Once upon a time, Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor got published. I was not that invested, but still really curious. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it past the first chapter at the time, but the book somehow still stuck with me. Fast forward to 2023, a Dutch translation got published and I decided to give this book another go. Was it as magnifique as the title promises it to be?

About the book

• Title: Hotel Magnifique
• Author: Emily J. Taylor
• Publish date: April 5, 2022
• Publisher: Razorbill
  ISBN: 9780593404515
• Number of pages: 400
• Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

For fans of Caraval and The Night Circus, this decadent and darkly enchanting YA fantasy, set against the backdrop of a Belle Époque-inspired hotel, follows seventeen-year-old Jani as she uncovers the deeply disturbing secrets of the legendary Hotel Magnifique.

All her life, Jani has dreamed of Elsewhere. Just barely scraping by with her job at a tannery, she’s resigned to a dreary life in the port town of Durc, caring for her younger sister Zosa. That is, until the Hotel Magnifique comes to town.

The hotel is legendary not only for its whimsical enchantments, but also for its ability to travel—appearing in a different destination every morning. While Jani and Zosa can’t afford the exorbitant costs of a guest’s stay, they can interview to join the staff, and are soon whisked away on the greatest adventure of their lives. But once inside, Jani quickly discovers their contracts are unbreakable and that beneath the marvelous glamour, the hotel is hiding dangerous secrets.

With the vexingly handsome doorman Bel as her only ally, Jani embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery of the magic at the heart of the hotel and free Zosa—and the other staff—from the cruelty of the ruthless maître d’hôtel. To succeed, she’ll have to risk everything she loves, but failure would mean a fate far worse than never returning home.

My review

To be honest, I expected a lot from this novel and that probably was the wrong way to dive into this story. Although I struggled with Caraval in the beginning, I ended up loving that series. The Night Circus on the other hand, that was a totally different story. I was bored throughout the entire book and I just wanted it to be over. Hotel Magnifique is actually The Night Circus meets Caraval, so this either goes right or wrong, there’s no in between. As you can see in my rating, it went wrong.

It already started with the main character Jani. I mean, she’s really dedicated to give her younger sister Zosa – and herself as well – a better life. They now live in extreme poverty and Zosa just wants to be a famous singer and they both want to go home which they left once their mom passed away. The arrival of Hotel Magnifique seems to be the perfect opportunity for Jani to get Zosa the stage she craves. Also, it’s also an opportunity for her to earn enough money to return home. Well, except for this dedication and the sisterly bond between Zosa and Jani, I couldn’t stand her. She was quite shallow, made the most stupid decissions and of course she happens to be more than just an ordinary girl from an ordinary village. I was sighing so hard when that revelation was made. Jani was also a bit naive and she fell head over heels in love with Bel. I’m sorry, but can a main character be more annoying? Probably not. I think if you’re younger, you might like her character arc as she’s a typicalYA character. So, she fits the genre perfectly, but I’m over this type of characters.

The writing was mediocre at best. The world was crafted quite well, but it felt to me like it was copied as a whole from the world Erin Morgenstern crafted in The Night Circus. There was too much magic for it to be plausible and I just wasn’t interested. The author did nothing to make this book exciting or at least enterrtaining. I miss the elements I enjoy in a fantasy, such as multiple POV narration, flashbacks or flash forwards. Therefore, it felt all straight forward to me and I could easily put the book aside. In fact, I considered to DNF this even.

When looking into the story itsself, I can’t say anything positive. Again, it felt like a copy of both The Night circus and Caraval and therefore I had the feeling I’ve already seen it all. Also, since this is a stand alone fantasy novel, there is not much space to carve out a decent plot. There were just 400 pages to tell a fast-paced story and therefore it’s lacking depth. There wasn’t enough space to spend more time on character development and I want that in a fantasy. Along with the annoying main character and the mediocre writing, it made this book absolutely not intriguing to me. I simply didn’t care about what the hotel’s secrets were and I already had a feeling whether Zosa could be saved or not. It was just all so incredibly predictable.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a pleassant time when reading Hotel magnifique by Emily J. Taylor. Jani was one of the most naive and annoying main characters I’ve seen in a long long time. Her character arc fits the YA genre accordingly, but it’s not for me anymore. Also, the writing was mediocre and the plot shallow. There was nothing done to entertain or excite me as a reader. This book contains so many elements of The Night Circus and it was just as boring as that book. However, I think the much younger readers would enjoy it though as the story is fast-paced and it’s a great introductory fantasy stand alone with lots of magic.