Tarot, art history, intrigue! And a love letter to NYC (The Cloisters is a really museum.) The art and divinity bits were fascinating, the relationships well done, and the murdery bits unnecessary and not that believable. There was so much juiciness here that the plot didn't need the extra layer. Super fun. And now I want to go to The Cloisters. 

Not bad but extremely predictable from the start. It’s a good ~dark academia~ book for a fall day but didn’t provide much suspense or mystery. I also found Anne and Leo’s relationship to be EXTREMELY boring and felt absolutely *NO* chemistry or draw between them. 

Everything but the actual plot, was such a vibe. The writing style was easy to read, I loved the aesthetic of the cloisters, the tarot card research, I even liked the ending (it fits with the ruthlessness of academia) but the plot was lacking?? Barely anything actually happened and I felt like it had the potential to do so 

Slow, not much happened until the last three hours of the audiobook. Wasn’t a huge fan of the narrator. I thought the characters were boring and predictable. Leo was kinda interesting and I wanted to hear more about him but everyone else felt lifeless. I finished this book because I liked learning about tarot and it was an Audible credit so I wanted to make it worth it. If this had been a print book, I wouldn’t have finished it. I feel half satisfied with the ending. 

 

This was an ALC from Libro.fm, which is what had me picking it up so quickly, if I'm being honest. But also, after I read that it was tarot cards and divination...that had me fully interested in seeing what it was all about more deeply. Because I have a weird soft spot for books with that kind of focus. Samantha Shannon's Bone Season series an obvious fav, and Steifvater's The Raven Cycle is also great. I even love when it shows up in supporting roles, like in H.E. Edgmon's The Fae Keeper, or when it is other forms of divination, like astrology in Written in the Stars or the variety of weirder things (like haruspex) in my absolute fav This is How You Lose the Time War. So anyways, the point is, I was interested in this story. 

 

Ann Stilwell leaves her small town in Washington state for a summer internship with the Met in NYC, only to discover that there's been a mix-up and she is now going to be working at the Cloisters, a gothic Renaissance museum and garden. Either way, she gets to stay in the city, so she jumps in. Within days, she is pulled into a small group of mysterious and passionate researchers: the curator, Patrick, and his assistant, Rachel, as well as the gardener, Leo. Patrick is convinced that there is more truth to tarot than we've previously believed, and that finding (up until now) hidden histories of tarot decks/readings will unlock the secrets of actual future-telling. Ann may or may not believe quite that much, but she is all too happy to leave her own troubled past behind and jump on board with some of the more questionable research choices the Cloisters employees are making. And as her personal and professional life with this small group of friends/coworkers gets ever more tangled, and the manipulations and secrets at work seem more and more oppressive, Ann finds herself in some really untenable positions. 

 

My first impressions as I began reading this were definitely...iffy. The "woe is me/I’m hard done by" vibe from Ann that hits hard and fast at the beginning (not rich, not pretty, not useful or special) was not my favorite. Like, it was just really extreme. Now, as the story went, I could see how that feeling of inadequacy played into how she was so easily drawn into nefarious-ish things, and further in, how she justifies some of her choices and actions. So within the context of the story, I settled into it a little bit. And I generally do like an unlikable narrator, but this one grated extra on me for some reason. So if that's a "thing" for you too, be aware. 

 

The creepy "something is off" feelings that unfolded throughout this novel, that are really a cornerstone of dark academia and gothic lit, are strong here. The vibes of the arcane and mysterious, the classic mix of desire, power, work/pursuit, and the occult/mysterious, are all over and (I felt) more or less pulled off well. Hayes smoothly writes tension into the descriptions of many normal everyday events and interactions, adding a high level of intensity and eeriness. In particular, the relationship between Ann and Rachel, as it developed had that unhealthy aspirational kind of aura, where Ann kind of was in love with and wanted to be Rachel at the same time, while Rachel sort of uncomfortably took Ann under her wing and "mentored" her in a way that isolated her from everything else. If you have read Tangerine or Magic for Liars, there were some very similar qualities. Their combined personalities and outlooks - the danger of wanting to believe something too badly, seeing suspiciousness everywhere, high level access/finances/entitlement, emotional instability (working through grief), *so much* ambition - really had me on the edge of my seat waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

 

And drop it did! Interestingly, while some parts of the drop I did suspect or anticipate, other parts were a surprise. There were quite a few twists and reveals at the end, way more than I had expected. It explained a lot of things, and did really add some nice depth to the exploration of the primary push and pull theme: needing to believe in faith because the alternative can drive you crazy versus still retaining some level of power over your choices and future. I can see why Ann (and Rachel too, really) had constructed a belief in the hand of fate the way they had. And I kind of liked the low key (and sometimes high key) ruthlessness and mercilessness they showed. Although for some reasons that I cannot fully explain, I just didn't think that this book was as good as it could have been (or maybe as good as I was hoping it would be), there were a lot of really solid writing and thematic aspects throughout. I don't know, perhaps it just felt a little too formulaic for what it was supposed to be? 

 

I have to end by saying that, even though my overall feelings about this book were more lukewarm than I would have hoped, the tarot and divination aspects were spot on and I loved all of that. The focus on "unpopular" Renaissance art and artists, and the way that was used to delve into the history of tarot, both as a game and as it became something more, as well as an introduction to a number of other popular (and somewhat creepy) divination methods of that time period, was fascinating. In addition, the combination of divination and fate and religious/belief, how they tied together and how historically people could justify believing in both, was really interesting. The way this too was connected with the philosophical discussions of fate and choice that Ann, Rachel, Patrick and Leo all grapple with (and manipulate) in the present day was really well done. 

 

“Wasn’t that, after all, why we had become academics and researchers in the first place? To discover art as a practice, not just as an artifact?” 

 

“We are, you see, both masters of our fate and at the mercy of the Moirai--the three Fates who weave our futures and cut them short. And while I still believe we can control the little things in life, those small decisions that add up to the everyday, I think, perhaps, the overall shape of our life is not ours to decide.” 

The Cloisters wasn't what I wished it could be.  I try to just accept books for what they are instead of what I expected, but on its face, it just didn't have the kind of writing or plot to keep me really engaged.  

The story is extremely slow-paced until the last fifth of the book.  Up until then, I can't even say I was captured by the setting or the writing.  The prose was stuffy and lackluster, and the characters were devoid of humor or humanity.  Even the love/romance plot felt stifled and boring, like neither character really cared about it, even when it's later revealed that there was a third party involved.  Meh.

And like, listen - libraries and crypts are my favorite places.  I'm a professional tarot reader.  I love bookish, dark academia gothic settings, mysteries and magical realism. By the summary this book should have hit all the points in my wheelhouse.  I just didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to!

I'd recommend this book for people who don't enjoy the flowery language of fantasy, but would maybe like a departure from strict-realism historical fiction or murder mystery. 

I was mainly interested in this book because of the draw of tarot. Tarot is the focus of the project the characters are working on, yet we hear very little about it. It felt like the entire book started interesting concepts and then never followed through.

The ending was rushed and predictable. The reveal about Ann’s father felt as though it was thrown in to give some sort of answer to what happened to him, but it was anticlimactic and sloppy. I didn’t actually like any of the characters, but I particularly found Ann to be completely annoying.

This is an excellent read, interesting & compelling in equal measures. It has the dark academia aesthetic running through it like a seam of crystal, the subject matter is fascinating, & the descriptive writing is a joy. 
The comparison with ‘The Secret History’ isn’t one I would agree with except on a superficial level, & I think it’s one that this book doesn’t need. I would compare it more to Tara Burton’s ‘Social Creature’, the drive to succeed in a discipline, a place & an arena that favours the monied & established is the engine of the story. Ann feels her disadvantages, her average background which she has fought to distinguish herself in, her grief & guilt, & those are what influence her decisions. Rachel is the effortlessly beautiful, clever & monied woman, who the story draws out with exquisite tension to reveal in more detail, her beliefs & actions in sharp relief. 
Very enjoyable, a great education in the history of the tarot, & a good read. I look forward to what the author gives us next.