this was an absolute joy to read. i am desperate for a physical copy so i can pick it up to re-read anytime!

First, I must confess my mistake. I thought this was a direct sequel of Frontier, Grace Curtis' impressive debut and I was slightly disappointed to find that it wasn't. But, by that time, I had already started reading and it have probably been rude to stop at that point. And then I didn't want to stop. And then I wouldn't have stopped even if the building was on fire. It did take a few chapters but the story dragged me into it but not kicking and screaming; more fast page-turning and nervous thumb-chewing.

In (unfair) comparison, Floating Hotel is a bit more light-hearted than Frontier. Frontier had a habit of being a bit grim and showing the worst in people. Floating Hotel is the exact opposite. It starts with a young boy running away from a terrible family. He stows away on the Grand Abeona Hotel and is treated with kindness for the first time. Forty years later, he is in charge and is giving the same offer to other runaways that find their way to the hotel. The main feeling is of found family, a trope I always enjoy and I loved the personalities that we met aboard the Abeona. Although the story does have it's moments of darkness, there is much here that could be called cozy. And it is cozy, just like the first mug of hot chocolate Carl ever tasty - warm, embracing but with some slightly bittersweet notes, particularly at the end.

I loved the setting and the atmosphere of this novel. I loved the beloved but now slightly seedy hotel, which was so rich and classy in it's hay day but it now all a bit rough around the edges. I loved how the staff areas were so much more shabby than the client facing areas (how very true to life that is!). I loved the piano-playing in the bar, the lack of automaton including the menus for the restaurant, the staff taking over the under-used cinema and watching banned films. It had a 1930's feel to it that I thought was delightful in a futuristic sci-fi story.

However, it is the people that really make this book come alive. The plot is good but I feel that it could possibly be a bit so-so if it wasn't for the diverse cast propping it up. I liked this motley crew and really enjoyed finding out more about them. Obviously, particularly everyone has a story, as Carl the Manager takes in all the waifs and strays, including those on the run from the law. It was fun to find out what everyone's background was but these were not delivered in mass info dumps. No, each person got a little side quest, relevant to the main story, that helped to tease out the information. I wondered at the beginning if this was a series of short stories based on the crew of the Abeona but the main story slowly came to life to weave it all together. Carl did seem a bit too hopeless to be managing a travelling hotel at first but, in the end, Kibble was right. Carl brings all the misfits together and forms a (mostly) cohesive team.

My only disappointment was the ending. Not what happened - that seemed appropriate although extremely sad. It seemed a little bit rushed to me and, although the epilogue gave some answers, I would have liked to know more of the aftermath. It's quite hard to explain without some massive spoilers (which I won't do), so I won't try but I just thought that it ended a bit suddenly.

Once I got into the flow, I loved my time aboard the Abeona. The atmosphere and the characters really helped to drive forward a good plot into an excellent story. If character-driven, cozy sci-fi is your thing, then I would highly recommend Floating Hotel. And not once did I judge it solely by that beautiful cover! (Maybe a little...).

Floating Hotel is an entertaining, bordering on cosy, science fiction novel told in a series of vignettes.

As the name vaguely suggests, it takes place on a hotel in space, the Grand Abeona Hotel. We begin with Carl, a stowaway and also the manager, who's a good introduction to the book as a whole before we get to meet everyone else.

My takeaway is that it was a nice read, I enjoyed the worldbuilding. I felt like the ship was 'real'. But as the book moved from character to character, I never became quite fully embedded in the story. At least I never yearned to uncover the plot. I was quite content to take it in in quite a relaxed manner, somewhat as if I was on a space cruise myself. Maybe that was the point?

3.5 rounded up.

Despite their very different genres, Grace Curtis's second book, Floating Hotel, shares a lot with another sophomore novel I read recently, Adelle Waldman's Help Wanted. Both novels are about a group of service workers; both have a thin thread of plot but are ultimately character-led, flipping between the heads of their cast until we get to know them all. But Floating Hotel is set in a space hotel that charts a course by autopilot between distant worlds, in an Empire where talk of potential alien life is banned. A dissenter issues bulletins about what's really going on across galaxies, and an agent believes that the culprit is based at the hotel. The other obvious inspiration for this 'cozy SF' is Becky Chambers, particularly her first novel, The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet. Curtis's cast are all human, but you can see traces of the same kinds of archetype Chambers explores across her range of alien races: the misanthrope, the autistic guy, the once-elite itinerant, the practical woman with a traumatic past. This was a shame, in a way, because although I enjoyed this book, I spent a lot of it wondering why I didn't love it as much as I loved A Long Way. I wonder if Curtis's writing is just a tad too literary for this to work. I wanted to sink deeper into the setting and the individual lives of each of the characters, and I felt like the prose was almost too agile, not straightforward enough. For me, her style suited her more off-the-wall debut, Frontier, better. Having said that, Floating Hotel is still escapist, fun and atmospheric. 3.5 stars.

I immediately fell in love with Carl, whose plucky decision to join the Grand Abeona Hotel probably saved his life. He is an absolute sweetheart. But this isn’t a sentimental read – there are also a number of really edgy, hardcore characters that feature. And one of them doesn’t get to make it to the end of the book…

This is a deceptive read. I started by thinking it was going to be reasonably upbeat and gentle, however as the story wore on, the general mood steadily darkens. We quickly learn the world beyond the Grand Abeona Hotel is run by a 500-year-old megalomaniac, who cannot bear to think of any other Life existing out in space apart from humans. The main character is Carl and having become the Manager of the Grand Abeona, his life is subsumed by the demands of running a luxury hotel catering to the whims of the entitled wealthy. I read one review, where the reader is very indignant that Curtis has sugar-coated the hospitality industry. But I don’t think that’s the case. It’s no accident that most of the longest serving staff are on the run – and Curtis doesn’t hesitate to show us entitled guests being difficult. And while I’m determined not to provide any Spoilers – I would just mention that the ending wouldn’t have felt half so upbeat and optimistic, if Curtis was depicting working in hospitality as the pinnacle of careers.

As for the mystery side of things, it is a slow-burn buildup where we gradually appreciate that things within the Grand Abeona are not as they should be. By the time the pace begins to pick up, I was thoroughly hooked. I’m not always thrilled with a book that appears to be one sort of read, only to discover halfway through that it’s something else. However this time around, I thoroughly enjoyed the mash-up and the cast of quirky characters, reading until late into the night to discover how it all works out. Recommended for fans of dark deeds set in space. While I obtained an arc of Floating Hotel from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
8/10

A delightful mix of sci-fi, cozy mystery that kept me turning pages and having fun.
I appreciated the world building, the well rounded characters and the solid mystery that kept me guessing.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

An intergalactic mystery, featuring espionage, a host of intriguing characters, & a healthy dose of 'whoodunnit'. I'd have liked to delve deeper into the lives of the guests and staff of The Grand Abeona, as well as the wider political history of the universe. But as it is, this is an enjoyable easy-read told via a series of individual character histories & stories coming together to form an overall story arc - a good space opera to while away the day!

Thanks to netgalley, Hodder & Stoughton, and the author Grace Curtis for the opportunity to read an advanced DRC of this publication.

final rating: 3.5/5☆ (i wanted to give it a pseudo four but.... if i find myself taking more than one morning to finish a 300 page book, it didn't hold my attention as it should have)

thanks to netgalley and the publisher Hodder & Stoughton for the e-arc!

let me reiterate, i am very much not a science fiction reader. i requested for this because of the pretty cover, and a synopsis that felt like a pretty comfortable, stay-in kind of story featuring the lives of the staff and customers in the hotel. in a way, i suppose that was what i got. short stories of the people within the hotel, and with subtle but excellent pacing that slowly alluded to and built up mystery.

(spoilers ahead)

i will get it out of the way and say, some of the stories weren't so interesting. while a little background into the characters, is always appreciated, i found myself thinking the story ground to a halt at some of them, particularly for Ephraim and Olly. the action is always there and was what hookes me to it, but sometimes, less is more, and i didn't really need to know Ephraim's parents worked in construction or that Olly is not his real name.

however, there were a few that i found interesting, like the Appleseeds. i loved the whole spy espionage thing happening there, and the strange relationship between the fake married couple. was not expecting an end to both of them, though. also really liked Daphne, a stuttering people pleaser who was walked all over by her countess until she got fired and learnt waitressing.

but still, a very satisfying ending that easily made Kipple my favourite character even without a story of his own. a grouchy shut-in who is actually the Lamplighter writing politically incriminating articles on the Empire but actually just loves the hotel and the boss? yes please!

Perfect for fans of cosy scifi, this mystery slowly unravels as we meet more of the cast and learn about their connections. A warming read, and one for fans of character-focussed novels such as Becky Chambers. The different POVs keeps the story fresh, and Grace's beautiful writing will make you keep turning the pages.

Who’s ready for what is maybe the best vacation of your life? Welcome to the Abeona, a giant space cruise ship, touring several systems within the Milky Way. On board, you’ll meet a variety of people, staff and guests, and you might even get the chance to set foot on a planet you’ve never encountered before. You can find all this, and more, in Grace Curtis’s Floating Hotel, set to be published March 20, 2024.

Floating Hotel carries on in the vein of Curtis’s debut novel, Frontier, with a revolving narrator and a bright cast of characters distinct in their own right. Floating Hotel tells the story of its world through the disparate lives of the characters, a cast you’ll come to know and love very quickly.

Though the start of this story was a little slow, and the jumping between characters took a few chapters to get used to, I ultimately found myself fully hooked on the story and the fate of the hotel. Beyond just the hotel itself, masterfully woven into the background of each backstory that’s revealed, is the surrounding world of the hotel, the political landscape of a human Empire hostile to even the suggestion of alien life that might be on par with homo sapien intelligence. There’s an environmental background as well, with several of the characters originating from planets bled dry of resources by the Empire.

This space jaunt is one of the few cozy books I’ve read that I've felt both embody the cozy vibe (mainly a focus on character) while maintaining my interest with enough intrigue in the background. I’d highly recommend to anyone looking for character-driven work and the vacation of a lifetime.

Rated 3.5 really.

First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

Let's preface this review by saying, Floating Hotel is good at what it does. My problem is that I don't fare well with characters galore and short stories (of which the book is, for all purposes, a collection, though they intersect creating a broader narrative), and I like a little more action and stakes in my books...not to mention I expected the sci-fi aspect to be meatier - hence my rating. But if you're more interested in the human angle, and you don't mind getting a condensed version of the many protagonists' lives, and you like coziness and gentle humour (with the occasional patch of violence, and on the backdrop of a dystopia/totalitarian regime), you'll enjoy this one. While not every character is particularly memorable or relevant for the main plot, most of them are captivating, and it was fun to see how they - or their stories - connected. There's a satisfying (if a bit implausible) twist in the end, and though we don't exactly get closure about the hotel employees, the epilogue is a celebration of quiet heroes, and a testament to hope and resistance in the face of oppression. No small feat these days...

This was, in short, just a really lovely story. Very character-focused, I loved the unique setting - a travelling hotel spaceship - and the subtle elements of mystery underpinning the tale. I thought the characters were fantastic, and I enjoyed how it explored the backstory of so many of them, showing their rich inner lives which, when seen from the perspective of the other people in the hotel, are cast in a very different light. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys atmospheric settings, strong characterisation, and slightly lower-stakes science fiction.

2.5 stars

When I started this book I was full of hope because “cozy” “mystery” “found family” “misfits” pave the road to my heart, so how could I resist?? And the beginning reminded me a lot of the movie The Grand Budapest Hotel, with that old-time quality that is, at the same time, timeless (I am sorry for the abundance of “time” here!), so I was prepared to sit back and enjoy the ride. But, so far, this book revealed itself like the biggest disappointment of the year.

Mind me, it is not that the book is bad. It is not the right fit for me, but still, it is not all bad. There are good things in there, and I think that a lot of people could enjoy it. But it is not what it is marketed as. And I’ll try going at it with a list:

1)Misfits and rebels. Yes, this one is right. The people who work on the Abeona are all one or the other, or both. So far so good, right? But I’ll be back to talk a bit more about the characters in a bit. For now, let’s continue with the list.

2)Cozy. Not really. I mean, this one is highly personal, because cozy is more about the vibes than something objective, so maybe for me, this is not cozy at all, and for someone else, it is the most cozy of the cozy books. Sure. But still… even if there are some things that are typical of cozy books, like not so high stakes, a somehow restricted world in which the story took place, all that, this to me didn’t feel cozy. At all. Boring, from time to time. Low stakes (even if there is the always present Emperor looming in the story). A somehow tight group of characters. A slow pace. But the vibes for me weren’t cozy, happy, and warm. It was more suffocating, bleak, and altogether more on the negative side than on the positive. And one thing that cozy books have to be, at least for me, is a prominence of good vibes!

3)Found Family. Again. Nope. We have a close group of coworkers, and I also think that this is the ideal workplace because they are a tight group of coworkers, they care for each other, and sure, you can almost think of them like a family. But… not really. A family has some strong links, some strong passions or feelings, that here we simply don’t get. Mind me, I think that, as workplaces went, this would be perfect, there is no drama, and they care for their job and for one another, but there is something missing to really make them a family. Every character is like a world of his (or her, or their) own, they all live and work in the same place, and we have the forced proximity because they live (and work) on board a spaceship so… obviously, we have all that. But to make a group of people who live and work together a family is necessary some spark, some other things, that we don’t get here.

4)Mystery. Eh… again. It is not a lie, we have a mystery, or even more than one… but they are not what moves the story around. There is a mystery element, but it is almost in the background. It is not really so central to the narration (it is important, somehow, for the story, sure but not for the narration).
I think that this wasn’t really marketed right if this makes sense. I would not have loved it all the same, because the atmosphere to me felt wrong, uneasy, like some sort of malaise was in the air. And it was also pretty boring on the whole. And suffocating! This was the word I was looking for!

One interesting thing is the way in which the author tells us the story, I appreciated it, I think I appreciated the hows way more than the whats. We have a lot of different people staffing the Abeona and the author presents each one of them, intertwining their past with their present, letting us know how it was that they came aboard the ship (and some of them have really interesting stories, too). And this was an interesting way of telling the story, but my problem was that I wasn’t really interested in the story, or in the characters. Sure, they all are unique and some of them are intriguing. I enjoyed a couple of them, but not enough to enjoy the book. It is quite a short book, and I was constantly hoping to see things take flight, and for something to happen but… I was disappointed. Sure, it is not the worst book ever, and I think that if you don’t go in there expecting a nice fun book with all sorts of warm and fuzzy feelings maybe it would work for you. All in all, I am not happy with it, but I hope that it could work for someone else out there!

Usually I scroll through Netgalley to find books I've already pre-ordered. I really wanna make sure that the books I request on Netgalley are books I really wanna read. Else reading becomes a task and a chore instead of entertainment and a hobby. But, in this case I saw the words cozy and sci-fi combined and I got curious. Of course I read cozy fantasies before, but this seemed different. I requested a copy and luckily Hodderscape granted me one.

It's hard to describe this book. In a way it's an experience and the best way to enjoy this book is to just lean back and read. During the book we slowly meet both the staff and the guests of the floating hotel. The point of view isn't constantly switching. We follow one character for a while and then we switch to another character and only one character gets to tell a part of the story twice. It took a little getting used to, but I did end up enjoying it.

Because this way the author really shows us a lot of this big universe. The guests and staff are all coming from different places, with different backgrounds and different stories. And when it's their moment to shine, we learn about it all. We therefore really get an idea of the different kinds of planets in the universe, the different societies and the different kinds of jobs. And especially because we learn all this so casually, it strengthens the feeling that this universe is huge.

There is also a bigger plot line connecting all the individual storylines. It takes a little while before the bigger plot shows its face more clearly and I'd also say it's not really what this story is about. It's more a motivation for characters to do certain things and behave in certain ways. Or in some cases it's the entire reason why they're in the hotel to begin with. It's mostly an excuse to introduce us to all these colorful and unique characters who now feel like friends.

This was so cosy!

I never thought I'd find another book like those by Becky Chambers, but this really grabbed me! Interesting characters and the cosy space mystery really made this worthwhile! I did enjoy the writing aswell, as it drew me in. There wasn't any great big terminology that made me confused or anything, which was nice!

Overall, highly recommend! Super short too!

I was not quite sure what to expect from this book but it certainly exceeded what I had hoped for. The depth and range of the different characters was wonderful. Delightfully quirky .

Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

Thank you Netgalley for the arc for an unbiased review.

Covid, pleurisy then a virus since Christmas has curtailed my reviewing by some margin. However, as a huge fan of Frontier by Grace Curtis, I couldn't give up the opportunity to read and review Floating Hotel.

The style and pacing for Floating Hotel, much like Frontier, won't be for everyone. Yet I found myself immediately drawn in.
This story gives us individual stories that interact with each other on one level or another.
This means it is heavily character weighted, which as I enjoy the way Grace Curtis writes, I didn't find difficult at all. Far from it. I was a quarter of the way through before I'd even realised I'd got that far into the book. I genuinely thought I was only around 10% or a little more into it. A sign that whatever others might think, my enjoyment was already looking at a 5 star review.

As with Frontier the overall feel is pretty light, yet it has its darker edges, which lends itself to a satisfying balance as I read. It allows the story to culminate into an ending that felt right overall.
It's a story about love, betrayal, found family, and a general manner of cosy wrapped up in razor wire that will occasionally snag you.

My one minor gripe is I did feel the ending was slightly rushed. However, it feels as if this is a book where we could return to the characters. I certainly hope we do. It would be a shame to see the door close on this for good. Funnily enough I felt the same with Frontier, on it could potentially see more exploration, so perhaps this is just how Grace Curtis writes. Time will tell.

Happily giving this 5 out of 5 stars 🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟

- No spoiler review -
You are in for a journey!
For me it was reading a script for a TV series, with each episode focusing on a different persona that is working/staying at the hotel. Something in the style of mixing Doctor Who, Avalon, topped with some 1984 vibes, all wrapped-up in a captivating writing style.
The fact that you get to know each of this characters helps quite nicely with their decoted chapters, makes you really understand them, put yourself in their places and start to think if they are the one everyone is looking for.

p.s. As a person that works in the Tourism industry (be it not in the hotel/restaurant sector) I can attest that everyday life in the hospitality sector really is this chaotic and charming at the same time

Grace Curtis came onto the science fiction scene with a deceptively gentle post-apocalyptic Western called Frontier. Frontier took a range of Western tropes and had fun with them, and while it took a more gentle approach, Curtis never shied away from abuses of power and violence. Curtis pulls a similar trick with her follow up Floating Hotel. This story of an intergalactic cruise liner feels slight when it starts but slowly Curtis builds something more nuanced, complex and dangerous.
Floating Hotel opens with the story of Carl, who escapes from a harsh existence by essentially stows away on a luxury spaceliner, the Grand Abeona, by carrying luggage and then being adopted by the hotel’s manager. Flash forward forty years and Carl is running the place. He has carried on the tradition of picking up staff who might otherwise be waifs and strays and had built a loyal, found family in the hotel’s crew. So the hotel, still a destination for the wealthy, has become a haven for the disaffected and this has come to the attention of the increasingly fascist galactic authorities.
Floating Hotel tells its story across a series of delightful character studies. Each chapter focusses on a different member of the crew, their history and how they landed themselves on the Abeona. And while the first few stories feel more bucolic, they lay the seeds for the darker themes to come. In a similar vein to Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series – there is plenty gentleness and whimsy but there is also a hard edge, a bit of violence and some far reaching revelations that turn the accepted wisdom of Curtis’ universe on its head.

A cosy, slice-of life space opera with found family, misfits and mystery, Floating Hotel follows the characters aboard the Grand Abeona. It’s a hotel floating through space, with the best service and food the galaxy has to offer, but some guests have secrets and something sinister seems to be going on…

As expected, I absolutely adored this book. The space hotel setting completely drew me in and I loved getting to know all the characters on board. It’s both cosy and unsettling, with a mystery element that keeps you guessing throughout.

Like Frontier, it’s very much character led, and Grace Curtis creates the best characters once again. Every personality comes to life from the pages and I found myself falling in love with each distinct perspective. My favourites were Rogan, Daphne, Azad and Ooly, but there wasn’t a single chapter I didn’t enjoy.

Grace Curtis is definitely an auto-buy author for me now and I know this will make my top books of the year!

Thank you so much to @hodderscape for sending me a copy!