Reviews with content warning for Gore - Hotel Magnifique

What. A. Ride.
This was *a lot* darker and crueler than I thought it was going to be. I actually liked that a lot about this book.
This first 25% of the book was a little bit unhinged, it felt as though the writer had to catch her stride, but the book just got better and better.

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arturo_luzen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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inkysplodge's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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katvou's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

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zailun's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-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? No

4.0

TWS: Death, torture, gore, violence, blood, emotional abuse, death of a parent.

I have conflicting thoughts about this. I was really into the book at the beginning, but I started to lose interest and didn't care for much when I reached the latter part of the first half because of repetitive scenes and inner monologues by the mc. However, I was more immersed in the second half of the book as this is where the mysteries of the hotel and about Jani began to unfold and where the action really begins. ALSO, again with the age gap? Stop.

First of all, I adored the writing. Along with the amazing world-building and brilliantly written and extensive descriptions of the hotel and its enchanted rooms, it's the type of writing that I look for when reading fantasy because I want to be able to use my imagination, and I really, REALLY wanted to like this. It definitely reminded me of Hotel Del Luna (a great K-drama that everyone should watch), and it had the potential to be a really great story-I mean it is I just personally felt it lacking.

Jani, the mc, was the first and main reason I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to. She is excruciatingly annoying, like a lot of protagonists I've read, and I could've given her some slack because I understood her love for her sister, but girl wanted everything to go her way WITHOUT EVEN THINKING OF THE CONSEQUENCES. She literally cares about no one and is oblivious to the repercussions of her actions as long as she can do what she believes is reasonable. She acts rashly and its like she doesn't see the danger in that mindset. And then she regrets and feels bad after the damage has been done, but she does it again because it is something she needs to do when she could just wait??? I also didn't see any character development.

Another reason was because there were so many characters I wanted to see more of, such as Bel (even though he had the second most appearances next to the mc, I felt like his character lacked in depth), Béatrice, Issig, Hellas, and Red, who were all far more interesting than Jani. I wanted to see more of their history and their magic or what more they could do with their artéfacts. They honestly could've made the book more engaging for me which is why I also believe I would have preferred it more if this had been told in a third person's pov, because reading it in the pov of Jani was just painful for me.

Finally, the mystery about Jani was highly predictable; there's nothing wrong with it; it just felt rushed and thrown in there forcibly, and for me it felt like it served as justification for her actions since she was "lucky" or whatever. However, I enjoyed the plot twist and how the story ended, and the beautiful writing somehow compensated for the parts I felt were lacking in the story. Overall, it's a book I'd still recommend.

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spookily's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Lovable characters: "It's complicated" because, while some of the side characters are arguably lovable, the MC is intolerable. She spends the entire novel jumping to conclusions, acting impulsively, and excusing her own behavior by claiming that her stubbornness is a virtue, even when it puts her and her sister in greater danger. She's rude, self-centered, and extremely difficult to sympathize with or root for.

Diverse characters: "It's complicated" because the author has a weird obsession with showing off how many colors she can list for skin tones. Every single unnamed side character is described by some inane set of words like "the copper-skinned boy," "mocha" "olive" "porcelain" etc. etc.. It essentially feels like she is just filling the room with as many "diverse" looking characters as possible without having to put in the work to incorporate an actual sense of diversity into the story.

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khakipantsofsex's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

3.5

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gundegaaa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? N/A

4.75

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