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Cloud Hotel
Remco knows he is special. He was chosen. God took a shine to him, after a bright light in a clear northern sky brought Remco to the incredible Cloud Hotel, a wondrous place that he never wants to leave. But Remco has outstayed his welcome… and it's time to check out.
LA Times Book Prize finalist Julian Hanshaw (Tim Ginger) returns with another feast of visual imagination and emotional intensity that will haunt readers' dreams long after the book is closed.
LA Times Book Prize finalist Julian Hanshaw (Tim Ginger) returns with another feast of visual imagination and emotional intensity that will haunt readers' dreams long after the book is closed.
176 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2018
22 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
August 29, 2018
In Julian Hanshaw’s brief intro he mentions that Cloud Hotel was inspired by an incident in 1980 where, as a kid, he and his family encountered a spaceship in the English countryside. For realsies. O-k...
Set in 1981, Cloud Hotel is about a kid called Julian who gets abducted by someone and winds up in a flying hotel with some other kids. There’s really only a premise to this one as Hanshaw seems to have blanked on writing an actual story!
The problem is that this book has two halves: one set in our world where Julian watches his granddad die in hospital while his parents cry, and one set in the Cloud Hotel where he and a girl called Emma with stars for eyes wander around aimlessly. And neither, er, “storyline” is interesting.
More annoyingly, there doesn’t seem to be a point to any of it. What is the Cloud Hotel - who made it, is it real, is it in Julian’s head, is it a spaceship, are there aliens? Why are only kids being abducted? How did Emma stay alive in our world the entire time she was in the Cloud Hotel considering where her “real” body was? What did the self-writing books mean - hell, what did any of it mean?! No clue - Hanshaw’s not being artfully impressionistic so much as he’s simply not saying. It’s so unsatisfyingly vague.
The art is unusual though somewhat interesting - except giving everyone black box eyes was a stupid stylistic choice - and the concept is creative, like a Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli film. I wouldn’t say Cloud Hotel is a good comic though, let down as it is by poor writing and storytelling.
Set in 1981, Cloud Hotel is about a kid called Julian who gets abducted by someone and winds up in a flying hotel with some other kids. There’s really only a premise to this one as Hanshaw seems to have blanked on writing an actual story!
The problem is that this book has two halves: one set in our world where Julian watches his granddad die in hospital while his parents cry, and one set in the Cloud Hotel where he and a girl called Emma with stars for eyes wander around aimlessly. And neither, er, “storyline” is interesting.
More annoyingly, there doesn’t seem to be a point to any of it. What is the Cloud Hotel - who made it, is it real, is it in Julian’s head, is it a spaceship, are there aliens? Why are only kids being abducted? How did Emma stay alive in our world the entire time she was in the Cloud Hotel considering where her “real” body was? What did the self-writing books mean - hell, what did any of it mean?! No clue - Hanshaw’s not being artfully impressionistic so much as he’s simply not saying. It’s so unsatisfyingly vague.
The art is unusual though somewhat interesting - except giving everyone black box eyes was a stupid stylistic choice - and the concept is creative, like a Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli film. I wouldn’t say Cloud Hotel is a good comic though, let down as it is by poor writing and storytelling.
December 6, 2018
Julian Hanshaw's Cloud Hotel came about because of a memory he had of his family sighting a U.F.O. in 1980. What follows in imagining about what might have happened after the boys go to see the site one evening is unsurprising, an abduction, and a fantasy of a Kid of) place to escape. What undermines the wonder is that all the people have dark empty squares (or stars) for eyes (so, like horror), and what happens is somewhat disconcerting (so, a little like horror). I don't fully understand it, at first and second reads, but the art and even the approach to the story is sometimes interesting. Very different than Hanshaw's Tin Ginger, though both are strangely atmospheric.
August 25, 2018
A willfully obtuse story with equally befuddling art. It's incredibly hard to tell characters apart and the story tries so hard to be metaphorical and deep that it winds up meaning nothing.
September 26, 2018
I had no idea what this was about when I picked it up, and now I wish I wouldn't have. The story starts with an interesting take on alien abduction but quickly becomes tedious. Many of the characters were drawn so similarly it was sometimes difficult to tell them apart. Honestly, at some point I just skipped to the end.
August 7, 2018
The imagining of the Cloud Hotel was very intriguing, and the color choices were great. Many of the choices for action sequences ("people moving around" since this book isn't really an action book) and in general the way the plot was put together/paced left me with the same squinting feeling I get when a fight sequence in a movie is cut very fast with minimal lighting: what just happened and why was it done that way? I think I understand most of the story, but I also think that with some editing it would have remained understandable but still retained its mysteriousness and charm.
November 15, 2020
I knew nothing about the book, but the title and cover told me whimsy...nope.
Then I read the little intro from the author and realized it is an alien abduction, okay cool....nope.
Nothing really happens in this book. The characters are bland. The art is not my style.
There really was nothing here for me.
Then I read the little intro from the author and realized it is an alien abduction, okay cool....nope.
Nothing really happens in this book. The characters are bland. The art is not my style.
There really was nothing here for me.
August 28, 2020
Sorta boring they just show up at the hotel then wait around for a phone to ring to go home that's bout it
February 23, 2019
This book managed to be very weird, in a sort of familiar, comfortable way. When "Remco" gets abducted by what might be aliens, he ends up in a weird hotel with a few others. But somehow he's able to phase back and forth between this strange hotel and his normal life. His relationship with his grandfather in the real world and Emma in the hotel both impact the trajectory of his life in weird ways.
This isn't a story as much about plot as it is the environment and relationships. The hotel is a character in and of itself. How it changes to reflect Remco and Emma's situations drives the narrative, which leads to a positive if equally strange ending.
The art work is distinctive - it was a little disquieting at first but the style grew on me and very much fit the story's uniqueness.
I'm not really sure what to say here - I'm glad I read it; it is a very different kind of graphic novel, but I don't know who it's for. There's a bit of adolescent anxiety and growing up involved, and a bit of dealing with traumas. It's just... different. If you're willing to try something that is different, give it a go.
This isn't a story as much about plot as it is the environment and relationships. The hotel is a character in and of itself. How it changes to reflect Remco and Emma's situations drives the narrative, which leads to a positive if equally strange ending.
The art work is distinctive - it was a little disquieting at first but the style grew on me and very much fit the story's uniqueness.
I'm not really sure what to say here - I'm glad I read it; it is a very different kind of graphic novel, but I don't know who it's for. There's a bit of adolescent anxiety and growing up involved, and a bit of dealing with traumas. It's just... different. If you're willing to try something that is different, give it a go.
July 18, 2018
The author, in a preface, explains how, as a child, he and his family saw a mysterious bright object in the sky. This story was inspired by that memory. Remco and his friend Luc are biking in the dark forest when Remco, after seeing such an object, finds himself in the Cloud Hotel. Strange waif-like kids populate the Hotel, and, instead of being scared, Remco is oddly happy there. As the story goes on, he finds himself alternately at home and at this surreal place. Home, with the stress of his sad parents and ailing grandfather, begins to seem less appealing than the Cloud Hotel. Mystery surrounds his comings and goings, accentuated by the intimations of in-between-ness and death that the Hotel represents. Hanshaw’s detailed etching-like art, in somber colors, echoes the dreamlike mystery of the setting. His characters’ deeply rimmed square eyes give all the characters the feel of mourning. I think readers will interpret the Hotel in their own ways, and teens, especially, will appreciate the many details and surreal motifs that are open to speculation.
December 27, 2024
1.5 stars. When he disappears in the woods, a boy ends up at a strange hotel that he can reenter at will--as long as he refuses to answer the lobby's ringing phone. Weird premise, right? And the tone sometimes sells it: the protagonist escaping into the surreal, refusing to step fully into either realm, has a particular melancholy-but-intriguing vibe.
Unfortunately, that's the best of it. The mundane plot he endeavors to escape is conventional, the speculative half is set-piecey without real depth, and the art is bad, with incoherent movement between panels and awful stylization: children look like middle-aged men, adults look like bobbleheads, and blocky shadows around the eye render every character interchangeable. I love a weird graphic novel, but this manages to be weird in a tedious way.
Unfortunately, that's the best of it. The mundane plot he endeavors to escape is conventional, the speculative half is set-piecey without real depth, and the art is bad, with incoherent movement between panels and awful stylization: children look like middle-aged men, adults look like bobbleheads, and blocky shadows around the eye render every character interchangeable. I love a weird graphic novel, but this manages to be weird in a tedious way.
May 10, 2020
Cloud Hotel, written by Julian Hanshaw, was apparently inspired by a childhood “UFO” experience. The book details a series of incidents during the author’s childhood in a somewhat small town involving missing children and supposed aliens abductions. The premise is bizarre and unsettling - that the author experienced/lived these things, and that the story paints it at face-value. The narrative is presented in a rather surreptitious manner, without much direction, which, unfortunately, also fails to create an air of the “ethereal”, that’s required to pull off a story like this. Yet, it is a thoughtful and imaginative comic book. The artwork is crisp, stark, and gloomy. Overall, I’d liked to have had more closure at the end - however, I’m sure the author did too.
October 7, 2023
I have no idea what I just read.
I realized I can sort my want to read list by star rating. Learning that, I decided to read both my lowest and highest rated books on goodreads. This was the lowest rated book on my want to read list. I can very easily understand how this book landed in that category.
If this wasn't a graphic novel this would have been a DNF by page 50. But, it's a graphic novel and less than 200 pages so I figured I should just finish it since it wouldn't take long to read.
I managed to get one answer to the many questions I had while reading this book as to what was happening, but overall, I still don't understand anything I just read.
I realized I can sort my want to read list by star rating. Learning that, I decided to read both my lowest and highest rated books on goodreads. This was the lowest rated book on my want to read list. I can very easily understand how this book landed in that category.
If this wasn't a graphic novel this would have been a DNF by page 50. But, it's a graphic novel and less than 200 pages so I figured I should just finish it since it wouldn't take long to read.
I managed to get one answer to the many questions I had while reading this book as to what was happening, but overall, I still don't understand anything I just read.
January 24, 2019
I want to like this book, but as others have stated, the muddy artwork and even more opaque storyline don't exactly help. I am okay with a mysterious plot line that doesn't resolve but the clarification regarding character identity was sorely needed to help that. As it stands this book ends up coming off like a mentally unwell person rattling off a story on public transit.
February 17, 2020
UFOs, man
I've been diving into conspiracy theories recently (through Shane Dawson or like the Chilluminati Podcast). This comic sits so nicely there in the "Gosh there has to be more, I want to believe" space I've been sitting in. The art was unique, story unique, easily something I'd want to reread and spend more time with.
I've been diving into conspiracy theories recently (through Shane Dawson or like the Chilluminati Podcast). This comic sits so nicely there in the "Gosh there has to be more, I want to believe" space I've been sitting in. The art was unique, story unique, easily something I'd want to reread and spend more time with.
September 29, 2020
This was good.
I’m still not entirely sure what was going on, but the missing pieces weren’t huge gaps. The story could still be enjoyed, and the disorienting feel wasn’t overwhelming. In fact if it was intentional, it was tastefully done.
The artwork was unique. The protagonist’s eyes were kind of cool.
It reminded me of more obscure Nick or Cartoon Network cartoons.
I’m still not entirely sure what was going on, but the missing pieces weren’t huge gaps. The story could still be enjoyed, and the disorienting feel wasn’t overwhelming. In fact if it was intentional, it was tastefully done.
The artwork was unique. The protagonist’s eyes were kind of cool.
It reminded me of more obscure Nick or Cartoon Network cartoons.
January 3, 2021
Interesting concept. Compelling art and coloring that fit the mood.
Unfortunately story was very confusing. I couldn’t tell who was who sometimes because they looked too similar. There seemed to be gaps in the story I couldn’t account for which made it more confusing. I am all for ambiguity in stories but there were no answers here.
Unfortunately story was very confusing. I couldn’t tell who was who sometimes because they looked too similar. There seemed to be gaps in the story I couldn’t account for which made it more confusing. I am all for ambiguity in stories but there were no answers here.
December 8, 2022
Very magical realism coming of age story about a kid who escapes stressful situations in the real world to go to a cloud hotel. I didn't understand the symbolism, and therefore I didn't grasp the story. Drawings and flow was nice, but it would be nice if I actually sort of understand what it is about.
March 11, 2025
Hanshaw is a great artist, but this story is pretty hard to follow and sometimes the art is too dark to see (which I understand was a choice, but it’s not a choice I appreciated).
I did appreciate the dreamlike quality. Though confusing vibes for a book that’s also kind of a metaphor for child abductions? Just a little haphazard.
I did appreciate the dreamlike quality. Though confusing vibes for a book that’s also kind of a metaphor for child abductions? Just a little haphazard.
May 20, 2025
The fourth graphic novel I've read by Hanshaw in the past month, and probably my least favorite.
Probably because I wanted to figure out the plot on this, the most mysterious of the stories I've read, and it doesn't give up much in the way of anwers, nor really of it's characters.
Still, more engaging than most of what's out there.
Probably because I wanted to figure out the plot on this, the most mysterious of the stories I've read, and it doesn't give up much in the way of anwers, nor really of it's characters.
Still, more engaging than most of what's out there.
July 4, 2018
This book went from confusing to impressive quickly (so stick with it). I'll want to re-read it with the ending in mind to see some more of it fit together (I noticed some key points just within the first few pages). It's definitely worth a read for fans of weirdo comics.
December 16, 2018
Muddy artwork and an overly complicated plot made this a not particularly enjoyable read. Apparently it was inspired by the author's supposed encounter with a UFO as a child?!? In any case, it didn't work for me art- or story-wise.
August 3, 2019
This was an emotional book, even if there were moments I could not completely understand what was going on. This book feels very much about life and the near death experiences that we can have in life. It was a well done story with a lot of emotions that I definitely recommend giving a chance.
August 26, 2019
Huge waste of time... probably it was too personal that it didnt make sense to the outside world. The artistic side is quite nice i enjoyed the drawings but i was too frustrated about the storyline so overall it was a miss
May 13, 2020
Started out interesting, but got quite muddled towards the end. Some of the drawings were also so dark I could barely make out what was happening. I have my own loose interpretation of what was going on, but not that invested to look into it.
March 4, 2023
Imma be honest, this one had me very lost. I liked the concept and the art was okay, but I really couldn’t follow what was going on all that well. I think that some of the art made it harder to follow in spots. Not my favorite graphic novel for sure.
October 26, 2023
Very interesting! I liked the out there concept, and the art style was beautiful and unique but it did take me a while to be able to recognize different characters. Besides the confusion in the beginning I enjoyed it!
January 22, 2026
Difficult to follow, both the artwork & the story itself.
I’m tolerant of a lot of art styles but this was killing me after just a few pages.
Pretty pointless, with no real meaning behind it all.
I gotta stop doing this to myself.
I’m tolerant of a lot of art styles but this was killing me after just a few pages.
Pretty pointless, with no real meaning behind it all.
I gotta stop doing this to myself.
July 18, 2018
Weird but I liked it.
August 31, 2018
Since I didn't really understand what was happening, and I didn't care for the style of illustration, this book was quite a disappointment to me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews