A fun new twist on dark academia! 

Your comments are probably the most lucid I have seen regarding this book! It sounds like it will be right up my street. Thanks!

It's so interesting to hear your perspective on tarot cards. I was raised by an ex-Catholic turn palm reader. She had me learn tarot cards, but I don't believe in any supernatural aspect to them. You summed up where I've put them in my headspace really well. I don't know why it felt good to hear it from a stranger, but it did.

Set in a museum?? Sold!

Sounds great. I work in the Gift Shop of a local museum and do find it enchanting to be around such old stuff. This book will really add some gothic spice while I am there.

Just finished The Cloisters today. Used one of my tarots as a bookmark. It didn’t quite hit how I wanted it to but gave it 3 stars.

I really love your book recommendations and the your own personal stories/thoughts that go with it. Always perceptive and thoughtful! Your voice and videos are such a wonderful, diverse and very much needed presence on youtube. Definitely going to put this on reading list!

I read If we were Villains after you said it was your second favourite novel. And damn, you were right! So now I will trust you with this one and see if I can pick it up, it sounds really good! Especially since the setting is a bit different than ususal dark academia.

Just found your channel by searching for "Cloisters" reviews. Finished it yesterday on a first read (after having had it on my dark academia TBR list and in my possession since it came out in HC) and wanted to see what people thought of it. You're on-time on-target! Excellent story, and hits the right dark academia "notes." Some "canonical" titles in the genre fail the test (like "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell," IMO, which though considered by many part of DA, is way outside the lines, but a very good, entertaining read nonetheless)--this doesn't, other than its museum setting--which is still an academic institution, to shut up the purists out there! The Cloisters is one of my favorite places in NYC--at the northern tip of Manhattan, and Hays captures it brilliantly. I haven't been there in years, but it's as described--very intimate, and "cloistered." They play medieval sacred music in the gift shop (either polyphony or plainchant) and the gardens, arcaded walkways and such evoke "The Name of the Rose." I enjoyed the sparse cast as well---another typical trope of DA--the "mentor" style academic, "apprentices," some sort of arcane/occult field of knowledge, and of course, a murder, via belladonna no less! I did find Ann distracting, and rooted for Rachel--she's my kind of girl, so to speak--brilliant, sexy, sensual, and ruthless--an academic femme fatale with unlimited resources and a dark, Machiavellian soul. I loved her being in with Leo 50/50 on his small-scale art theft racket from the storage area, having the Ketch guy as the fence, then hanging out Leo to dry for the curator's murder! Actually, given the way this whole thing played out, arguably "The Cloisters" was a brilliant crossover of dark academia with noir. Rachel was sleeping with Leo, the curator, and I think some lesbian affair is implied with her Yale roommate (the "suicide" girl) and obviously her attachment to Ann (for some reason the movie "Single White Female" leapt to mind). She rubbed out her parents, who "wished she was less serious"--no direct evidence, but she pretty much says as much to Ann. I did find the end disappointing--I thought Rachel would end up sinking Ann in Long Lake, especially since the servants were away., so "nobody knows what nobody knows." The reveal of Ann in the last paragraph as the one who sabotaged Rachel's boat I thought was a real stretch. Honestly, I thought her narration would be something tantamount to William Holden's in "Sunset Boulevard," where the dead man's recounting how he ended up that way, or some psycho counterfeit account by Rachel to Ann's being-held-together-with-tape mother back in Walla Walla. But I did find it a fascinating read, and the chart at the back of Ann's interpretation of the Tarot intriguing--I love the classic occult stuff, and the cards themselves do have a remarkable, celebrated history, along with incredibly rich symbolic value. Its few shortcomings--simple subjective preferences of mine--in no way detract form this being a terrific first go-round for a novelist, and I'd love to see Kays pen a sequel, perhaps with Ann manifesting her more "Rachelesque" side. As far as your channel goes--you have a new subscriber my friend! Great, thoughtful content here! Congrats!!!

Have you read Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay? It takes place in a late Victorian girls boarding school, I read it this year and loved it. PS I just finished Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes, if you haven't heard about it or read it it was absolutely incredible!

I've never read dark academia but this kind of makes me want to give it a shot. :)

Willow! I read tarot too...I've collected over 100 decks ...over 10 yrs of collecting cards

I'm not sure I'm that into dark academia, but I really like Catherine House (forgot the name of the author) and Bunny. And I'm struggling to read The Secret History. Still gonna put this in my Storygraph tbr just cause you made it sound interesting. 😊

Dark Academia feels like a genre I should love, and I think that makes me shy to pick any of them up! I read My Dark Vanessa a couple of years ago, which I believe is categorised as Dark Academia but I’m not sure it’s a good advert for the genre as a whole.

Good review as always - and excited for your thoughts on Leech! It is indeed a very beautiful, very gross book

Tired is the word

Lovely review as always 😊 I have If We Were Villians in the same edition as yours. Looking forward to reading it after your review. I also have Vita Nostra. Have you heard about it? Also categorised as Dark Academia, it's written by a couple Ukrainian authors. They say it's a subversion of Harry Potter.

Tarot readings are so much fun! I use mine journaling and with friends. What deck are you using?

I wanted to love this book as it started off so well. The execution was kind of a let down. So many books follow the trope of the trust-fund girl with a dark side whom everyone around her is crazy about. I was rooting for Leo & Ann because I thought maybe it was a change from that, despite everything pointing toward the same, tired storyline. The book was clever and imaginative, but lazy at the same time. I’m still confused about the ending. Were we supposed to assume that Ann was morphing more and more into Rachel, and that her own karma would catch up with her, eventually Or was her poetic justice for Rachel a one off? It could have been so much better. Maybe I just like having people to root for

Does Dan Brown books count as Dark Academia?

For me, this is terrible book. It has so many series clishe. Again main character without character. And yes, author can't write atphomosphere