The Paradox Hotel

Book has trigger warnings of: violence, blood, gore, guns, depression, swearing. If you don't like (or don't want to read) any of those, then don't read this book.

A science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and storytelling book all mixed into one, and a wild story that happens along the way. When you start the book you feel out of place, unsure of what is going on, but as you continue to read it all makes sense. The details in this book allow you to imagine yourself there, being one of the characters, and looking around.

"Breathe deep. Can’t tell Ruby. Can’t tell anyone. Not until I figure out what this is."

There are some places you will feel confused, and many have to read over multiple lines again. It's particularly because it's so weird, but also because there may be multiple characters speaking and you aren't sure who is saying what.

There were a few times I just had to laugh from the situation or words that were said.

"Godfuckingdamnit I forgot about the dinosaurs."

From what I can tell, multiple stories happen within this book, and it can be confusing to know which story you are currently in. Most of them do come together by the end, but it can be confusing until you get there. Some of those stories feature jumps in time, either back or forwards, and you may not even know there has been a time jump until you read one particular thing.

“I like learning, and getting hurt is the only way you learn.”

When you get near the end, the main character does a great job giving a recap of what all happened and how some of the stories come together. That isn't the end of the book, there is more, which I'm not sure the author needed to include as finishing may leave you in a state where you aren't sure if it was a good or bad thing.

"“The fuck?” I ask."

There will be times that you don't feel like continuing, and that's ok, keep reading, overall it's a good book.

"Silence, which I accept to mean I am correct."
"I almost want to say this out loud. But I’m not ready. Not yet."

"Time travel is weird."

This book felt like one of those novelty meals you get at touristy places, where you get some giant, oversized, delicious-but-way-too-much version of a burger or a pizza or something guilty pleasure-like. There's so much going on here, but in a fun way that I can't put my finger on. Like you've just walked into someplace with lots of really neat things going on, but you don't know which way to look first.

January is head of security at the Paradox Hotel, a waystop for rich people on their way to experience time travel excursions. The hotel is allegedly hemorrhaging money though, and a conference involving the richest four people in the world has been convened to potentially privatize the hotel's existence. A man turns up dead, January starts to investigate, and gets caught up in something incredibly complex, while also battling the complications from being a stage-2 Unstuck--someone who has experienced way too much time travel and is unraveling medically as a result. Things get wonky, as any storyline involving time travel does, but oddly philosophical as well as January works through the meaning of death and loss.

The author could probably have pared down all of these great ideas a bit and still had a great story at the end. It feels muddy, confusing in some places the way time travel books can be, and there's a large cast of characters that's periodically referred to by either their first or last names. Despite all that, I had a lot of fun reading this book, and I can't point to why. Some of the ideas feel like they could have been explored in their own separate books, and I felt like the entire layer of the conference wasn't necessary to tell the story (but did a great job of highlighting January's asshole protagonist nature), but I don't care. It was great fun to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.