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A review by amyalwaysbooked
Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor
adventurous
medium-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? It's complicated
2.0
Unpopular Opinion Time with Amy!
Books keep trying to convince me that they will live up to my expectations from The Night Circus and they never live up to it. Sadly, this is the case with Hotel Magnifique. This book was a mediocre debut with lots of little things that added up over my reading to land it squarely in the middle of my rating score. It wasn't BAD, but it wasn't good either. Everything fell flat which was incredibly frustrating because it could have been so much more!
The main characters were all incredibly bland. The main character, Jani constantly makes TERRIBLE decisions and gets away with them because of a deus ex machina macguffin she didn't know about. There was a lot telling me that she was close with her sister, but I never felt it. The same is true with her relationship with Bel, the equally bland love interest. The major antagonist could have been incredibly terrifying and threatening, and yet the story never gave him the full impact. His threats never felt impactful and the stakes Jani goes up against didn't hold weight. Honestly, there were side characters I was more interested in if they could have been fleshed out more.
There were other nitpicky things that bothered me. If I had to see the phrase not-milk one more time I might have flipped. Just give the concoction a name and be done with it! I also wish the story gave a better grasp of time. I get that part of the hotel's mystery is the unusual passing of time but I honestly had no idea how long the entire series of events took place. Was it weeks? Months? Years? Sometimes it felt like days, but then a character would say something that made it feel much longer. Maybe this doesn't bother everyone, but it took me out of the story.
When it comes down to it I wasn't taken in by the beauty and spectacle of Hotel Magnifique and the chipping away to the darkness underneath felt dull and cheap.
Books keep trying to convince me that they will live up to my expectations from The Night Circus and they never live up to it. Sadly, this is the case with Hotel Magnifique. This book was a mediocre debut with lots of little things that added up over my reading to land it squarely in the middle of my rating score. It wasn't BAD, but it wasn't good either. Everything fell flat which was incredibly frustrating because it could have been so much more!
The main characters were all incredibly bland. The main character, Jani constantly makes TERRIBLE decisions and gets away with them because of a deus ex machina macguffin she didn't know about. There was a lot telling me that she was close with her sister, but I never felt it. The same is true with her relationship with Bel, the equally bland love interest. The major antagonist could have been incredibly terrifying and threatening, and yet the story never gave him the full impact. His threats never felt impactful and the stakes Jani goes up against didn't hold weight. Honestly, there were side characters I was more interested in if they could have been fleshed out more.
There were other nitpicky things that bothered me. If I had to see the phrase not-milk one more time I might have flipped. Just give the concoction a name and be done with it! I also wish the story gave a better grasp of time. I get that part of the hotel's mystery is the unusual passing of time but I honestly had no idea how long the entire series of events took place. Was it weeks? Months? Years? Sometimes it felt like days, but then a character would say something that made it feel much longer. Maybe this doesn't bother everyone, but it took me out of the story.
When it comes down to it I wasn't taken in by the beauty and spectacle of Hotel Magnifique and the chipping away to the darkness underneath felt dull and cheap.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror