Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Cloisters

I absolutely adored the concept for this book and the cover art so I had to give it a go. I went into this thinking it would be a dark academia type book with the focus on tarot and fate and choices. However, none of this really happened on-page. All the reasons I picked the book up and what made me want to read it happened off-page and so that was a major disappointment.

However, I stuck with it purely to see where the story would go, and I can honestly say I don't know where it went. All the characters were plain and unlikeable. Ann was way too trusting, and was constantly comparing herself to Rachel and genuinely came across as obsessive sometimes it was a bit unnerving. And then the romance sub-plot was completely unnecessary. The book would have been the exact same without it. The FMC was also just too nice and trusting, she went along with everything. I was getting frustrated at how much everyone just avoided her questions and hid everything from her, and she just,,,let them?

For all its faults, the book was okay. The discoveries and the twist that happened towards the end were good. But I'm not sure if it has any rereadability. But it was an easy read, it just lacked the academia that I wanted.

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khakipantsofsex's review against another edition

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2.5

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bristleconebby's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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blissofalife's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Loved the writing style & the history & art references throughout! I appreciated that it didn’t open with a murder, leaving me wondering who would die and who would do the deed. As a tarot-curious person, it was fun to read more about them and catch references! I’ll have to reread this in a few years when I have a better grasp on tarot, though the author does a superb job of explaining meanings as the story goes.

And the prologue? Damn. Gorgeously written, with a similar feeling to the final pages. Would recommend, I hope Hays writes more books! I would definitely read more.

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bessadams's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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j_emerson18's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

..damn ..just damn

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gracescanlon's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This just didn’t hit for me.

Strike one: The story was odd, as was the main character. Also, the narrative voice continually switched from conversational to more lofty prose, often from one sentence to the next and back again. Many of the more conversational ones were actually dependent clauses, which brought the immediate shift in tone from literary fiction-esque sentences to non-sentences into even sharper contrast.

Strike two: The book touched on issues around those who grew up with money and those who didn’t, but didn’t delve deeply into them. This was fine, actually, as the MC idolized the old-money characters for most of it. However, her shift in opinion of those types of characters neglected to address topics like entitlement and never knowing financial struggle or hardship. She did, however, shift her thinking on theft from such people. So to see one side of her opinion about the “haves and have-nots” change, but not the other (at least not on the page), rang insincere.

Strike three: The entire book was so predictable that when it met the tired tropes and twists without deviation, I was truly in disbelief — disbelief that anyone could be that unoriginal.

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