Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart

20 reviews

growintogardens's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

It was ok, but it was never able to really pull me into the world and the characters. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Chronic illness, Blood, Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

tigger89's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was a wonderful, heartbreaking book that wasn't at all about what I thought it would be! I didn't like it in the early chapters, but as the protective layers started to peel off our seemingly hard-boiled protagonist I realized that I was looking at the book all wrong. Rather than being a convenient plot device to raise the tension, her medical condition and why she continued to allow it to worsen were really the heart of the book. And I can't tell you why without spoiling things.

The tone — from the social chaos of planning the buyers' summit to the frenetic race to contain rampaging creatures and the emotional gut-wrench of the final pages — is very unique, but for me it hit the exact same chord that Connie Willis's series about the time traveling historians did. It's chaotic and funny but also you're going to cry at the end, right? Because this isn't a mystery novel, it's a novel about how humans deal with loss, both experienced and potential.

Something I didn't know going in was that this book had quite a bit of queer representation. There's transgender and nonbinary characters, as well as a sapphic relationship. Overall the characters were fine, but one thing that struck me as odd was that the way some themes — gender and race come to mind — were described in the narration brought me out of the future and straight back into 2023. It wasn't that there was anything that was a problem, it just broke my immersion because it didn't feel like how I imagined people would interact with those things in the future. Still, that's a fairly small quibble. Overall I enjoyed it.

Did the creatures die? I can't even write that sentence properly without spoilers, so into the tag we go.

Spoiler

There are raptors running around the hotel through much of the plot. It makes sense in context, I promise. At least one of them is killed in the course of attempting to contain them.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Terminal illness

Moderate: Death, Animal death, Blood, and Violence

j_squaredd's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Sci-fi murder mystery heavy on the murder mystery. The ending was a little unsatisfying but overall enjoyable for a regular mystery reader who likes heavy speculative elements

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Transphobia

schnaucl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I enjoyed it.   I like the characters, and I think the idea of setting it at the hotel where time travelers stay was a cool one.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

Minor: Racism, Violence, Suicide attempt, Blood, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Murder

unboxedjack's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide

kristasorocks's review

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Transphobia

leaflit's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Enjoyed it but the ending felt rushed. Lots of queer rep: wlw, trans woman, non-binary character

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Blood, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Transphobia, Grief, Murder, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Classism

Minor: War, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Confinement, and Dysphoria

andloveistoolong's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Grief, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Dementia, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, Animal death, Child abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

Minor: Gore, War, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Cultural appropriation, and Racism

obviousthings's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Medical content, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Murder, and Racism

Minor: Vomit, Confinement, Dysphoria, Cultural appropriation, Antisemitism, and War

mari_books's review

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

It’s been so long since I have read a book this hard to follow. Really interesting concept with so much potential. Part of me wishes that this was a Netflix show instead. Clearly written by someone who has never worked in a hotel, entirely too many characters and like 6 different plot lines (which I know is the point) but many of the characters blended together Bc they were all adversarial to the narrator. I also found the narrator to be insufferable, and never learned.

Spoiler

Mena as a character with  all the Buddhist stuff just seemed like a crutch to January so that we could have things spelled out literally, partially explained without having to show anything. I also did not understand the ending and why the author chose that moment to cut to a boring future scene that gives us no resolution to all the problems they set up text

. This book almost feels like a fanfiction of a better book - I feel bad saying it! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Blood, Murder, Torture, and War