Scan barcode
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Finished reading: April 1st 2024
DNF at 34% (134 pages)
DNF at 34% (134 pages)
"Whatever Allyn's reports are telling him, the odds that timeline radiation isn't to blame here are roughly equal to me getting through the day without punching someone in the face. It's going to happen."
I know that science fiction isn't my typical genre, but I do love a good locked room thriller. Both the time travel element and the hotel setting intrigued me, so I was actually excited when my TBR jar thought it was about time I read The Paradox Hotel. The premise itself is fantastic, and it's probably the main reason I even made it this far. The fact is... This book and me REALLY didn't get along. While I loved the idea behind The Paradox Hotel, the execution was somehow completely off for me. The main character January was one of the most enfuriating and simply exhausting characters I've had to deal with in recent years, and I was SO over her bad attitude and aggression. Since we see everything through her eyes, despising having to spend time with her made continuing basically impossible. This wasn't my only issue though. It seemed like the author was trying to be woke by incorporating diversity, but he did so without substance and it ended up having the complete opposite effect instead. There were way too many stereotypes, and why do all the rich white characters have to be assholes and racists?! There were WAY too many characters in general, and it was very hard to keep them apart. The plot itself was both confusing and extremely boring at the same time, and not even the escaped dinosaurs could liven up things for me. I tried looking past my issues, but in the end I just couldn't find the motivation to continue knowing I had double the amount of pages left than I already read... And I decided to throw in the towel and DNF instead. Looks like my TBR jar wasn't right this time around!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Classism, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Transphobia, Gun violence, Death, Terminal illness, Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Violence, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts
tigger89's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
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
4.5
This was a wonderful, heartbreaking book that wasn't at all about what I thought it would be! I didn't like it in the early chapters, but as the protective layers started to peel off our seemingly hard-boiled protagonist I realized that I was looking at the book all wrong. Rather than being a convenient plot device to raise the tension, her medical condition and why she continued to allow it to worsen were really the heart of the book. And I can't tell you why without spoiling things.
The tone — from the social chaos of planning the buyers' summit to the frenetic race to contain rampaging creatures and the emotional gut-wrench of the final pages — is very unique, but for me it hit the exact same chord that Connie Willis's series about the time traveling historians did. It's chaotic and funny but also you're going to cry at the end, right? Because this isn't a mystery novel, it's a novel about how humans deal with loss, both experienced and potential.
Something I didn't know going in was that this book had quite a bit of queer representation. There's transgender and nonbinary characters, as well as a sapphic relationship. Overall the characters were fine, but one thing that struck me as odd was that the way some themes — gender and race come to mind — were described in the narration brought me out of the future and straight back into 2023. It wasn't that there was anything that was a problem, it just broke my immersion because it didn't feel like how I imagined people would interact with those things in the future. Still, that's a fairly small quibble. Overall I enjoyed it.
Did the creatures die? I can't even write that sentence properly without spoilers, so into the tag we go.There are raptors running around the hotel through much of the plot. It makes sense in context, I promise. At least one of them is killed in the course of attempting to contain them.
The tone — from the social chaos of planning the buyers' summit to the frenetic race to contain rampaging creatures and the emotional gut-wrench of the final pages — is very unique, but for me it hit the exact same chord that Connie Willis's series about the time traveling historians did. It's chaotic and funny but also you're going to cry at the end, right? Because this isn't a mystery novel, it's a novel about how humans deal with loss, both experienced and potential.
Something I didn't know going in was that this book had quite a bit of queer representation. There's transgender and nonbinary characters, as well as a sapphic relationship. Overall the characters were fine, but one thing that struck me as odd was that the way some themes — gender and race come to mind — were described in the narration brought me out of the future and straight back into 2023. It wasn't that there was anything that was a problem, it just broke my immersion because it didn't feel like how I imagined people would interact with those things in the future. Still, that's a fairly small quibble. Overall I enjoyed it.
Did the creatures die? I can't even write that sentence properly without spoilers, so into the tag we go.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Terminal illness
Moderate: Death, Animal death, Blood, and Violence
schnaucl's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
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? It's complicated
4.0
I enjoyed it. I like the characters, and I think the idea of setting it at the hotel where time travelers stay was a cool one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness
Minor: Racism, Violence, Suicide attempt, Blood, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Murder
leaflit's review against another edition
adventurous
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
4.0
Enjoyed it but the ending felt rushed. Lots of queer rep: wlw, trans woman, non-binary character
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Blood, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Transphobia, Grief, Murder, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Classism
Minor: War, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Confinement, and Dysphoria
andloveistoolong's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Grief, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Dementia, Terminal illness, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Animal death, Child abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia
Minor: Gore, War, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Cultural appropriation, and Racism
readingrainbeau's review
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? It's complicated
5.0
The decision to replace the role of the young ingeue with a questionably sentient robot is just one of the ways that this book manages to delightfully surprise the reader.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Medical content, Terminal illness, Alcohol, and Gaslighting
The concept and depiction of those unstuck by time has associated symptoms similar to chronic conditions with cognitive deteriorationsequelmage's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
There are a lot of reviews that mentioned that the protagonist, January Cole, is really mean and unlikable.
This is true and she even knows that she is being unnecessarily mean. But still I kind of understand why she is like that. She had a bad childhood and her parents were neglectful. She is terminally ill, but the disease is going to cause her to lose her grip on reality until eventually putting her in a catatonic state, and finally the love of her life tragically died.
But overall this was an entertaining read.
This is true and she even knows that she is being unnecessarily mean. But still I kind of understand why she is like that. She had a bad childhood and her parents were neglectful. She is terminally ill, but the disease is going to cause her to lose her grip on reality until eventually putting her in a catatonic state, and finally the love of her life tragically died.
But overall this was an entertaining read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Gun violence, Terminal illness, and Murder
Minor: Suicide attempt
lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
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
I LOVED IT!
I understand why people might not, but I did with all my heart. It was just the perfect book for me. Very wibbly wobbly, very timey wimey, very fast-paced and action packed, very funny, very VERY confusing. A lot of characters, and a lot of things happening at the same time on every single page (and when I say at the same time, I mean past, present and future). You don't really get a break to even catch a breath. It is super diverse and has lots of queer representation (lesbian, non-binary, trans). The protagonist is not the nicest person, but you get to understand her better through the book. I really really liked her. (My favorite character was an AI drone, though.)
You are not prepared for how wild this book is. But it also had some really good quotes in the second half, some deep, emotional and social commentary that I didn't expect. And I really liked the ending, it was very fitting.
Since the plot takes place in a single building and is so complex and confusing, it gave me "The 7 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" and "Man in the empty suit" vibes. I'd definitely recommend it to people who like Steven Moffat's Doctor Who episodes. This reads like all of them... at once, have fun.
I understand why people might not, but I did with all my heart. It was just the perfect book for me. Very wibbly wobbly, very timey wimey, very fast-paced and action packed, very funny, very VERY confusing. A lot of characters, and a lot of things happening at the same time on every single page (and when I say at the same time, I mean past, present and future). You don't really get a break to even catch a breath. It is super diverse and has lots of queer representation (lesbian, non-binary, trans). The protagonist is not the nicest person, but you get to understand her better through the book. I really really liked her. (My favorite character was an AI drone, though.)
You are not prepared for how wild this book is. But it also had some really good quotes in the second half, some deep, emotional and social commentary that I didn't expect. And I really liked the ending, it was very fitting.
Since the plot takes place in a single building and is so complex and confusing, it gave me "The 7 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" and "Man in the empty suit" vibes. I'd definitely recommend it to people who like Steven Moffat's Doctor Who episodes. This reads like all of them... at once, have fun.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Terminal illness
Minor: Drug use, Transphobia, Addiction, Confinement, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
gogglor's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
What an utterly fantastic book. Beautiful, heart-rending, absolutely sublime. The action scenes are striking, the mystery is gripping, the portrayal of grief is profound. I could not put it down. Needs to be a movie ASAP.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Self harm, and Grief
I know this book comes with a lot of potential triggers, but it’s tone is, ultimately, hopeful and healing.sylvestra's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Drug use
Moderate: Gun violence and Homophobia
Minor: Terminal illness and Suicide attempt