S&L Podcast - #524 - 4 Stars: Clean, Not Cozy!
/The Floating Hotel was a great deal, and we really enjoyed it when we checked in. During our stay we met some really interesting folks, and the staff was fabulous. There was some murder, but in the end we were more concerned with the identity of the Lamplighter. And the cocktails were quite delicious. We enjoyed the continental breakfast, because it included so many continents.
WHAT ARE WE NOMMING?
Tom: White Chili
Veronica: Bailey's on the Rocks
QUICK BURNS
Any news or announcements
Apple Makes ‘Pluribus’ Character’s ‘Bloodsong of Wycaro’ Book Available for Download
Deadline
Tamahome:
The Strength of the Few will become the moviegoers of the few, or the many. (James Islington's best-selling fantasy book series, Hierarchy, has landed at Sony for a feature film adaptation.)
ScreenRant
Dwango:
It's all about the bling bling and Romantasy... Romantic Fantasy leads SFF to its best-ever year. In 2024, NielsenIQ BookData’s Science Fiction & Fantasy (SFF) category secured its biggest year since records began when total sales came in at just under £84m – a massive 41% jump compared with its previous best of just a year earlier, when 2023 bagged £59.4m.
The Bookseller
BARE YOUR SWORD
Feedback from the audience
Ruth:
I’m glad to hear that Tom and I will be able to hang out and discuss our shared love for Casablanca, just before Veronica and I have our fight to the death.
John (Taloni): Touching moment
"We'll always have Worldcon."
Both lift swords
KLANG!!
Tamahome:
Will the fight be streamed?
John:
Thanks for reading out my comment about Robert Jackson Bennett.
My bad for spelling it RJK rather than RJB. I am tripping over my fingers again. :-(
I agree with the sentiment that you expressed – it would be very well deserved if he was more well known.
I am doing my bit – I am planning to recommend The Tainted Cup to the lovely ladies at my local book club – they have a penchant for murder mysteries and first and foremost that is what it is. Slowly but surely, one book at a time, I am converting them to SFF :-D
"I read this book briefing after I finished The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence, mostly because I'd already started reading it before the briefing was available. But I fully enjoyed not knowing a thing about the book or the author before I started. It was a great discovery experience. Since I finished technically before the month started, I'm going to do a little rereading to detect foreshadowing/clues to outcomes. I've already purchased the sequel.
Seré
Name: Drake Tungsten
Subject: Huh?
Message: Just finished reading Floating Hotel. I don't get it. The overall story of the book never came into focus for me.
BOOK OF THE MONTH DISCUSSION
KickOff
The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence
Amazon
Bookshop
Final Spoilery Thoughts
Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis
Amazon
Bookshop
Robyn R:
I really liked the first half when it was cozy slice-of-life in space. The second half dropped the book to just an okay 3 star. The rather abrupt change from a Vibes novel to a Plot novel halfway through felt like the author changed their mind in the middle of writing, leaving the book with the feeling of a project scrambled together one minute before the deadline.
Jan:
So what are we nomming in the cocktail bar of a floating hotel "smelling tartly of lime and gin" where servers carry "salt-crusted glasses" and guests get served "oysters, garnished in butter and parsley, with a side of buttered bread" and get to enjoy "chocolate richer than molten gold and almost as hot" with a "bite of cinnamon, a twist of orange"?
Ruth:
I have just finished reading this book and thought I would share a few thoughts here before the end of the month and the wrap-up.
This was a charming book in many ways, with its varied cast of characters and nicely drawn setting. I enjoyed seeing how the different tales of the guests and staff of the Abeona were woven together, with characters disappearing from one story only to pop up again later (view spoiler).
The writing felt deft, with touches of humour (especially with Ooly Mall and his gross eating habits) as well as moments of genuine peril — Mrs. Appleseed was scary! — and pathos.
The way the book was structured did make it feel weirdly slow, and it took me much longer to read than I expected, as it isn't a long book. Skipping from one character and one story to another meant that it didn't really build up much momentum, and the actual ending did feel rushed to me, with the reveal of the Lamplighter's identity leaving me feeling a bit... meh? Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but it definitely felt like I enjoyed each section individually and then found the book as a whole less than the sum of its parts.
The other thing that was slightly "off" about this book was that the space setting felt not just un-science-y (which I don't mind — I'm not a stickler for hard SF rules) but un-space-y. There wasn't much sense of scale and the vastness of the galaxy. In fact, I often found I was slipping into imagining the Abeona as, not so much a modern cruise ship, as some kind of giant luxury steampunk airship traveling around a world that was vaguely reminiscent of the 1930s or 1940s. Then there'd be a reference to stars and the possibility of aliens and I'd be jolted back into the "reality" that this was supposed to be a spaceship.
I guess the Casablanca influence came through in the end with the resistance and the general retro vibes. And all the drinking while someone plays piano.
This wasn't a perfect book by any means, but it was one that charmed me, and I will look out for more by this author.
Goodreads Discussion
ADDENDUMS
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