A review by laurenvoice
Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton, Faith McClaren

dark medium-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

1.0

The premise for Horror Hotel looked good, a fictionalised version of the Cecil Hotel that sounds like a fun read. However, the execution of this story was terrible.

The characters were unlikeable and did many questionable things - why would anyone go off with a strange man they have just met in the world's most violent hotel?, which is just one of the many terrible decisions these characters made. Plus, the characters lacked personality; every POV sounded like the same character. 

Nonetheless, I enjoyed Eileen's blog/journal entries, but this plot point had gotten lost and added nothing to the story; this was greatly disappointing. It felt like the entire plot for Hearst Hotel got lost and just ended up being a setting to add spookiness for the reader.

Horror Hotel was a painful read. It had so much potential but shamefully was missed due to them writing this purely to make something that was "commercial and consumable" for the YA market instead of something that would have been enjoyable to read. 
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