Grace Curtis has a skill in writing stories that are about people and relationships, intertwined with quirky, smooth, gently thrilling, storylines. I was swept away in an enjoyable read. In this book there is a hotel floating through space. A hotel of renown, for the upper class space tourist. But the book really focuses on the staff who service the customers. We see a part of their past lives and present on-board experiences and how they work together like a family. Along with mischief and intrigue. Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

After enjoying Curtis’ last book, I was very excited to read this! It’s a story set on a giant hotel travelling through space, with a good cast of characters and an interesting story of rebellion and mystery. Like her last book, id say it’s a story set in a scifi world rather than a scifi story, but I really enjoyed that aspect. By not focusing too much on the worldbuilding, it gave the story space to breathe and to showcase each characters story and background.

The staff at the hotel are a ragtag group of misfits, who seem to have formed a found family of sorts, and Curtis delves into the background of several of them, which allowed for us to see the effect of the dictator leader that exists in the world. There was also minimal romance, which I appreciated; it set up possible relationships but they were not the main focus of the story.

The setting of a grand hotel in space was fascinating, however I felt that several storylines that were highly focused on at the beginning had very discrete/quiet conclusions, and I had to reread parts to make sure I was understanding the solution to each.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, but felt I enjoyed the journey more than the story and conclusion itself. Curtis is a great character writer, and I look forward to reading more of her stories.

'Floating Hotel' is totally fine, I just didn't enjoy its structure.
Every chapter follows a different character, that is somehow involved in the hotel. But this leads to the problem I had with this book: too much info dump in every chapter. Introduction to the narrating character, their back story and often chunks of world building for their respective planets, it's just a bit too much for my taste. And because we only have a limited time to do that, it feels quite crammed.
Although following the characters working and interacting at the hotel is nice (I would have loved more of that!), the structure lessened my reading experience.

Interesting, mysterious and imaginative with a lot of different characters, some more likable than others and an overall story with a lot of twists and turns. Floating Hotel is a complex story with a lot of different characters, all with their own life and dark secrets. At first, I thought it would be hard to separate all the characters since there are a lot of different POVs and almost every chapter is told through a new set of eyes which is quite at odds with how most books are written, especially the ones I’ve been reading lately.

However, I shouldn’t have worried at all because Grace Curtis absolutely managed to pull this brilliant idea off. I don’t know how she did it but I didn’t found it difficult at all to follow the story or keep track of the characters despite the many POVs and side-stories. I honestly think that she chose the perfect way of telling this story since it sure made the story feel all the more mysterious and secretive. I don’t want all the books I read to be told this way but for this story and this setting, it was perfect and very much improved the overall story.

I also liked how more and more small details was reveled throughout the story, little clues here and there to set up for the ending without revealing too much. Giving the reader some ideas for where it all might end without actually confirming anything or giving up all secrets at once.

All in all, I very much enjoyed reading Floating Hotel and if you’re looking for a cozy yet thrilling read all set in a hotel floating in space - then make sure to give this book a go.

*** Thank you so much to Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review! ***

(4.5 stars)

I think this book could be best described as a cozy SciFi with a bit of mystery sprinkled in. The blurb intrigued me and it definitely lived up to it (mysterious love poems - sonnets to be precise- and all). It takes place on the Grand Abeona - an intergalactic hotel. While we do see snippets of the guests, the story focuses on the experiences of the staff, some of whom snuck aboard as stowaways (in one case to retrieve a countess's forgotten muff) and find friendship like they have never known before. I also loved the little drawings at the start of each chapter!

I loved reading about the hotel. It seems so fantastical (and of course reserved for the richest of the rich). The elegance of beauty of the hotel reminds me a bit of The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern), but it is light and elegant where the circus is more dark and gritty. The style and events are very different too. I would love to see the Galactic Diorama (think an artistic ever-changing map of the solar system that shows the position of the ship). It sounds like such a marvelous sight to behold. And despite all the glory and beauty that the guests experience, there is still a very real and functional ship behind the scenes (something I appreciated the author mentioning). I also enjoyed all the random little tidbits the author threw in about space travel that one would not necessarily consider (e.g. the lack of signal for most of the journey and the fact that people can't just leave because oops, they aren't close to anything). I feel like a lot of it might be based on how cruises function and has been expanded to a space setting. I definitely enjoyed the thought put into the hotel, its functioning and its surroundings. Given that space tourism is already (somewhat) a thing, I could definitely see the rich deciding t holiday in space in the future (even if not in quite this much of a tour like manner).

I loved the characters and their interactions. But that being said, there were a lot of them and it took me a while to be able to keep track of everyone. A character list would have been super helpful. There were a couple of points where I found myself wondering who a character was when we started following them, but I usually remembered within a couple of paragraphs. A list would still have been helpful though (especially should someone put down the book for a few days). All the characters were clearly well thought out and had distinct personalities. I enjoyed how close they all were and their movies nights. Working in such isolated conditions is definitely incredible for team comradery and the author captured this beautifully. I loved Unwade and how she likes that her physical prominence means that she is largely unnoticed by the guests and can go about solving mysteries undisturbed. Oh, and of course I love Garbage, because who doesn't love a pet rat?

If a found family story set in a space hotel sounds like your kind of book, I definitely suggest that you pick this one up. The writing is beautiful and the characters are lovely (even if they have to deal with not so lovely circumstances with the guests sometimes). This is definitely a ship I'd love to visit again, be it in real life or between the pages of a book.

"Getting martini drunk on this trawler is the closest thing I get to annual leave"

I was drawn in by the description of this book and it totally exceeded my expectations.

I was completely immersed in the world that was created here. I loved getting to know the different characters that inhabit the Grand Abeona. I would definetly read a whole additional book about their lives and relationships with each other.

I loved that the perspective was based around hospitality work. I enjoyed the underlying storyline about the empire and the mysteries that get revealed as the story progresses. Genuinely really well done, good pacing, and very engaging.

This book reminded me of Becky Chambers and Martha Wells where it is scifi but with a more 'cozy', character forward perspective.

Floating Hotel was an entertaining read that kept me engaged the entire time. Would love to read more of Grace's work. Really recommend you pick this one up.

Thank you to Hodder & Stougnton and Netgalley for this ARC.

Science fiction is a genre that I tend to struggle with, besides a few exceptions. But since I always want to get myself out of my comfort zone, I chose to request for an ARC for Floating Hotel, with its interesting premise.
I was not, at any moment, tempted to DNF it, which is recurrent temptation with SF.
The atmosphere is nice, interesting, with a good mystery at the center of it all. We follow a lot of characters, more than I am used to, with whole passages about their past and how they ended up in this space hotel. I can't say I was really attached to any of them, but I can't say either that I didn't care about them. Carl was one of the character I felt the most about, with Rogan.
I'm the kind of reader who needs to feel strongly about the characters to really appreciate a book, no matter how good the plot or the writing is, so Floating Hotel is a bit of detached read to me, but still enjoyable. The sub theme about Empires and the destruction of ressources was great. Seeing how all the characters' life intertwined and intersected has a intriguing quality. The universe, the way the story is told with each pov contributing to move the plot forward, even if it felt e bit slow sometimes, all of it make the Floating Hotel a great story. I'm sure SF lovers, especially those in search of something less war oriented, will like this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for approving my request to read an arc of this book

This is my first book by Grace Curtis so I wasn’t too sure what to expect. This book was so completely different to the books I usually read as it wasn’t about a romantic relationship although there were characters in the book who were in relationships or who liked each other, it didn’t focus solely on one couple and their ups and downs like I’m used to. This book is told from multiple perspectives and did take me a while to get into as there were lots of names to learn and remember which jobs each character was responsible for.

This book was such a mystery and while I definitely enjoyed it, I still can’t say for certain that I understood it. But I don’t think it was necessary to the story to always know what was going on.

Rogan and her rat Garbage were my favourite characters but there were lots of great characters in this story.

I did have some issues with this book though. It probably bothered me more because I’m disabled, so I pick up on language like this more than able bodied people do, but, it really did bother me that a book set hundreds of years from now would still use words like “idiot” “moron” “disfigured” because it means that not only have disabled people not become more well treated and respected, but it hasn’t even slightly improved. There was also the use of the word “sp*zmodically” which, while it does have the meaning that the author intended, it is also used to describe characteristics of a disabled person with CP and the first part of the word is an awful ableist slur in the UK. I know that the author didn’t intend for this meaning when she used it. But there are lots of other words to describe someone shaking their head than using one that contains offensive connotations. If there’s a way for this word to be changed, it would be really appreciated.

“The Grand Budapest Hotel in space, Floating Hotel is a hopeful story of misfits, rebels and found family, perfect for fans of Becky Chambers” in the description for this book had my hopes HIGH. Becky Chambers is one of my absolute favourite authors and found family is one of my all time favourite tropes so I was really excited to get this ARC.

Luckily, this book lived up to my expectations. Getting to know the different characters, seeing all the intersections of their lives, the plot developing steadily throughout the novel and taking us from one characters pov to another without feeling disjointed or going too fast or too slow. It’s just so well done and, for me at least, a real step up from Frontier (which I did enjoy as well, just not quite to the same extent). I can’t wait to reread this and to see what Grace Curtis comes up with next. (This is also one I’m definitely going to have to buy in hardback as soon as I can as well!)