This works well enough with the strongly and explicitly stated overarching theme regarding the importance of family, including “found” families. They become caricatures to push the story in a direction that allows Brad to be an insecure outsider looking to join a chosen family (the Dares). Readers may assume that it is a direct cause of the “correlation between beard length and magic strength” rule of the kingdom but there is no nuance in character among the elder population if that is the case. What is never revealed are the motivations behind this treatment by his elders. Many of those conflicts appear to be arbitrary and those that give the impression there is more to be known don’t give much away over the course of the story.Īs an example, we know that the character Brad, from the world of Bramble, is mistreated by the wizards in his kingdom and readers learn he was never given proper training to become the wizard he could be (even without a beard). In all, there are four worlds and nine characters fighting for attention, each of which has their own set of issues and conflicts. Within the 144 unnumbered pages, the multi-world portal fantasy sees each of the Dare children going off on solo adventures that eventually come together as one unified and interwoven storyline. While “Hotel Dare” does well to represent marginalized groups – it includes queer characters, people of color, and a blended family in adoption – the story suffers from trying to do too much in too little space. Instead, its strengths lie in its inclusivity and its artwork.
“Hotel Dare” makes a concerted effort to pull off an epic portal fantasy adventure, and while it is an enjoyable story to dive into, it ultimately falls short of pulling all the pieces together. Illustrated and colored by Claudia Aguirre
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