Hotel Magnifique

“The courier was given a single instruction: deliver the boy before the stroke of midnight. Simple—except, usually, she delivered packages during the day, not little boys in the dead of night.”

The opening sentence of Hotel Magnifique sets the tone and atmosphere of the book. The narrative contrasts the mundane, a courier delivering packages, with the mysterious, delivering a boy at midnight. This creates humor while adding suspense.

“Her hands wrapped around her throat as the man halted at the doorway of the building. She watched in horror as he smiled, sharp-toothed, then brought his striking face level with the boy’s own. ‘Come along now,’ he said. ‘I have the perfect job for you.’”

The courier watches a man—who we later learn is Alastair—walk away with the boy she has delivered. This passage underlines the foreboding atmosphere surrounding the Hotel Magnifique. Although no characters are named, the passage describes Bel’s arrival at the hotel, as the book later reveals that he was willingly sent there by his parents. The passage foreshadows Alastair’s deceit and evil intentions; the courier describes the man who receives the boy in ominous terms.

“Outside of the hotel, a suminaire was the most dangerous thing in the world. Magic was said to build in their blood during adolescence until it flared out in an uncontrollable power, with the potential to hurt—or kill—anyone who happened to be near them at the time.”

This quote introduces a key element in Taylor’s world building. It defines suminaires and how the dangerous nature of their primal magic introduces the need to control it. The narrative initially presents the hotel as a way to keep magic safe. This sets up how Alastair uses the hotel as a front to steal magic instead.