Welcome back to the sixth day of our book club readalong for OwlCrate's April book, Hotel Magnifique!
Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 27-31 of Hotel Magnifique, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.
Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box! Don't forget, you can also post about the readalong on Instagram with the hashtag #OCHotelMagnifique for another chance to win!
The story continues...
Chapter 27:
Jani finds Bel at a soiree and taking him aside shows him the map to the former Fabricator, but he again refuses to help by taking them to Champilliers. They go up to Bel’s room and Bel reveals he isn’t willing to risk what Alastair rewards him with for finding artéfacts - for each one he brings Alastair grants him one memory. Bel needs to attend the soiree again at midnight to move the hotel, and tells Jani to wait for him in his rooms. He’s gone for an oddly long time when Sido, Yrsa and Alastair find her.
Chapter 28:
Jani is taken to the same room where she witnessed Red losing her eye, as it seems that Yrsa is prepping to do the same to her. Fortunately there is an incident and Alastair needs Yrsa’s help - Bel has moved them to Champilliers. He helped Jani. Hellas is left to guard Jani, but she convinces him to let her go out into the city to find the woman from the painting, explaining that she may be able to help him and his sister. In the main hall Hellas creates a distraction as Jani slips out the front door, her sister’s birdcage in hand.
Chapter 29:
Jani finds the woman, Céleste, who is busy packing up her little shop because the last time she saw Yrsa, Yrsa promised to burn it to the ground. She reveals that she is Alastair’s sister, and that she was the one who brought him to the hotel. She begged them to let Alastair stay as she didn’t want to leave him behind, and although he’s been deceiving people for years, Alastair is in no way magical.
Chapter 30:
Céleste explains that he and Nicole (Des Rêves) discovered the mirror artéfact which transfers magic from one person to another, permanently, leaving the suminaires magicless and colorless, hence all the colorless birds in the aviary. He’s been doing this for nearly 100 years while searching for the signet ring in hopes it will bestow magic on him permanently. At this point, if he were to stop taking magic from suminaires he would die. When Jani asks where she can find the ring, Céleste tells her it doesn’t exist.
Chapter 31:
The signet ring is simply a fable from a children’s story that some suminaires thought may have been based in fact, but Céleste disagrees. She told her brother this but he refused to believe her. Yrsa and Sido enter the shop, Yrsa holding Céleste's missing porcelain eye in her hand, dropping it and crushing it, killing Céleste in the act.
Jani tries to flee, but is soon cornered in an alley where she grabs a bottle of liquid nightmare and crushes it to try to make a diversion. Seeing through the horrible visions Yrsa reveals the porcelain finger that certainly belongs to a man, and tells Jani that if she isn’t back in the hotel by two Alastair is going to snap it in half.
Questions:
- Do you think the signet ring is truly a fairy tale?
- Do you think Jani will try to get Alastair’s inkwell and use it to try to void the contracts?
- What do you think is happening to Bel at the moment?
- What are your predictions for the last section of the book?
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