Hotel Magnifique

This section explores Memory and Identity. Jani, who has idealized her past life in Aligney, realizes that her identity has grown and developed over the years. When she learns that she is a suminaire, Jani’s entire worldview is challenged.

In contrast, Alastair hints at his own lack of magic and resentment toward suminaires. He mentions that he “tried cutting the trees down once. But they simply spring back up, straight from the marble floor” (227). This suggests his absence of power.

Jani’s sense of Power and Responsibility shifts after discovering her magical abilities. She contrasts her assumptions about herself with her magic and lists different facets of her identity:

I glanced down at the tops of my [ordinary] hands […] They were the hands of a tannery worker in Durc, a kitchen maid, a sister, a daughter from Aligney. But if Alastair were right, then these hands were also capable of wielding magic—terrible, beautiful magic—and I’d had no idea (228).

Jani’s mention of “terrible, beautiful” magic highlights her conflicting feelings toward her newly discovered power. She sees her power both as an opportunity to accomplish great things and as a responsibility that must be used for good. The narrative suggests that magic is neutral, a tool to be used with good or evil intent—their value depends on the user. Magical abilities represent power in general, such as authority, leadership, wealth, or strength. Power can either be used to control—as with Alastair, Yrsa, and Madame des Rêves—or to empower, as Jani and Bel use it.

Maps come into play when Jani picks her artéfact, the cosmolabe. The object is used to underline Jani’s longing for both adventure and a sense of home. The cosmolabe ties her to the hotel. As Jani notes, “Le monde entier was engraved in tiny letters across the top, the same words etched into the hotel’s lacquered door. The whole world” (233). This suggests that Jani is innately connected to the hotel’s magic and its function as a shelter and foreshadows her role as the new maître d’hotel at the end of the book.

Jani finally goes back to Aligney, a moment that provides significant insight into her character growth. Jani contrasts her younger self, who was happy but naïve, with her current, more mature and experienced self. Aligney symbolizes the safety and hope that Jani longed for, the protective bubble that she wanted to provide for her little sister. However, she now realizes that she has outgrown it. Instead, her experiences have made her “more [herself] than ever before” (272).

Jani and Bel’s relationship develops, although Jani feels betrayed by Bel hiding her magical ability from her. Jani gains insight into Bel’s character when she realizes that he pushes people away to avoid being hurt. Although they take opposing courses of action, Bel and Jani’s intentions and spirits align, as Jani points out: “The first time you saw le monde entier scratched into the front door’s black lacquer, it called out to you like it did to me, didn’t it?” (287). This highlights their shared goals and leads to the beginning of their romance.

Jani shows her intelligence when coming up with the plan to deceive Alastair into landing the hotel in Champelliers to find the mysterious woman, Céleste. The novel paints parallels between Hellas and Freya, two siblings trapped by Alastair, and Jani and Zosa, two sisters fighting for their freedom. Their dynamics reinforce the novel’s message about Home and Belonging and how home is more about the people you care about than a hometown, building, or concrete physical place.