Reviews for The Hotel
AntiAlias chapter 1 . 7/2
Nice story! ! I especially liked the sudden tone shift at the end where the pretty gory descriptions of Urotsuki's transformation contrast with the refined descriptions of the spa ("Warm flowery fragrances amongst traces of cut bamboo" is tastyy). You do a good job of describing her experience in a way that appeals to the senses i guess ("something warm and sticky to seep freely", "bubbles frothing in the depths of her throat") which helps. In general seems like you're trying to create a sense of uncanny by showing several things that are slightly off about the hotel, but which she shrugs off at first, only for there to be a horrific reveal at the end (I think 'The Landlady' by Roald Dahl has a similar premise, albeit without the reveal). This is cool but I feel as though your execution of it is a bit haphazard? Like the tone is changes from dispassionate and detailed ("more doors - sliding doors - in the back, only visible in the two doorways on either side of the wall in the room's center", also when you describe the creature's face hole, although it seems pretty disgusting Urotsuki chooses to focus on how the lack of an oesophagus rule out "all chances it might've been a crudely-formed mouth"), to deliberately unsettling ("Her stomach twisted at the sight of human skeletons [...] fractured and malformed - partially digested, perhaps"), or even humorous ("The room was almost... normal [...] Aside from the pasty-white humanoid [...] of course"), often without warning (particularly in the case of the blobs). All of these could work i guess but maybe it would be a good idea to use them in a more focused way (have a unified tone, or maybe a coherent evolution of tone, idk). uhh some of the word choices and the way you describe stuff is a bit confusing and out of place? like it took a logical leap for me to figure out that "system of red and blue branches" meant arteries and veins, i think it might have been too abstract a metaphor to use without the context (the creature's internal anatomy) already being firmly established. "Vaporizations" is a bit off (i don't think it's interchangeable with vapour...), etc., etc., it would be getting into nitpicking to go any further and i'm sure it'll improve with experience. But take all this with a grain of salt, i'm a total amateur lol. also Hotel California boii
Engelsoft chapter 1 . 7/2
Ooh this was interesting! Your imagery and descriptions were very well done and your writing involved all my senses. Even though I’ve only played the original Yume Nikki, I still enjoyed this! The intersection of dream and reality was great too - thanks for uploading!