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bangell's review against another edition
4.0
UPDATE: 4.5/5 stars.
Definitely mind-bending but to quote the book, “…Time travel!” AKA confusing is to be expected. I found the main character and host of side characters absolutely delightful. If you’re someone who wants a classically likable protagonist, this is not the book for you. January is cranky and fully of trauma and sometimes downright bitchy and you know what? I love that. Sassy AI robot sidekick Ruby was probably my favorite. There were admittedly a lot of side characters to keep track of so I sometimes had to flip back to doublecheck a name.
The central plot of the book/mystery kept me turning pages on its own but learning more about our protagonist’s past was equally compelling. Again, I will say, if you’re someone who wants to arrive at the end of the book with everything fully explained and tied up in a neat bow, this is not the book for you. Personally I’m just fine with some purposeful ambiguity.
I hope the author considers writing a prequel!
——
4.5 stars. I’ll write a real review once I’ve sat with it for a bit (/positive)
Definitely mind-bending but to quote the book, “…Time travel!” AKA confusing is to be expected. I found the main character and host of side characters absolutely delightful. If you’re someone who wants a classically likable protagonist, this is not the book for you. January is cranky and fully of trauma and sometimes downright bitchy and you know what? I love that. Sassy AI robot sidekick Ruby was probably my favorite. There were admittedly a lot of side characters to keep track of so I sometimes had to flip back to doublecheck a name.
The central plot of the book/mystery kept me turning pages on its own but learning more about our protagonist’s past was equally compelling. Again, I will say, if you’re someone who wants to arrive at the end of the book with everything fully explained and tied up in a neat bow, this is not the book for you. Personally I’m just fine with some purposeful ambiguity.
I hope the author considers writing a prequel!
——
4.5 stars. I’ll write a real review once I’ve sat with it for a bit (/positive)
bookph1le's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
There were a lot of things I liked about this book, but it just didn't hang together for me. I did get impatient at times, but I thought Hart did a good job of handling January's self-destructiveness. As a character, I liked her quite a bit as I found her human and quite believable, even if she is extremely exasperating at times.
The concept of this book was really interesting too. The problem is, I found it hard to follow what was going on. I thought the structure was okay, but the flipping between time periods sometimes made me have to go back and reread to reorient myself. I also found it very hard to keep track of the characters for some reason.
Even though this one was a bit of a letdown, I like what this author has done so far and do want to read his next book.
There were a lot of things I liked about this book, but it just didn't hang together for me. I did get impatient at times, but I thought Hart did a good job of handling January's self-destructiveness. As a character, I liked her quite a bit as I found her human and quite believable, even if she is extremely exasperating at times.
The concept of this book was really interesting too. The problem is, I found it hard to follow what was going on. I thought the structure was okay, but the flipping between time periods sometimes made me have to go back and reread to reorient myself. I also found it very hard to keep track of the characters for some reason.
Even though this one was a bit of a letdown, I like what this author has done so far and do want to read his next book.
amphytrite's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sapheri's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The book has a large cast of characters that is kind of hard to keep track of. The main 4-5 characters were interesting and diverse. I loved the sass of the main character and the humor she had with her AI companion. This felt like a sci fi Sherlock Holmes book.
jane_farstrider's review against another edition
5.0
This story drops you right into the action and kept me engaged right up to the end — which wrapped up much more neatly than I expected based on its length. I finished it in a couple of days, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
sammarcario's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
springpetunia's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I really liked the premise. The book was trying to do some really interesting things. However, they all fell flat for me. I think this book could have benefitted from a little more telling and a little less showing. Getting thrown into the action and setting is great, but I'd love to actually know what's happening.
The only character I liked was the AI robot. There were a lot of characters and I didn't realize I was meant to write a list to keep track of them. It didn't help that they were referred to as both their last names and their first names when the full name was only mentioned once or twice. And to top it off, many characters felt as though they were based on stereotypes by an author who tried, but didn't know how to write diverse characters.
The only character I liked was the AI robot. There were a lot of characters and I didn't realize I was meant to write a list to keep track of them. It didn't help that they were referred to as both their last names and their first names when the full name was only mentioned once or twice. And to top it off, many characters felt as though they were based on stereotypes by an author who tried, but didn't know how to write diverse characters.
miss_majuu's review against another edition
4.0
Didn’t love the ending as much as the rest of the book so it isn’t a 4.5
I do get why people really don’t like this book because our main character, January, fucking sucks. She’s the absolute worst at every single moment to every molecule in existence. How she ever found love is beyond me. But she’s also really funny (“he looks like the kind of man who has a couple of dead sex workers in his past”)
The mystery was incredible and confusing all the time. It really reminded me of the show version of Dirk Gently’s Holistic detective agency.
At some points I did think that certain other things would be more interesting than what actually happened.
I do get why people really don’t like this book because our main character, January, fucking sucks. She’s the absolute worst at every single moment to every molecule in existence. How she ever found love is beyond me. But she’s also really funny (“he looks like the kind of man who has a couple of dead sex workers in his past”)
The mystery was incredible and confusing all the time. It really reminded me of the show version of Dirk Gently’s Holistic detective agency.
At some points I did think that certain other things would be more interesting than what actually happened.
jasmeaniethebookish's review against another edition
4.0
Sometimes I put off reading books for a long while and then become super irate once I finally read them. Why is this? Because it’s pretty much always those books that become some of my favorites.
The Paradox Hotel follows January, the head of security for The Paradox Hotel, and she’s also unstuck in time. What does this mean exactly? She doesn't live linearly due to constant interactions with different timelines. She can relive the past and present and sometimes see the future. The hotel allows people of greater wealth to travel back to pretty much any period in time to experience (but not alter) life in a different way. Then let’s add in the fact that this is a government-owned thing, and I’ll let you draw your conclusions as to how that might work out for folks.
This book is a lot, and some of it is kind of weird, but I honestly adored it. You can’t write a book about time travel/paradoxical things and not expect some weirdness. It’s honestly what initially drew me to this story. So it's four stars from me because I didn't want to put this book down (damn you, responsibilities!). Definitely going to hand sell this bad boy to anyone who wants to listen to me blather on about things :)
The Paradox Hotel follows January, the head of security for The Paradox Hotel, and she’s also unstuck in time. What does this mean exactly? She doesn't live linearly due to constant interactions with different timelines. She can relive the past and present and sometimes see the future. The hotel allows people of greater wealth to travel back to pretty much any period in time to experience (but not alter) life in a different way. Then let’s add in the fact that this is a government-owned thing, and I’ll let you draw your conclusions as to how that might work out for folks.
This book is a lot, and some of it is kind of weird, but I honestly adored it. You can’t write a book about time travel/paradoxical things and not expect some weirdness. It’s honestly what initially drew me to this story. So it's four stars from me because I didn't want to put this book down (damn you, responsibilities!). Definitely going to hand sell this bad boy to anyone who wants to listen to me blather on about things :)
davidschejtman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0