Super spoileeeeeerrrr, or really not a spoiler: This book is not scary at all." 
 Okay, so these days I have read so many classics like Austen and Dostoevsky, and I sometimes find myself snoozing along the pages (sorry, Austen and Dostoevsky's fans), so I decide to bring a new change to my reading appetite - horror stories. Ghost. Haunted houses. Twins. Dead twins. 
 The premise seems nice. Even though the book had many superfluous details, it still manages to hook me. Nevertheless,after a while, I accidentally watch the BBC movie beforehand, and then everything fell down. It was not scary at all. Even Setterfield successfully include an excellent twist (which I have guessed before Margaret), it did not add in any extra horror to her ghost story. Plus, this should not be consider a ghost story because the ghost in here is just...bleh, innocuous as a unicorn. 
 Prose : Now what hook me about stories like Bronte's Jane Eyre and Wuthering Height are their masterfully-crafted description that is capable of sending chills through mere words: bleak trees, creaking house, gloomy sky...etc. In The Thirteenth Tale, not so much. I found myself nearly drown in ennui whenever it came to Margaret's storyline, whenever she describe her eating and drinking cocoa and looking at family tree.... NOOOOOO! 
 Character : I am impressed with the character in Vida's storyline only. Somehow I am hooked by Isabelle, her brother,the twins, Missus, Heather and John the Dig. Not so much with the outside character. I like the MC alright, but she is sort of the typical book nerd girl... with a weird obsession with twins.... (view spoiler)[ The part where she discovered that she had a dead twin and suddenly feel as if there was a ghost that walks with her constantly chills me. It was good. But then at the end of the novel, she saw her ghost twin [whether she was imagined or not] and she feel happy and smile and yada completely ruin the haunted mood. Like isn't the twin supposed to haunt her and murder her or something? :( (hide spoiler)] 
 Theme : Meh, I don't know what to say except the fact that it is a little bit undertone. Unlike Jane Eyre's theme of independence, The Thirteen Tale is just...? I admit I love the idea of Adeline/Emmeline link together even though one hated another though. It was heart-wrenching :( 
 Overall : My comment is that Diane Setterfield tried to hard to craft a story about book nerds and gothic theme that her story feels a little bit flat and dry and unstable. It only galvanized in me an impression of a lighthearted dream about horror, a whimsical fantasy in a transitory moment. It was enjoyable trying to solve the mystery, but other than that, I have no recollection of it whatsoever. I still like it still and conceded it was a nice read that is much better than stupid teenage story today. Recommended :)