FLOATING HOTEL
GRACE CURTIS
***
The Grand Budapest Hotel in space, Floating Hotel is a hopeful story of misfits, rebels and found family, perfect for fans of Becky Chambers, Martha Wells and Aliette de Bodard.
Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. Year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury - and a magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as:
Why are there love poems in the lobby intray?
How many Imperial spies are currently on board?
What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver's conference?
And perhaps most pertinently - who is driving the ship?
At the centre of these mysteries stands Carl, one time stowaway, longtime manager, devoted caretaker to the hotel. It's the love of his life and the only place he's ever called home. But as forces beyond Carl's comprehension converge on the Abeona, he has to face one final question: when is it time to let go?
MY REVIEW
***
The Grand Abeona is a luxury hotel floating in space, home to a wide variety of people – guests and staff alike, who all have their secrets to discover…
Floating Hotel is actually a series of Vignettes rather than one cohesive story – each chapter focuses on one character with their own backstory, flashbacks and story to tell. It’s sadly a narrative technique that I don’t really get on with terribly well – it means you are introduced to a lot of characters you have to keep track of, and it sacrifices a main story plot a little too much in my opinion if not done well.
There are a lot of mysteries on board the ship – with spies aboard, a scientific conference trying to decode a secret message and love poems appearing on people’s desks. However, I didn’t really think one chapter from each point of view was really enough time to get to delve deep into certain plot points. The ending tries to pull some threads together, but it just felt very rushed, and I actually didn’t really understand what was happening. I wish we had focused more on the more interesting characters and plots – such as the torturers and the code-crackers and less on the film nights and chef viewpoints which just seemed to drag the story and ultimately did not matter for the main plot.
Overall Floating Hotel is a Vignette piece that wasn’t for me – I wanted more of a substantial plot. Thank you to NetGalley & Hodder & Stoughton – Hodderscape for the chance to read the ATC in exchange for an honest review.
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