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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!
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Blood
Minor: Transphobia
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Transphobia
Graphic: Gun violence, Terminal illness, Blood, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Racism, Transphobia, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Classism
Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, War
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, War
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief
Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder
Minor: Confinement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, Dysphoria, War
it gets a little too chaotic by the end but i had fun :)
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Grief, Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Racism, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Dysphoria
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.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Confinement, Drug use, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Vomit
Graphic: Self harm, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria
Graphic: Gun violence, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death
Minor: Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria