answers" I was promised. We get glimpses into Ann's past in Walla Walla, but are not given hints as to what exactly she was running from. We know we should be wary of Rachel but until the inciting incident happens at around 60% we aren't really shown why and this makes the really great twists at the end fall flat. We are meant to feel this "race for answers" but I did not see anyone racing Anne and Rachel.

I need breadcrumbs to follow for me to feel the tension building and the reader isn't given anything to follow along, we are just thrown into twists in the last 20% of the book.

We are also expected to buy the fate vs. choice dichtomy and feel the strain Anne feels under the weight of the tarot cards. And, again it seemed like we were supposed to sense a shift but in my mind she did a couple of tarot readings flipped a switch and started believing in tarot and her actions at the end were informed by fate or fortune without enough of showing us why.

I was a bit hesitant going into this book because I wasn't entirely sure why I chose to request an ARC of this book. I was unsure because it said that this is for fans of The Secret History and Ninth House. I haven't read the former but I know it's hit or miss for people, and I did not like the latter. So, I didn't know whether or not I would enjoy this, but I had hope because this is set in a museum.

I studied both history and then museum studies in school, so this does end up hitting a soft spot for me in that regard. But in terms of the overall story, it was okay as it just managed to surpass 'meh' for me.

Let's get into the details.

 
WRITING:

I don't have much to say about the writing. The only comment I have is that I don't think I was the biggest fan of the use of a first-person perspective because it made the main character seem a bit distant. I did end up getting used to that though and found my overall experience reading this to be easy enough.


PLOT

Right off the bat, the tone was set with the setup of the story. There is a mention of a body and emotions of jealousy, greed, and ambition. So not only is the tone set but the reader is also given an idea of what is to come. The issue for me though, in this instance, is that due to the pacing of the book, it took a while for tensions to build and for the story to reach that point.

As for the overall story, I found it to be just okay. I will get more into what I did like a bit later on, but I found that as it progressed and everything started to unravel, I found myself enjoying the story less. The pacing was a bit slow, possibly only because I was waiting for the suspense or mystery aspect of the story to kick in. I also found the direction of the plot, and the mystery, to be rather predictable. Some hints were thrown early on, and it was simply just a very straightforward mystery because of how it was set up.

By the time it got to the climax, not only did I already know what was going to happen, but the story just fizzled out. You spend the entirety of the book slowly building up to it, and then all of the tension just died out instead of exploding. It resulted in an ending that was kind of disappointing to read.

One thing I don't understand regarding the direction of the story was divination. Divination, and by extension tarot, was a huge theme in this story and it was an interesting one as well. What I don't understand, however, are the hints of magical realism. They are so subtle that I don't know whether or not they were actually there. If they were, I wish the book leaned more into it and, if not, that it wouldn't have gone in that direction at all.

What I did enjoy about this book was the author's dedication to the facts. I loved reading about the more historical elements of the plot, and the fact that this is set in a real museum was the icing on the cake. That is just me though because this is exactly what I studied, and it may not be what draws other people to the book.


CHARACTERS:

I am not good with unreliable characters or ones with questionable motives but not in the good way some morally grey characters are written. So, I did end up struggling a bit with this story because of that. I wouldn't say they were badly written, but I wasn't invested in their story because of the direction some of the characters ended up going in.

Ann, as the main character, felt like she didn't really belong. She is one of those characters who made me question - why her? Why is she the one the author chose to tell the story through? I wasn't rooting for her character at all, which does put a damper on my reading experience. I understand that it is easy to become dependent on someone who shows interest in you when you are not used to any form of connection. That still didn't make me like her though because of the choices she makes in this and her refusal to see things clearly.

As for the supporting characters (Rachel, Patrick and Leo), I find that they didn't add too much to the story in terms of personality. They were there to fill a role and that is pretty much it. Rachel's characterization was pretty blatant, Patrick's as well. Leo was the one character who I felt could have been taken out entirely. While he did play a role in the plot in some minor way, I just didn't particularly like what he added to the narrative.


CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

I think this ends up being more of an 'it's me not you' kind of book because while there were elements I didn't like, I still do think that many people will enjoy this more than I did.

I do think that marketing this as mystery, or even having suspense as a subgenre, wasn't exactly the greatest move, because of the pacing of the book. More time is spent establishing Ann at the museum and connecting with other characters than on the mystery. As for the suspense, there are some elements in there, sure, but they are not prominent enough for this to be considered one.

Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books, for giving me the opportunity to review this in advance. My review will be posted to my blog two weeks prior to the release date.

The Cloisters
Overall 5
Spice 3

• Gothic
• Dark Academia
• ALL the Fall Vibes!!!!
• Pair with Red Wine of Fall Latte of Choice
• Ninth House meets The Memory Painter with a dash of Sweet Bitter
• Atmospheric
• Slow Burn
• Last 20% (OMG)
• Modern Thriller with Supernatural Elements
• Secrets & Lies
• Choice & Consequences
• Tarot

Big Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC of The Cloisters. I screamed when I received it and have been obsessed with this book ever since. It has everything you need for dark academia read, full of choices secrets, and dark tarot readings. This book is best enjoyed during a stormy night with a glass of red wine or a crisp day with a latte of your choice. I can’t wait to read more by Katy Hays. I am intentionally refraining from giving away too much of this book as the twist and turns are what makes it so perfect. Go in as blind as you can.

Ann is a victim, vulnerable to anyone who shows interest in her. When she is offered a research internship at the Cloisters, a division of the Metropolitan Museum in upper Manhattan, she meets three attractive, sophisticated and interesting people. She will do anything not to return to her hometown Walla Walla; this results in questionable personal choices. While assisting in the research of medieval Tarot cards, she inadvertently makes a valuable discovery which she feels can pave her way to making herself noticed. Surrounded by unethical people, she starts to lean this way. When Patrick, her boss, is murdered, she stays silent, holding back details that might involve her new friends. She decides with whom and when she will share her truth for the rest of the novel. Katy Hays’ storyline and setting intrigue me; however, the inaccuracies about the city and upstate are difficult to ignore and it takes away from the enjoyment of reading this work.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Ann Stilwell is a young art historian who lands a job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art—only to learn that her position has been removed at the last moment. Instead, she finds herself at The Cloisters, a museum and garden filled with a staff that is seeking answers to unusual questions about tarot, fate, and divination.

When I saw this book announced, I instantly knew it would be a mix of all of my favorite things—suspense, dark academia, history/culture, and just a bit of mysticism and magic. Fortunately, in the end it was all this and more. The vibes were impeccable and I loved the world of this book, which was somehow both tense and welcoming, inviting and eerie.

Best of all, the writing is astoundingly beautiful, and I have no doubt that Katy Hays is going to be a massive literary star as soon as everyone gets their hands on this book. It’s everything you could want in a fall/spooky season read, and I’m so excited for the world to read it!

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: dark academia; Ashley Winstead-esque vibes; art history.

CW: Loss of parent/grief; drug use; murder; car accident; toxic relationships.

This one was okay for me, I didn’t love it. While I did really enjoy the author’s writing style, I was 52% into the book and still nothing significant had really even happened. The pacing was a bit strange and I felt like I was just reading a diary of the characters daily life. This one just wasn’t for me, but if you’re interested in tarot and it’s history I would give a shot!

The Cloisters by Katy Hays was a uniquely thrilling blend of academic passion and the inexorable drive of personal ambition. The story follows the staff at the Cloisters, a beautiful museum located in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan. This museum is one of my favorite places, which is the main reason that I initially picked up the book. I passionately studied medieval and early modern history in college, and it was so satisfying to see mention of names, places, and Tarot decks that I had never seen in fiction before. I have never seen a book focus so much on Tarot without it being a casual gimmick, and I really enjoyed the rich, loving, heavily researched discussion of early Tarot and its evolution to the system we see today. The plot centers around Ann, a new arrival from Washington state, who finds herself at the Cloisters Museum. She is immersed into an ongoing research endeavor surrounding the earliest recorded Tarot decks, and a resulting exploration of the original intentions for their use. Conflicting opinions and emerging ulterior motives lead Ann through a winding maze of powerful personalities, unbridled wealth, and academic underworlds of a scope she never could have imagined.

The plot bore forward in a way that felt inevitable and inescapable, perfectly encapsulating the deeper themes of the book, and I had trouble putting it down! The characters were distinct, complex, and vividly painted; it was difficult to guess their motives and personal agendas, which kept me guessing and motivated me forward. The final chapters featured a twist that made my jaw drop–something that I could never have seen coming.

My only criticism is that, after excellent pacing throughout the main body of the book, the final few chapters felt a bit rushed. A significant portion of the resolution occurred off-page, which made the ending feel like more of an unexpected epilogue. I still felt that the story was resolved in a satisfactory fashion, but I wish it had been executed in a way that made me feel as present in the culmination as I had for the rest of my reading experience. However, the execution of the finale as it was, remained well-written and authentic to the involved characters. Overall, I deeply enjoyed The Cloisters by Katy Hays, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys history, academia, esoterica, or is looking for a well-executed, suspenseful story that propels the reader toward an intense and dramatic conclusion.

I had very high hopes for this novel, based upon the secluded library setting and the mysterious nature of the items being studied in the library. However, I found it a bit hard to stay interested in. There was a hint of a possible romance between characters, but nothing in great detail. I think a bit more detail would have been welcome, to give the characters a bit more depth. Also, I felt like the relationship between the two main female characters could have been taken in many different directions, but the way it was written sort of fell flat for me. I did like the little twist at the end, and it was well done. Overall, a good story, but not one of my favorites for the year.

I feel like this book couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Dark academia? But it didn't have the class campus vibe or the group of friends for that. A thriller? But the "big twist" was clumsy and in the last 2 seconds of the book. A mystery? But it was painfully obvious who the murderer was, for every murder in the book. So in the end it came up short on all fronts and I'd recommend skipping it.

This is not the type of book that I typically gravitate toward, but I enjoyed it very much. It’s very moody and atmospheric, and full of specific details about art and tarot cards that make it appear to have been thoroughly researched. Who knew the world of art and academia could be so deadly? Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Cloisters is slow burn mystery that digs into the deepest corners of the minds of two troubled women. I loved the New York setting; it felt real and vibrant. It was a bit slow to start but overall I enjoyed the story, especially the mystical elements weaving in with the real murder mystery. If you like tarot cards or modern mysteries with a touch of occult history, check this book out!

A big thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

New York, gothic, deadly plants, tarot cards, a museum full of art. The Cloisters was a slow burn that kept my pages turning. The writing was atmospheric and pulled me into a completely absorbing story. This book was not my normal go to read but I loved it. I have never read anything quite like it. When I wasn't reading I was looking up art and more history. A book that urges you to want to know more is a win in my mind. Seriously I couldn't stop thinking about it and trying to work out the story. I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys dark suspense novels.

This book was one of those stories that gets you so involved with the plot and the main character that you almost end up talking to the character to tell her to be careful. But without giving too much away the end will blow you away. NOTHING is what you thought. I also really appreciated the descriptions of the Cloisters and now I really want to visit. However I did find kind of a glaring error in the arc--it mentions Lake George as a venue for 2 winter Olympics; it probably should have been Lake Placid? I would recommend this book, even if you have no interest in tarot cards--can I read the future? No, but I think this book should be a best-seller.

This dark academia story with a tarot twist is perfect for fall. Even though the action takes place over a summer in NYC, the language and subject matter feel very New-England-in-October. Hand this book to every woman with a graduate degree who went through a tarot phase in high school, and perhaps never left it.

The Cloisters, part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a magical place and the perfect location for this story.
Ann Stilwell is desperate to leave her life in Washington state behind and move into the world of scholarship. So when her summer internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's main branch is cancelled she jumps at the chance to work at the Cloisters instead. The curator and his assistant are working on an exhibit about mystical elements of the medieval world. They become focused on tarot, particularly one mysterious deck. Ann starts out as an observer of the relationships between the curator, his assistant, Rachel and a young gardener. But she is drawn into the middle. Who is manipulating whom?
This is a review of an advanced reader's copy provided by NetGalley.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Cloisters by Katy Hays is a stunning dark academia novel about medieval art historians. The story revolves around Ann, who has just arrived in New York City for a summer internship at the Met. When she's suddenly fired, she's given the opportunity of a lifetime: work for the Cloisters instead. There, she works with other scholars in medieval art to research fortune telling and ancient tarot cards. It seems like a dream come true. But what will she do when someone dies, and the dream turns into a nightmare?

Here is an enchanting excerpt from the Prologue:

"Death always visited me in August. A slow and delicious month we turned into something swift and brutal. The change, quick as a card trick.
I should have seen it coming. The way the body would be laid out on the library floor, the way the gardens would be torn apart by the search. The way our jealousy, greed, and ambition were waiting to devour us all, like a snake eating its own tail. The ouroboros. And even though I know the dark truths we hid from one another that summer, some part of me still longs for The Cloisters, for the person I was before."

Overall, The Cloisters is a dark academia book that will appeal to fans of R. F. Huang's Babel or Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House. One highlight of this book is the exciting premise. It got my attention from the start. Ann is about to get fired but ends up getting the opportunity of a lifetime. Another highlight of this book is how "academic" it is. It will definitely appeal to nerds like myself who enjoy beautiful and intelligent prose. If I had to complain about 1 thing, I would say that the story is nice and pleasant, but ultimately forgettable. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of dark academia in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in November!