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L's Reviews > Floating Hotel
Floating Hotel
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Something new!
You know those science fiction novels in which there are four point-of-view characters, and each character gets point of view for a chapter, then we move on to the next? (I think Gibson's Cyberspace trilogy was the first time I really noticed it.) You know how you never know quite what's going on, and it's all very confusing? Well, in Floating Hotel Grace Curtis takes it to the max, and SOMEHOW, she makes it work!
Floating Hotel takes place on the Abeona, a hotel that is also a spaceship, so it floats through space. Don't expect a lot of technobabble -- the Abeona is determinedly retro-chic. For instance, the Abeona's messaging system is paper messages sent through pneumatic tubes. There are of course a whole bunch of people on the Abeona -- staff and guests.
Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of these characters, a different one each time. There is just one character who gets two chapters, and by the time that happens, you will be expecting it. This is much less confusing than it sounds. Each character mentions some of the other characters, just a few in the earliest chapters. Thus when one of those characters gets a chapter of their own, you're ready for it. I never found the story hard to follow.
It must be admitted, at the beginning I was not quite sure if there WAS a story. Because this story-telling approach is a slow way to introduce characters and setting, the first half is fairly slow. However, I came to see that a story had gradually crept up on me -- a mystery, in fact. And it was fun.
I would probably rate this a mere three stars were it not for the novel story-telling technique. I'm a Neophile, so I'm always intrigued to see something in a book that I haven't seen before. If you prefer the tried-and-true, you may not like Floating Hotel as much as I did.
Thanks to NetGalley and DAW for an advance reader copy of Floating Hotel. This review expresses my honest opinions.
Blog review.
You know those science fiction novels in which there are four point-of-view characters, and each character gets point of view for a chapter, then we move on to the next? (I think Gibson's Cyberspace trilogy was the first time I really noticed it.) You know how you never know quite what's going on, and it's all very confusing? Well, in Floating Hotel Grace Curtis takes it to the max, and SOMEHOW, she makes it work!
Floating Hotel takes place on the Abeona, a hotel that is also a spaceship, so it floats through space. Don't expect a lot of technobabble -- the Abeona is determinedly retro-chic. For instance, the Abeona's messaging system is paper messages sent through pneumatic tubes. There are of course a whole bunch of people on the Abeona -- staff and guests.
Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of these characters, a different one each time. There is just one character who gets two chapters, and by the time that happens, you will be expecting it. This is much less confusing than it sounds. Each character mentions some of the other characters, just a few in the earliest chapters. Thus when one of those characters gets a chapter of their own, you're ready for it. I never found the story hard to follow.
It must be admitted, at the beginning I was not quite sure if there WAS a story. Because this story-telling approach is a slow way to introduce characters and setting, the first half is fairly slow. However, I came to see that a story had gradually crept up on me -- a mystery, in fact. And it was fun.
I would probably rate this a mere three stars were it not for the novel story-telling technique. I'm a Neophile, so I'm always intrigued to see something in a book that I haven't seen before. If you prefer the tried-and-true, you may not like Floating Hotel as much as I did.
Thanks to NetGalley and DAW for an advance reader copy of Floating Hotel. This review expresses my honest opinions.
Blog review.
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Reading Progress
October 9, 2023
–
Started Reading
October 9, 2023
– Shelved
October 9, 2023
– Shelved as:
to-read
October 9, 2023
– Shelved as:
netgalley
October 10, 2023
–
20.0%
October 11, 2023
–
75.0%
October 11, 2023
–
Finished Reading
October 12, 2023
– Shelved as:
netgalley-2023
October 12, 2023
– Shelved as:
reviewed-2023
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Louise
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Oct 12, 2023 02:24PM
Sounds like an interesting way to tell a story.
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Louise wrote: "Sounds like an interesting way to tell a story."It was. Worked better than I expected it to.
Suzanne Palmer wrote this comedy sf novella or novellete (15k words not sure what!) called Table Etiquette for Diplomatic Personnel, in Seventeen Scenes which is literally a cute, cozy sf mystery in 17 scenes, different point of views, all around somebody eating something (including a dog in the background). She really made it work and it was incredibly cozy. Your review is putting this book in my radar in hopes it is something similar, and well if you ever want a multiple PoV piece of sf fluff mystery which is kind of perfect in its way, the Palmer story is fantastic...
Hirondelle wrote: "Suzanne Palmer wrote this comedy sf novella or novellete (15k words not sure what!) called Table Etiquette for Diplomatic Personnel, in Seventeen Scenes which is literally a cute, cozy sf mystery i..."That is already on my to-read list. Maybe I'll try to actually get to it soon.
I thought that while it was a cute fluffy thing it was incredibly impressive technically, writing wise, that she can carry a convincing story like that (and all that and her full length stuff did not work to me).Save it for a treat, it was for me, it was immensely feel good. I think it would have been more popular if published in an open site!
That does sound interesting and different. Great review!
