In her follow up to her brilliant debut Frontier, this is another beautiful sci-fi adventure adventure that will mesmerise you right from the start.

I read Grace Curtis’s debut, ‘Frontier’, last night and I really enjoyed it. I reviewed it right here! But I loved ‘Floating Hotel’ and it got my second five-star rating of 2024.

I’m really hitting my sci-fi era at the moment - I’m currently making my way through the ‘Red Rising Saga’ and ‘The Expanse’ series - and this was a really lovely change of pace in the sci-fi realm. It reminds me more of Becky Chambers’ style of sci-fi with a strong focus on character and world and found family with less action. ‘Floating Hotel’ hit the spot for me and I adored it.

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?

I love a book that tells a story of a group of people one character at a time, an ensemble cast, if you will, but it’s not an easy feat. Grace Curtis nailed it. I was invested in every single POV and all of them added and built on the main plotline and mystery, each adding in their own history and experience to what’s really happening on the Abeona.


One of the main themes of ‘Floating Hotel’, other than found family and home, is the crimes and oppression of capitalism and corporation. I’m noticing this a lot as I journey through sci-fi and they seem to go hand in hand with the pushing of humanity’s crimes and our trail of destruction out into the galaxy once we’re drained Earth of all of her resources. It escalates the problems that already exist under a capitalist society: housing, jobs, poverty, displacement, oppression of the lower classes and minorities, and the insatiable greed of those in power at the expense of everyone else.

This is a novel that thrives on the slow accumulation of knowledge and putting together the puzzle pieces so I’m not going to say anymore about the plot, just know that the entire novel is magic. ‘Floating Hotel’ is one of my favourite books of the year so far; it’s found family, anti-capitalism, character-driven sci-fi at it’s best.


‘Floating Hotel’ by Grace Curtis will be released in the UK on 21 March 2024 by Hodderscape.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodderscape for the review copy.

Floating Hotel is a cozy sci-fi novel that is perfect for fans of Becky Chamber and The Grand Budapest Hotel and as a fan of both, I felt like this book is written for me. This book is set in a hotel in space and It was a really lovely and fun read. Each chapter follows different characters, from passengers to hotel staff, which might be challenging for some readers due to the various points of view, but I found it to be quite entertaining. I highly recommend it and look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

I love Grace Curtis’s books. I feel like the premises are very unique and the characters have a lot of personality and growth. I really enjoyed Floating Hotel.

4.5*
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Floating Hotel takes place aboard a hotel in space, and is at it's core a dystopian tale of a world where an all-powerful emperor strips planets of their resources and exploit their inhabitants, but also a murder mystery, told through the perspective of a new hotel staff member or guest in each chapter.

The narration, through deep dives into individual characters and their stories, is what makes this book truly unique. The character introductions are never tedious, you become immediately invested in each new person. I was so, so attached to this ragtag crew of misfits who have, in various ways, ended up at the hotel, and it made the whole book feel deeply emotional all the way through. As for the plot, it's created as you go, from one chapter to the next, but you as the reader sort of have to piece it together yourself from what happens to and around the characters. This kept the focus on the characters, even though the plot was very present in the background, and it feels like you're solving the mystery yourself even though it's made to be easy for you. I will say I did predict some major plot points, but I also didn't necessarily mind, because of how focused I was on the characters and their lives.

For being such a character driven book, Floating Hotel surprisingly fast paced, and for being described as "cosy sci-fi" (which I have to agree with, it is really cosy), it's surprisingly dark and bloody. It's surface level fun but with emotional and political depth in a combination I found super interesting. It's also so immersive, it reads like a movie, and feels very visual. I think that this, in part, is because of how much is happening in the background and described on paper despite not actually being relevant to the story. It's like the background actors of a movie, making it feel alive. This also ties in with how each character have their own personal lives and issues and grievances with the Empire that all come into the light through the various POV's, alongside the plot events.

Overall, this is such an interesting, unique book, somehow managing to be both cosy and dystopian, which incredible characters and a fun plot. I do think it loses a bit of intricacy in having so much going on at once, and that it could have been a little bit more in depth on all fronts, which is why I'm knocking off half a star, but I still immensely enjoyed the reading experience!

I absolutely loved this book; it’s quirky, almost artsy, and full of fascinating characters and has a wonderful twisting narrative that allows us to explore the amazing Grand Abeona hotel on it’s voyage through the stars. We hear the stories of both crew members and guests, not all of whom are who they seem. There’s mystery, intrigue and some beautifully crafted storytelling.
A definite recommend for fans of Becky Chambers and Wes Anderson, a real joy to experience.

I was lucky enough to get an arc of this from @NetGalley, so thanks to them and to @hodderbooks and Grace Curtis for letting me sneak an early copy!

A fantastic character led story, Floating Hotel follows the workers on the Grand Abeona Hotel, a spaceship catering to the rich and famous. With each chapter narrated by a different character, along with insights from rebellion leader the Lamplighter, we have multiple running storylines, BUT don't go into this one for an action filled plot. There is action and drama, murder and mystery, rebellion, but the focus here is really on the people. How each of them found a home on the Abeona, whether guest or staff, how it offered them refuge and peace. From the stowaway come Manager, the criminal kitchen staff or the murderous musicians, Floating Hotel weaves a picture of the hospitality industry that is true to life. Where people from different backgrounds (and different planets!) connect and make lasting friends, finding a place to call home among the stars.

Oh boy, this was the messiest of mess and not in a good way.
I usually enjoy books which don’t have a plot, I’m all for the vibes, but this book has no plot and absolutely no vibes. I was so bored i thought I would DNF it so many times but I really didn’t want to because it’s an ARC. The writing is good but that’s pretty much it. Each character gets their own chapter and 1. There’s way too much back story, 2. It makes the story very choppy. Also in my opinion, it’s not found family, they’re barely colleagues. Finally, it was supposed to be a mystery and I think this part of the book was lost in outer space because where is it???

This was such a lovely, fun read. I loved the mismatch cast of characters who all found their home and a chosen family aboard a floating space hotel. I loved the customers who were entertaining.

The murder / mystery aspect was brilliant. I enjoyed trying and failing to piece it all together.

I found the ending both brilliant and heartbreaking.

I really enjoyed this one and will definitely be recommending it.

This book was brilliant. I enjoyed how each chapter was told from a different characters perspective which helped you get to know everyone on the ship and understand their backstories and relationships. By the end it feels like you are part of the crew on board the ship and I definitely got attached to the characters too. I rated this book 4 stars and would definitely recommend it to friends and I will also be looking out for other books by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I consider this book a mystery book undercover as a sci-fi. The main plot is that there is someone leaking secret information about the emperor. The signal has been traced back to the hotel dating back years, so it's suspected that one of the employees must have been behind it. And people are going to great lengths to find out.
Where the mystery plot was intriguing — it got me thinking about who could have done it — I found the sci-fi aspect lacking. I'm a big fan of unique world-building and this just felt too plain, too earthly, especially with the lack of tech on board. It was a deliberate choice from a character, but paper messages were delivered through a tube system and only live piano music made me wonder if this book even wanted to be a sci-fi.
The story is set centuries in the future where people live on many different planets, but I'm missing the part where they are shaped by their own history, culture and food. I'm told that they are from a different planet, but I don't feel like they are.

The narrative switching characters makes sense — the story affects many different people and they all play a role in it. I know not everyone likes that, but it didn't bother me. Unfortunately, that was mainly because I did not care for any of the characters. At the beginning of a chapter, there would be an infodump about their backstory, which was more told than shown, and at the end, they just came across as passive to me. If there was a little problem in the chapter, it often got solved by outside influence, instead of as a result of their actions.

Although the definition of cosy in fiction will differ from person to person, I don't see this book as cosy. I'm missing the connection between the characters, the pleasant interactions that make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I did not have an interest to check in at the hotel myself.

So at the end of the first few chapters, I hoped that the next character would be one I would like — a hope I gave up after a while. I did finish the book in the hope the end would be good, but alas, it was very rushed.

3 stars - a cozy sci- fi fantasy.

I’m a bit on the fence about this book some things I enjoyed but some things I didn’t. The writing was engaging enough to keep me reading but I felt bored at some parts of the story.

Set on a hotel in space that travels around the galaxy - each chapter is from a different perspective of the staff and guests of the hotel. There is an ongoing mystery as a sub plot but overall the story is very character based.

Having said that I didn’t feel a connection to many of the characters in fact the only one I truly liked was Carl. I also liked Daphne but felt like we didn’t get to know much of her.

I liked the floating spaceship hotel setting and the found family aspect of the story.

I felt the book to be quite slow and it took me longer than normal to get through it - I don’t mean this as a bad thing but if you are someone who likes fast paced, plot heavy books this one won’t be for you.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this ebook.

The Abeona: a hotel in space, with an ensemble cast of crew and guests. They all have their own stories, most of which overlap to a greater or lesser extent: an amiable manager; an anonymous political dissident; a professor and a mathematician attending a conference; some imperial spies; a chef; staff members who have fallen from fame, and those that have joined the hotel from more chequered backgrounds.

To the extent that there is an overall story, it is told, chapter by chapter, from the varying perspectives of each of the characters - sometimes overlapping in time with each other, and sometimes carrying the story forward. These vignettes are almost like fully formed short stories of their own - with each character vividly drawn, and uniquely distinct. This laying of stories and characters gradually builds an intricate picture of the vibrant life on the hotel, while weaving in a few mysteries and a (very) small amount of jeopardy, as the plot ambles forward.

While it was nice to immerse myself in the life of the Abeona, the stucture of the book isn’t without its issues. The switch in point of view in every chapter was a little jarring until I got into the rhythm of it - the need to ‘reset’ to a new perspective at (almost) every chapter. Some of the characters that have a chapter devoted to their point of view play quite a minor role in the overall plot - so, while their backstories and relationships with other characters were engaging, I wonder how necessary their inclusion was. Some of the major characters had an emotional authenticity that I found quite poignant and moving (Angoulême being particularly memorable), and I would have liked to have explored their lives a little more.

This *could* have been a plot-driven book if it had gone into greater depth with the mysteries, imperial spies, and shady backstories - the material is certainly rich enough. But, for me, that’s not what this book is. The book is about the characters of the staff, the guests, and the Abeona itself. The resolution of the plot in the closing chapters successfully ties up all the loose ends and mysteries that had been developed throughout the story, although this did seem a little weak. But, for me, this didn’t really matter, as the overall plot was a vehicle to tell the stories of the individual characters - it’s just good form to give the story an ending.

Thank you #NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the free review copy of #FloatingHotel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Grace Curtis has done it again! Floating Hotel is her new cosy sci-fi novel with a unique structure. The multiple points of view showing us snippets of backstory and the roles of the passengers & crew of the Abeona was wonderful and I loved seeing all the different perspectives & personalities.

Some of my favourites were Ooly & Azad's work on decryptic a code, Dunk's hunt for an Ox, Reggie's film nights & Uwade's search for the sonnets. Throughout it all there's an over arching plot which is full of secrets and helps propel the story along.

Overall, this is another fantastic novel from Curtis and once again shows she knows how to write such unique characters & craft amazing settings. Looking forward to her next novel and a big thanks to Hodder & Stoughton + Netgalley for the arc!

DNF'd at 30%. This book just wasn't for me, I made it to 30% and still had no idea what was actually meant to be happening, there seemed to be no plot other than introducing us to new characters and their backgrounds and while I'm all for a character driven plot, there needs to actually be a plot to follow.

Maybe it picks up but, for me, 30% is way to far into a book for that to happen.

Thank you to Netgalley & publishers for the review copy!

I really enjoyed this. It was a unique concept. I loved the cosy, travelling hotel in space thing and thought it was funny, entertaining and I enjoyed the social commentary and the uprisings. The touch of mystery was interesting, although I did want more of that, and I liked the sense of humour.

My only issues are that there were too many POV’s so it made it difficult to keep track of who is who and what is what, and there also wasn’t enough depth added to each character because of this, and I never felt connected to them. Considering this book felt more character driven than plot, I thought it was important that we do connect to the characters.

Overall, I’d recommend this, it was a fun and entertaining read that I feel like I can take something away from.

DNF @ 20%

This book unfortunately isn’t holding my interest at all, I enjoyed the first chapter and then have been unable to connect to the characters since then. With the rapidly changing POVs and the intermittent dispatch messages the structure is unique and too jarring for me to enjoy. This is less cosy and more confusion.

Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

Release Date: 21 March

4 stars

I was drawn in so quickly with how elegant the ship sounded. The Grand Abeona Hotel is starting to show its age and the staff are stretched a bit thin, so you start to see everyone and everything looking a bit frayed. You’d never catch me on a cruise ship. Ever. But I love reading about one. I adore stories that take place on a cruise ship of some kind. If it's on a boat, I’ll probably read it.

If I’ve learned anything from Grace Curtis’ first book, it’s that she can tell a story in a unique way. Her debut novel Frontier, followed one character but via a new POV each chapter. Floating hotel has about 12 POVs, each with only 1 chapter each. It worked really well in a way. I enjoyed learning more about the characters and how they interacted with each other. It also worked with a timeline of about 2 weeks. Considering how many people were on board I didn’t have too much of a difficult time remembering who was who.

What didn’t work was getting so much backstory, especially later in the book. Just about every POV has some history or secret that will have a part to play in the overall mystery. Not a perfect execution of such a heavy POV book, but really well done considering I don’t see it very often.

I don’t know how I feel about the cosy label being slapped on this book. There are some slow moments between a few characters I appreciated, but I think I’m not comfortable with it being marketed as such due to the whiplash of so many different POVs. We never landed on the same character twice, so every new chapter I started I felt a little lost as to who this new person was. Extremely low action (yay!) and low stakes but some scenes were very rough (bathtub torture anyone?).

Comparing this book to Becky Chambers does it a disservice, they’re not much alike. A better comparison would be The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal, a murder mystery on a cruise ship in space. Unfortunately it’s not as popular as the Wayfarers series so I get the decision.

Final thoughts.

The negative.
I feel like we got too many different plots for such a short book. There's a few different mysteries going on and some POVs seemed useless by the end. The ending felt very sudden and seemed like just another box to tick.

The Positive
Very addictive writing. The cruise ship in space setting was stunning, I need more books like this. I loved the diverse cast of characters and will definitely continue to read this author.

Free eARC provided via NetGalley from Hodder and Stoughton / Hodderscape. This review is written voluntarily.

a queer cosy sci-fi book revolving around a spaceship hotel called the aboena. every chapter is from the perspective of a different character and their time on the ship, with a mystery at the core weaving the stories together. I found it hard to get into because of the huge cast of characters and different stories told in the first part, but once the overarching story came out I was hooked. while I definitely preferred the authors earlier book, frontier, I enjoyed unraveling the main story & stories within this book<3


thanks to netgalley for an arc, which will be published march 21st

Once regarded as a luxurious getaway for the privileged, the Abeona is now in a state of gradual decline. Circumstances in the galaxy being what they are - combined with decisions made by hotel management - have meant that the once grand and palatial luxury ship is not quite the nirvana it once was, faded grandeur very much the vibe these days. However, you wouldn’t know it from its staff, the most dedicated and loveable bunch of space hospitality workers going. OK, that might not be a particularly widespread profession in science fiction, but they’re still wonderful. Curtis writes about them all with great empathy and wisdom, and is clearly an astute and attentive study when it comes to human behaviour. At the same time, realistic characterisation never comes at the expense of a good bit of bantering dialogue or a heartfelt moment.

All of these characters are distinct and bring something to the story, which is structured similarly to Frontier, in that there are a number of smaller stories occurring within an overarching larger one. Where those smaller stories in Frontier felt like tales that a haggard gunslinger was “just passin’ through” on their way to settle a score, however, the stories here focus on individual members of the crew or passengers and what they contribute to the overall atmosphere and environment of the Abeona. Their reasons for being there are fleshed out and serve as entertaining and emotionally arresting character pieces, so much so that by the end you’ll feel fiercely protective of every single one of them. It feels somehow rewarding to find out more about these people, as if you’re being let into their confidences and trusted with their secrets.

That overarching story unfolds gradually over the course of the novel, with elements of it in some characters’ individual stories dropping hints before key plot points are expanded upon later. There’s some very impressive weaving of narratives here, reminiscent of those sidequests in sprawling RPG games which don’t seem all that big at first but develop into something significant later on. On top of this, we are privy to some seditious propaganda that adds some political intrigue into the mix, as well as sketching in more of the background detail of this universe. Thankfully, Curtis never gets bogged down in fleshing out all of the power structures, governance and politics of the big powers that are pulling the strings, wisely choosing to show glimpses of the evil empire through its effects on the lives of everyday people.

And so, with bags packed and goodbyes tearfully waved, it’s time for a final verdict. Floating Hotel manages to feel as welcoming, comfortable and familiar as the Hotel Abeona itself, and I unreservedly love it for that. It also delivers on all the promise of Frontier and then some - itself no mean feat - and I can’t wait to see what Grace Curtis comes out with next.