Overall ratings: 2.5/5
I had high expectations of this book. The last two semesters at school, I took two art history classes and got so excited to see a fictional novel with art history involved!
Before we dive into my review, let’s take a look at the blurb:
“When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination.
Desperate to escape her painful past, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers’ more outlandish theories about the history of fortune telling. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. When the dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs.
A haunting and magical blend of genres, The Cloisters is a gripping debut that will keep you on the edge of your seat.” (Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61054804-the-cloisters)
Obviously, the first thing that caught my eye was the beautiful cover design. It reminds me of a tarot card, which relates to the research Ann does.
The thrill, mysteries, and even hints of romance is what kept me continuing to read.
Although I continued to read, it took me a few months to complete the book.
It begins with Ann leaving home to New York City, saying goodbye to her mother and her hometown. She is still recovering from the death of her father, but she felt she needed to get away to escape her feelings of grief.
Upon arriving in New York, she gets to The Met Musuem and found she has to be reassigned to The Cloisters to work as a summer intern. She works under Patrick, who dedicates his life of being a scholar and collector. Ann also works with Rachel – who so happens to be the “it” girl and have a romantic relationship with Patrick. Their assignment for the summer were to dive into the history of fortune-telling. While working there, she also meets Leo, who works in the garden (which also has deadly plants) and develops romantic feelings for him.
The reader gets to watch Ann grow as she adjusts to this new, huge change in her life. I felt I couldn’t connect to Ann. I felt she was just there, telling us a story. If the author pushed a little farther into showing Ann’s feelings, I feel like it would’ve been easier to connect to her.
Ann also forms a strange friendship with Rachel. There were times during the story where I couldn’t tell if they were friends or enemies. It does make sense towards the end of the book why Ann and Rachel would have made great friends since they shared similar experiences, but other than that, it seemed to be there was always some sort of unnecessary competition between the two.
Going back to Ann’s father – it wasn’t really mentioned in the book much about his life. The book mentioned he was a scholar and how his love of education pushed Ann to love it. To me, I feel the author could’ve expanded on her father if she was going to include him so much at different parts of the story.
This book was also a slow burn. It picked up about 50% into the book and even took a dark, unexpected turn towards the end that I never would’ve seen coming. The unexpected twist seemed to be unnecessary, and it ruined the story for me. I don’t want to give too much away about it, but I will say the second death is something that will shock the reader.
I wished the author expanded on the ending of the book. Since it was such a slow burn for things to actually happen, the author could have used that time to expand. I got the sense this is what held it back from its full potential.
Overall, I rate this book a 2.5 out of 5 stars.
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