chaptersofchase 's review for:

The Cloisters by Katy Hays

3.0

dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: No

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Thank you, Atria Books, for the gifted copy of The Cloisters {partner}

Genre: Mystery
Trope: Dark Academia
Format: 📖
Pub Date: 11.1.2022
Star Rating: ☆☆☆

"It was then I realized how thin the light is that separates what we know as fate and what we think of as choice - just an interpretation. Nothing more."

Y'all, I realllllly wanted to love The Cloisters, I can't begin to tell you how excited I was when this dropped on my front step, but it just didn't do anything for me. The first 30% was interesting; it had me questioning the characters' motives and interests in the world of divination.

Here are a few of the things that didn't work for me:

There were several occasions when I felt like I was reading straight from a textbook - the writing style needed to fit what I'd become accustomed to from the author, but it didn't. The book was all over the place. Yes, the different storylines within the novel came together in the end, making a little more sense (not much), but aspects of the story were unnecessary and caused the book to drag. Because of this, I kept finding reasons to be distracted from the book and uninterested in resuming reading.

🗽 Dark Academia, New York City setting
🤩 Gorgeous cover
🔁 Repetitive
🤷🏽‍♀️ Almost had a YA vibe?
✨ Debut novel
👎🏼 Unlikable characters

Please take my review with a grain of salt as I am only one review (and reviews for this book have been all over the place), and I certainly don't want to prevent anyone from picking this one up to read. The Cloisters is the author's debut novel, and I am interested in what she writes next because she has a lot of potential.

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