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The Thousandth Floor #1
The Thousandth Floor
NEW YORK CITY AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.
A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future where anything is possible—if you want it enough.
WELCOME TO MANHATTAN, 2118.
A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. Everyone there wants something…and everyone has something to lose.
LEDA COLE’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction—to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched.
ERIS DODD-RADSON’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart.
RYLIN MYERS’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world—and a romance—she never imagined…but will this new life cost Rylin her old one?
WATT BAKRADI is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy for an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies.
And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is AVERY FULLER, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all—yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.
Amid breathtaking advancement and high-tech luxury, five teenagers struggle to find their place at the top of the world. But when you're this high up, there's nowhere to go but down....
A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future where anything is possible—if you want it enough.
WELCOME TO MANHATTAN, 2118.
A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. Everyone there wants something…and everyone has something to lose.
LEDA COLE’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction—to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched.
ERIS DODD-RADSON’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart.
RYLIN MYERS’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world—and a romance—she never imagined…but will this new life cost Rylin her old one?
WATT BAKRADI is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy for an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies.
And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is AVERY FULLER, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all—yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.
Amid breathtaking advancement and high-tech luxury, five teenagers struggle to find their place at the top of the world. But when you're this high up, there's nowhere to go but down....
448 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 30, 2016
About the author
Katharine McGee
17 books6,129 followersKatharine McGee is the New York Times bestselling author of American Royals and The Thousandth Floor trilogy. She studied English and French literature at Princeton University and has an MBA from Stanford. She lives in her hometown of Houston, TX with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 6,426 reviews
September 12, 2020
Wow.
The Thousandth Floor is a futuristic Gossip Girl which would be a lot more fun if not for the adopted sibling incest, worst case of bury your gays i have ever had the displeasure of seeing, and also eugenics. At around the halfway I was actually planning to give this a two-star rating, just based off how addictive it was and how much I personally enjoyed it. But given how much the ending pissed me off, and given that after over six months (update: almost four years) I despise this book more every time I think about it, I'm not at all planning on changing this rating. This book deserves its rating.
You're all waiting for the roast, right? It's at the bottom.
Okay, first of all, this isn't a cool dystopia; this book is about romantic drama. Yes, there's a little worldbuilding, and it's interesting when we do see it. But the focus is on dating. Eris used to like Cord who likes Rylin, Avery and Leda like Atlas, but Watt also likes Avery. The only relationship I could bring myself to care about was Eris' relationship with Mariel, which was genuine and led Eris through some GREAT development and then gets ruined because of course it does. Every other relationship felt like a plot point for drama. Cord and Rylin weren't a horrible couple either, but unfortunately, they were clearly there for the drama. Atlas and Avery creeped me out. Look, I have a stepbrother. Siblings, even if they aren't biological, should not date. Yuck.
✔ GOSSIP GIRL HAD MORE CHARACTER DEPTH THAN THIS
⭐ Avery, aka Cersei Lannister, is a virginal blonde girl who lives on the top floor, and she's utterly insufferable. Avery slutshames, talks shit about all her friends, and is ridiculously hateable. That's her entire character. I feel like she has a lot of potential as a delicious antihero, but she's not portrayed as an antihero - she's portrayed as an innocent. Also, she fucks her brother. Yeah.
⭐ Watt is a stalker. That's his only character trait. Besides a few weirdly racial stereotypes.
⭐ Leda... was a very frustrating character to follow. She begins the story as a former drug addict who's really trying to get clean and has some nice relationships with her mom and brother. She's loyal and into meditation, and really the only annoying bit about her is her dislike for Eris. She ends the book as a completely terrible person with no character whatsoever. Leda's character arc feels messy at best and false at worst. You deserved better, Leda. She, too, has a lot of potential as a delicious antihero, but she's not portrayed as an antihero - she's the villain.
⭐ Rylin is very protective of her sister, Chrissa, and is less rich than the rest - she lives on 32. Her character is a bit of a cliche, poor because her mother is dead, but she's less whiny than the rich kids. She had potential. HOWEVER. Rylin's character development is not positive, and she's reduced almost entirely to her bland romance plot.
⭐ Eris annoyed me a lot at the beginning, but she grew on me. She is forced to live down on the bottom levels by a family tragedy, and her relationship with her parents was relatively well-developed. Erin is also the only character that really develops, which is like... sad.
To some degree this book is enjoyable in that "mindless drama" sort of way. It's just too bad it was so, so problematic and angering.
✔ THIS BOOK IS YIKES AND IN CONCLUSION: I AM BITTER
♚ While I loved Eris as a character, it should be noted that she's stereotyped too - it's time for us to end the trope of the one bisexual character who "sleeps around" and almost cheats.
♔ Soooooooo much girl hate and slutshaming. Oh god, there was so much girl hate in this book in general. Aside from Eris and Mariel, who are dating, there is not one positive relationship between women, and worse, most of the issues in these friendships revolve around guys or slutshaming. This is just annoying. It's 2017. We can have normal friendships.
♚ Women are treated like sex objects and no one really does anything about it. You guys think I'm kidding. At one point, a male characters slaps a female character's ass - they are not dating - and it is literally just considered a flirty gesture by the girl. This is really just objectively shitty worldbuilding; we're living in 2150, and you're telling me treating girls like meat is still okay?
♔ Pretty much all the dude love interests are somewhat hypermasculine and vaguely creepy in my reading. I think I'm supposed to want Atlas and Avery together, but honestly, their relationship read as somewhat... creepy... to me. And not even just because they're siblings [oh yeah, they're siblings] but Atlas is just a fucking creeper. He reads like every 30-year-old who's ever hit on me at the gym.
♚ Rape was treated somewhat badly, at least in my reading. There's also something that happens at the end of this book where it's implied one character daterapes another character and it's fairly glossed over. It's possible that this was meant to be horrifying and will be handled better in book two; that being said, to me it came across as "it's not real rape because it's a dude."
♔ Some kind of... racial stereotyping. Yikes. One character is described as Middle Eastern, and has three character traits: socially awkward, computer nerd, and either can't get laid or is desperately trying to get laid. That's... a lot of major stereotypes about East Asian men, and he's not East Asian, but it still feels like a negative portrayal. The one dark-skinned character is addicted to drugs and also... you know, the villain of the fucking book. And the one other mixed-race character is a poor person who turns to thievery. Of the rich characters, two out of three are white, while both poor characters are not white. You can actually list the characters by wealth and the two wealthiest characters are white. If this connection were analyzed, it could be an interesting thematic element and parallel racism in real life. But it's not. And I recognize this could all be coincidence, but the fact that a lot of the characters here are racial stereotypes is pretty... uncomfortable.
♚ The most genuinely upsetting part of this is that Avery, a "genetically perfect" model created by her parents, is blonde and white. Let's just emphasize this. She's genetically perfect because she's white. Genetic perfection = whiteness. Yes, I recognize that this is the standard of beauty we know right now in America and Europe. Yes, I recognize that a lot of white authors haven't necessarily interrogated that. Yes, I recognize that this is probably an accident. But this is straight-up racist eugenics. In this supposedly racially diverse future world, making genetic manipulation with the specific intent of beauty lead to a white lead is genuinely horrifying. And on a related note, Avery is a far more terrible human being than most of the characters, yet she's given a lot of narrative sympathy other characters do not.
(Arguably, any genetic manipulation is in and of itself eugenics, and I think any narrative wanting to talk about genetics should actually unpack that. But also, in 2016, I think unpacking felt like too much to ask from ya lit or lit in general to be fucking honest. So I'll just leave it at the bare-minimum standard of 'your genetic perfection being a white person has uncomfortable implications' and go.
♚ This is a major, major spoiler for the end and for book two, but it's also something I think sapphics especially will want to know before picking up: bury your gays. Severe. Because as we all know, burying BOTH of your queer lead characters for the development of your all-straight, all-alive cast is so creative. So never-before-done. So seldom-discussed. Anyway, point is, if you write a book with, oh, maybe seven straight main characters, and then two sapphics, and you choose to bury the bi girl in your first book and the lesbian in your second book and all the straight people are still alive? Your book has a fucking problem.
VERDICT: I genuinely think this book is terrible. I really would like to imagine this was all intentional, and the author will subvert it all in book three, but I really don't think that's at all what's happening here. I'm tired and I'm angry and I am really done caring if people know it. I don't think this is a book or author that I want to support, ever.
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The Thousandth Floor is a futuristic Gossip Girl which would be a lot more fun if not for the adopted sibling incest, worst case of bury your gays i have ever had the displeasure of seeing, and also eugenics. At around the halfway I was actually planning to give this a two-star rating, just based off how addictive it was and how much I personally enjoyed it. But given how much the ending pissed me off, and given that after over six months (update: almost four years) I despise this book more every time I think about it, I'm not at all planning on changing this rating. This book deserves its rating.
You're all waiting for the roast, right? It's at the bottom.
Okay, first of all, this isn't a cool dystopia; this book is about romantic drama. Yes, there's a little worldbuilding, and it's interesting when we do see it. But the focus is on dating. Eris used to like Cord who likes Rylin, Avery and Leda like Atlas, but Watt also likes Avery. The only relationship I could bring myself to care about was Eris' relationship with Mariel, which was genuine and led Eris through some GREAT development and then gets ruined because of course it does. Every other relationship felt like a plot point for drama. Cord and Rylin weren't a horrible couple either, but unfortunately, they were clearly there for the drama. Atlas and Avery creeped me out. Look, I have a stepbrother. Siblings, even if they aren't biological, should not date. Yuck.
✔ GOSSIP GIRL HAD MORE CHARACTER DEPTH THAN THIS
⭐ Avery, aka Cersei Lannister, is a virginal blonde girl who lives on the top floor, and she's utterly insufferable. Avery slutshames, talks shit about all her friends, and is ridiculously hateable. That's her entire character. I feel like she has a lot of potential as a delicious antihero, but she's not portrayed as an antihero - she's portrayed as an innocent. Also, she fucks her brother. Yeah.
⭐ Watt is a stalker. That's his only character trait. Besides a few weirdly racial stereotypes.
⭐ Leda... was a very frustrating character to follow. She begins the story as a former drug addict who's really trying to get clean and has some nice relationships with her mom and brother. She's loyal and into meditation, and really the only annoying bit about her is her dislike for Eris. She ends the book as a completely terrible person with no character whatsoever. Leda's character arc feels messy at best and false at worst. You deserved better, Leda. She, too, has a lot of potential as a delicious antihero, but she's not portrayed as an antihero - she's the villain.
⭐ Rylin is very protective of her sister, Chrissa, and is less rich than the rest - she lives on 32. Her character is a bit of a cliche, poor because her mother is dead, but she's less whiny than the rich kids. She had potential. HOWEVER. Rylin's character development is not positive, and she's reduced almost entirely to her bland romance plot.
⭐ Eris annoyed me a lot at the beginning, but she grew on me. She is forced to live down on the bottom levels by a family tragedy, and her relationship with her parents was relatively well-developed. Erin is also the only character that really develops, which is like... sad.
To some degree this book is enjoyable in that "mindless drama" sort of way. It's just too bad it was so, so problematic and angering.
✔ THIS BOOK IS YIKES AND IN CONCLUSION: I AM BITTER
♚ While I loved Eris as a character, it should be noted that she's stereotyped too - it's time for us to end the trope of the one bisexual character who "sleeps around" and almost cheats.
♔ Soooooooo much girl hate and slutshaming. Oh god, there was so much girl hate in this book in general. Aside from Eris and Mariel, who are dating, there is not one positive relationship between women, and worse, most of the issues in these friendships revolve around guys or slutshaming. This is just annoying. It's 2017. We can have normal friendships.
♚ Women are treated like sex objects and no one really does anything about it. You guys think I'm kidding. At one point, a male characters slaps a female character's ass - they are not dating - and it is literally just considered a flirty gesture by the girl. This is really just objectively shitty worldbuilding; we're living in 2150, and you're telling me treating girls like meat is still okay?
♔ Pretty much all the dude love interests are somewhat hypermasculine and vaguely creepy in my reading. I think I'm supposed to want Atlas and Avery together, but honestly, their relationship read as somewhat... creepy... to me. And not even just because they're siblings [oh yeah, they're siblings] but Atlas is just a fucking creeper. He reads like every 30-year-old who's ever hit on me at the gym.
♚ Rape was treated somewhat badly, at least in my reading. There's also something that happens at the end of this book where it's implied one character daterapes another character and it's fairly glossed over. It's possible that this was meant to be horrifying and will be handled better in book two; that being said, to me it came across as "it's not real rape because it's a dude."
♔ Some kind of... racial stereotyping. Yikes. One character is described as Middle Eastern, and has three character traits: socially awkward, computer nerd, and either can't get laid or is desperately trying to get laid. That's... a lot of major stereotypes about East Asian men, and he's not East Asian, but it still feels like a negative portrayal. The one dark-skinned character is addicted to drugs and also... you know, the villain of the fucking book. And the one other mixed-race character is a poor person who turns to thievery. Of the rich characters, two out of three are white, while both poor characters are not white. You can actually list the characters by wealth and the two wealthiest characters are white. If this connection were analyzed, it could be an interesting thematic element and parallel racism in real life. But it's not. And I recognize this could all be coincidence, but the fact that a lot of the characters here are racial stereotypes is pretty... uncomfortable.
♚ The most genuinely upsetting part of this is that Avery, a "genetically perfect" model created by her parents, is blonde and white. Let's just emphasize this. She's genetically perfect because she's white. Genetic perfection = whiteness. Yes, I recognize that this is the standard of beauty we know right now in America and Europe. Yes, I recognize that a lot of white authors haven't necessarily interrogated that. Yes, I recognize that this is probably an accident. But this is straight-up racist eugenics. In this supposedly racially diverse future world, making genetic manipulation with the specific intent of beauty lead to a white lead is genuinely horrifying. And on a related note, Avery is a far more terrible human being than most of the characters, yet she's given a lot of narrative sympathy other characters do not.
(Arguably, any genetic manipulation is in and of itself eugenics, and I think any narrative wanting to talk about genetics should actually unpack that. But also, in 2016, I think unpacking felt like too much to ask from ya lit or lit in general to be fucking honest. So I'll just leave it at the bare-minimum standard of 'your genetic perfection being a white person has uncomfortable implications' and go.
♚ This is a major, major spoiler for the end and for book two, but it's also something I think sapphics especially will want to know before picking up: bury your gays. Severe. Because as we all know, burying BOTH of your queer lead characters for the development of your all-straight, all-alive cast is so creative. So never-before-done. So seldom-discussed. Anyway, point is, if you write a book with, oh, maybe seven straight main characters, and then two sapphics, and you choose to bury the bi girl in your first book and the lesbian in your second book and all the straight people are still alive? Your book has a fucking problem.
VERDICT: I genuinely think this book is terrible. I really would like to imagine this was all intentional, and the author will subvert it all in book three, but I really don't think that's at all what's happening here. I'm tired and I'm angry and I am really done caring if people know it. I don't think this is a book or author that I want to support, ever.
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September 9, 2016
I have to mention this: my friend Anna who doesn't read that much (if it's not Harry Potter) read TTF and called me once she finished with a wicked book hangover.
SO PROUD OF HER!
SO PROUD OF HER!
September 22, 2016
Confession time: I'm partial to the occasional trashy, chick-lit novel. You know the ones I mean. Those meaningless dramas where everyone sleeps with everyone and everyone betrays everyone and you are not required to think too hard. So when people were calling this a "futuristic Gossip Girl", that honestly didn't bother me. GG is an old guilty pleasure. Also, Chuck + Blair 4ever.
That's not the problem with The Thousandth Floor. This is the problem:
Ick.
I don't care that he's technically her step-brother; my issue with incest extends way beyond genetic factors. I don't mind when it appears to show abuse or is portrayed negatively, but I got the distinct impression that it's actually supposed to be sexy in this book. And I'm sorry, but I don't buy into the "consenting adults" argument for incest, or the comparisons with homosexuality. As Saletan's Slate article says:
It was a huge issue for me in a novel that could have easily been some mindless entertainment. McGee considers many different aspects of what the year 2118 might look like, from technology to global warming to designer babies. On top of that, it's a diverse book, as well as just a very interesting and rather... dazzling idea. Imagine a future where Manhattan literally becomes a vertical city in an enormous skyscraper; the extremely wealthy partying and getting high on the top floors.
But I just don't want to read about siblings making out. I read to the end to find out who falls from the tower in the prologue, but I seriously considered not finishing it the moment Avery and Atlas lock lips. There are a lot of characters in this novel, all being young, stupid and scandalous, and I honestly quite enjoyed reading about their superficial lives, but I won't be returning for the sequel. That kind of "romance" is just not my thing.
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That's not the problem with The Thousandth Floor. This is the problem:
On the other end of the call was Atlas, her brother - and the reason she never wanted to kiss anyone else.
Ick.
I don't care that he's technically her step-brother; my issue with incest extends way beyond genetic factors. I don't mind when it appears to show abuse or is portrayed negatively, but I got the distinct impression that it's actually supposed to be sexy in this book. And I'm sorry, but I don't buy into the "consenting adults" argument for incest, or the comparisons with homosexuality. As Saletan's Slate article says:
Homosexuality is an orientation. Incest isn't. If the law bans gay sex, a lesbian can't have a sex life. But if you're hot for your sister, and the law says you can't sleep with her, you have billions of other options. Get out of your house, for God's sake. You'll find somebody to love without incinerating your family.
It was a huge issue for me in a novel that could have easily been some mindless entertainment. McGee considers many different aspects of what the year 2118 might look like, from technology to global warming to designer babies. On top of that, it's a diverse book, as well as just a very interesting and rather... dazzling idea. Imagine a future where Manhattan literally becomes a vertical city in an enormous skyscraper; the extremely wealthy partying and getting high on the top floors.
But I just don't want to read about siblings making out. I read to the end to find out who falls from the tower in the prologue, but I seriously considered not finishing it the moment Avery and Atlas lock lips. There are a lot of characters in this novel, all being young, stupid and scandalous, and I honestly quite enjoyed reading about their superficial lives, but I won't be returning for the sequel. That kind of "romance" is just not my thing.
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January 9, 2018
3.5* (maybe even closer to a 4, so I guess 3.75*)
This was a really fun, but also kind of sad, scifi read! I'm not generally a big scifi person (as you may know), but this intrigued me with its concept of a giant building in futuristic New York. At times I found it difficult to keep track of who's who (maybe partially because I went the audio route for this one). But once I got it sorted I became pretty invested in each character and how their plot line went. I felt like no one was left behind and not given the chance at a full fledged storyline, which says a lot when you have so many characters.
I'm not sure if I will continue with the series, but it's definitely not completely off the table!
This was a really fun, but also kind of sad, scifi read! I'm not generally a big scifi person (as you may know), but this intrigued me with its concept of a giant building in futuristic New York. At times I found it difficult to keep track of who's who (maybe partially because I went the audio route for this one). But once I got it sorted I became pretty invested in each character and how their plot line went. I felt like no one was left behind and not given the chance at a full fledged storyline, which says a lot when you have so many characters.
I'm not sure if I will continue with the series, but it's definitely not completely off the table!
May 10, 2017
THE THOUSANDTH FLOOR is a sleek, smart, guilty pleasure. The opening chapter begins with an unnamed girl falling to her death from a skyscraper in 22nd century New York, and the questions of "who" and "why" are ever-present as this thriller unfolds. The major raised eyebrow comes from the main character's love for her adopted brother, which sits rather uncomfortably for YA and in this context; but despite a few reservations, this story is surprisingly well-written and enjoyable.
Positives:
-- super, super fun world-building. This is a mystery/thriller in a futuristic setting, with cool tech that feels organic to the story and the way the characters would use them. In addition to stuff you might expect, such as smart contacts with Google-glasses-type capabilities, there are imaginative touches like gummy bears with nano chips installed that make them move (and scream!), floating alcohol bubbles you drink from a straw, enviable closets and immersive shopping experiences, a boy with a frighteningly intuitive computer linked to his brain, and so much more. It's all incredibly well-thought-out, and none of it is there purely as set decoration.
-- 5 distinct POVs, each of which add significantly to the plot. I'm the first person to complain about excessive and superfluous narrators, but you truly couldn't have lost one of these without changing the story. They're all well done, and all make you understand and sympathize with the characters' motivations, even when they're at odds with each other. One of the POVs is a teenage hacker's, and the description of how he infiltrates systems and uses information to his advantage is fascinating.
-- realistic, layered friendships, especially between the girls. Affection, history, competition, and jealousy all come into play.
-- There are major underlying themes exploring class division and privilege that I didn't expect. The towering, 1000-floor Manhattan building these kids live in is almost its own character, and the author skillfully and convincingly portrays the glittering lifestyle and mindset of the wealthy uptower kids and contrasting POVs without turning them all into cliches, or hammering readers with specific agendas and lessons.
-- this future world is matter-of-factly diverse, with many persons of color, as well as LGBTQ characters.
-- Sex-positive
-- adults take a back seat here and maybe could have been developed a bit more, but they're not merely token presences; there are interesting subplots that happen with them.
Stuff I wish had been better:
-- Avery is in love with her adopted brother. It's not handled in an icky way, but romanticizing incest for young readers is something that does concern me, particularly when it involves kids who were mostly raised and grew up together. It's less of an issue for me in other situations--dire ones like Forbidden come to mind--but here, the single-mindedness and focus on this romance would make me less inclined to recommend this for younger teenagers, especially since the connection between the two of them isn't as well-developed as it could be. Atlas is kind of a pleasant but oblique non-entity; Avery, despite her genetic perfection, is much more interesting.
-- I really, really wish I think increased mindfulness and sensitivity to this trope is necessary.
-- I'm not sure this needed a sequel, since I think the story would have more of an impact if it had stuck the ending. But I enjoyed this so much, I'll definitely be picking up book two!
This was longer than I intended, but since there are so many mixed/negative reviews I thought a countering opinion might be useful. Despite a couple of not-insignificant issues, I think this one has a lot going for it, and I liked that it wasn't a typical fast-paced, action-heavy thriller, but more of a character-driven story with a futuristic setting. I was completely engrossed as I went down all the rabbit holes of the plot, and the future tech is so freaking cool. Damn, it's fun to live and play in this world, even if it's just for a little while.
Positives:
-- super, super fun world-building. This is a mystery/thriller in a futuristic setting, with cool tech that feels organic to the story and the way the characters would use them. In addition to stuff you might expect, such as smart contacts with Google-glasses-type capabilities, there are imaginative touches like gummy bears with nano chips installed that make them move (and scream!), floating alcohol bubbles you drink from a straw, enviable closets and immersive shopping experiences, a boy with a frighteningly intuitive computer linked to his brain, and so much more. It's all incredibly well-thought-out, and none of it is there purely as set decoration.
-- 5 distinct POVs, each of which add significantly to the plot. I'm the first person to complain about excessive and superfluous narrators, but you truly couldn't have lost one of these without changing the story. They're all well done, and all make you understand and sympathize with the characters' motivations, even when they're at odds with each other. One of the POVs is a teenage hacker's, and the description of how he infiltrates systems and uses information to his advantage is fascinating.
-- realistic, layered friendships, especially between the girls. Affection, history, competition, and jealousy all come into play.
-- There are major underlying themes exploring class division and privilege that I didn't expect. The towering, 1000-floor Manhattan building these kids live in is almost its own character, and the author skillfully and convincingly portrays the glittering lifestyle and mindset of the wealthy uptower kids and contrasting POVs without turning them all into cliches, or hammering readers with specific agendas and lessons.
-- this future world is matter-of-factly diverse, with many persons of color, as well as LGBTQ characters.
-- Sex-positive
-- adults take a back seat here and maybe could have been developed a bit more, but they're not merely token presences; there are interesting subplots that happen with them.
Stuff I wish had been better:
-- Avery is in love with her adopted brother. It's not handled in an icky way, but romanticizing incest for young readers is something that does concern me, particularly when it involves kids who were mostly raised and grew up together. It's less of an issue for me in other situations--dire ones like Forbidden come to mind--but here, the single-mindedness and focus on this romance would make me less inclined to recommend this for younger teenagers, especially since the connection between the two of them isn't as well-developed as it could be. Atlas is kind of a pleasant but oblique non-entity; Avery, despite her genetic perfection, is much more interesting.
-- I really, really wish I think increased mindfulness and sensitivity to this trope is necessary.
-- I'm not sure this needed a sequel, since I think the story would have more of an impact if it had stuck the ending. But I enjoyed this so much, I'll definitely be picking up book two!
This was longer than I intended, but since there are so many mixed/negative reviews I thought a countering opinion might be useful. Despite a couple of not-insignificant issues, I think this one has a lot going for it, and I liked that it wasn't a typical fast-paced, action-heavy thriller, but more of a character-driven story with a futuristic setting. I was completely engrossed as I went down all the rabbit holes of the plot, and the future tech is so freaking cool. Damn, it's fun to live and play in this world, even if it's just for a little while.
Shelved as 'did-not-finish'
July 30, 2018DNF at approximately 12%
Mainly because my library loan was up before I could make almost any progress with this book, but I was not enjoying it all that much. So many different perspectives (I don't even think I read from each of them yet), very immature writing, tons of telling and not showing, and I could already tell it fed into quite a few tropes I am not a fan of.
I would love to finish this book in the future because I think MAYBE I could come to love it as a trashy-YA story, but I'm happily putting it down for now. I'm definitely a bit disappointed with how little I enjoyed the beginning of the story.
Mainly because my library loan was up before I could make almost any progress with this book, but I was not enjoying it all that much. So many different perspectives (I don't even think I read from each of them yet), very immature writing, tons of telling and not showing, and I could already tell it fed into quite a few tropes I am not a fan of.
I would love to finish this book in the future because I think MAYBE I could come to love it as a trashy-YA story, but I'm happily putting it down for now. I'm definitely a bit disappointed with how little I enjoyed the beginning of the story.
November 1, 2018
i love my YA books like i love drama - wild, reckless, and over-the-top. and the thousandth floor was all of that and more! i couldnt get enough. seriously, this book/series is soooo underrated and its a tragedy.
now, dont get me wrong. this wont win any literary awards or become a classic anytime soon (if at all). the writing is relatively simplistic and the overall tone feels young, but that totally works for this type of story. its serving me drama, dangerous flirtations, over-privileged kids who dont think before they act. its a recipe for disaster and i am here for it.
this has been compared to ‘gossip girl,’ and although i can see the similarities, this was such an entertaining story in its own right. its so unique with its sci-fi-esque world building, it has great character arcs, and dont forget all the DRAMA. it is the very definition of a guilty pleasure series but, somehow, i dont feel too guilty about enjoying it.
↠ 4 stars
now, dont get me wrong. this wont win any literary awards or become a classic anytime soon (if at all). the writing is relatively simplistic and the overall tone feels young, but that totally works for this type of story. its serving me drama, dangerous flirtations, over-privileged kids who dont think before they act. its a recipe for disaster and i am here for it.
this has been compared to ‘gossip girl,’ and although i can see the similarities, this was such an entertaining story in its own right. its so unique with its sci-fi-esque world building, it has great character arcs, and dont forget all the DRAMA. it is the very definition of a guilty pleasure series but, somehow, i dont feel too guilty about enjoying it.
↠ 4 stars
May 13, 2019
I definitely can see the Gossip girl comparison because there was sort of the same vibe. However, I was also getting a bit of Pretty Little Liars vibes as well.
And I was also surprised by the story. I liked that there were several POVs. And I even found some characters to like. Well, except for Leda - hate that one.
I had to take the star away because at first I was really lost with the characters. Who lives on which floor and the relation were lost at me at first.
I will definitely read the rest of the series because I want to find out how they will solve all of this.
And I was also surprised by the story. I liked that there were several POVs. And I even found some characters to like. Well, except for Leda - hate that one.
I had to take the star away because at first I was really lost with the characters. Who lives on which floor and the relation were lost at me at first.
I will definitely read the rest of the series because I want to find out how they will solve all of this.
September 19, 2018
4.5 starts rounded up to 5
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I kept seeing it in my feed, but it seemed like the reception has been a bit lukewarm. The concept sounded interesting so I figured I would give it a try.
You might look at this YA teen drama and say to yourself, “Matthew, this doesn’t seem like your type of book!” Well, I do like to dabble in the teen drama a bit – I blame my years of watching Degrassi for keeping a nostalgic corner of my heart for the genre. Also, my wife is always watching Pretty Little Liars, Vampire Diaries, etc. – which I find myself watching along with her. So, I have to say this sort of thing is my not-so-guilty pleasure!
I thought the storytelling and characters were great. For me it felt a lot like the Lunar Chronicles in its format, but I may have actually liked how this one started a bit more (and I really liked Cinder). When I first got into it and realized that it was going to be pretty heavy on the teenage angst and rumor mongering, I worried that it would descend into a simple pattern of backstabbing and gossiping. But, I think it stayed fairly interesting and complex. She built the plot in such a way that when you get to the resolution you realize almost every single plot point helped to weave an intricate web. Very cool!
My only possible complaint is that it overdid the "oops-I-wasn't-supposed-to-see-that-but-now-I-am-going-to-misinterpret-what-I-saw" trope. I think it happened at least 5 times and there has to be a max quota of this for one book!
Side Note: I noticed that the follow-up books in this trilogy were better received and rated. This has led me to a theory – I will officially dub it “Matthew’s Trilogy Rating Theory” and get it trademarked! ;) I often notice that the next two books in a trilogy tend to rate better than the first. Normally my thought would be that the story got better or the author got more comfortable writing scenarios for their characters. Now I am thinking it is more that, on average, if you didn’t like the first, you are much less likely to keep going. Therefore, a greater percentage of the reviewers of the next two books are people who loved the first and are, therefore more likely to rate the sequels high as well. I am sure there is a complex mathematical equation for this around here somewhere . . .
My conclusion – I do recommend the book, but since many are rating it mediocre, I cannot say for sure if you will be as pumped about it as I was. But, if you do end up liking it, I think you will REALLY like it!
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I kept seeing it in my feed, but it seemed like the reception has been a bit lukewarm. The concept sounded interesting so I figured I would give it a try.
You might look at this YA teen drama and say to yourself, “Matthew, this doesn’t seem like your type of book!” Well, I do like to dabble in the teen drama a bit – I blame my years of watching Degrassi for keeping a nostalgic corner of my heart for the genre. Also, my wife is always watching Pretty Little Liars, Vampire Diaries, etc. – which I find myself watching along with her. So, I have to say this sort of thing is my not-so-guilty pleasure!
I thought the storytelling and characters were great. For me it felt a lot like the Lunar Chronicles in its format, but I may have actually liked how this one started a bit more (and I really liked Cinder). When I first got into it and realized that it was going to be pretty heavy on the teenage angst and rumor mongering, I worried that it would descend into a simple pattern of backstabbing and gossiping. But, I think it stayed fairly interesting and complex. She built the plot in such a way that when you get to the resolution you realize almost every single plot point helped to weave an intricate web. Very cool!
My only possible complaint is that it overdid the "oops-I-wasn't-supposed-to-see-that-but-now-I-am-going-to-misinterpret-what-I-saw" trope. I think it happened at least 5 times and there has to be a max quota of this for one book!
Side Note: I noticed that the follow-up books in this trilogy were better received and rated. This has led me to a theory – I will officially dub it “Matthew’s Trilogy Rating Theory” and get it trademarked! ;) I often notice that the next two books in a trilogy tend to rate better than the first. Normally my thought would be that the story got better or the author got more comfortable writing scenarios for their characters. Now I am thinking it is more that, on average, if you didn’t like the first, you are much less likely to keep going. Therefore, a greater percentage of the reviewers of the next two books are people who loved the first and are, therefore more likely to rate the sequels high as well. I am sure there is a complex mathematical equation for this around here somewhere . . .
My conclusion – I do recommend the book, but since many are rating it mediocre, I cannot say for sure if you will be as pumped about it as I was. But, if you do end up liking it, I think you will REALLY like it!
July 27, 2016
all he knew was that the girl was the first person to fall from the Tower in its twenty-five years. He didn't know who she was, or how she'd gotten outside.
He didn't know whether she'd fallen, or been pushed, or whether - crushed by the weight of unspoken secrets - she'd decided to jump.
I know the book comparisons get old, but think futuristic Gossip Girl. I was pleased with how excellent the drama was. Definitely one of those guilty pleasure type books. What elevated things for me was the incredible world that was created. Set in New York City in the year 2118 - a world like you've never seen before! The city is a thousand-story tower stretching two and a half miles high.
Leda caught flashes of color where the elevators shot past, the veins of the city pumping its lifeblood up and down. It was the same as ever, she thought, utterly modern and and yet somehow timeless. Leda had seen countless pics of the old New York skyline, the one people always romanticized. But compared to the tower she thought it looked jagged and ugly.
The higher up in the Tower you live, the wealthier you are. Also meaning the lower the floor, the poorer you are. This futuristic world is very high-tech with hovers as cars, retinal scans to unlock doors, contacts as a quicker means of a computer really with the capability of looking stuff up by saying it aloud, sending pings or texts, checking the feeds or social media, etc. The lower the level, the less futuristic tech you will find because they can't be afforded. There's futuristic drugs like halluci-lighters and really all kinds of things. This world is very expansive..
The story starts with the inevitable end: a girl falling off the Tower from a party on the thousandth floor. We don't know who she is, how she got there, or how she ends up falling two and a half miles to her death.
It backtracks two months and this is where we meet our characters. The Thousandth Floor is told from five different perspectives.
Avery is the girl who was genetically created to be perfect (a word she despises). She lives on the thousandth floor with her parents and brother Atlas. Her life should be perfect, right? Only she is tormented by the one thing she wants, but could never have.
Leda is fresh off a stint in rehab, something she won't let anyone find out about for fear of being judged. She's even keeping it from her best friend Avery. It was only xenperheidren which helps to sharpen her thinking. It just felt so necessary until it all got out of control after what happened last year - that hookup with Atlas nobody knows about. And he left after, went missing. The only person he talks to is Avery, but no one knows where he is. Can Leda keep her secret addiction under control amidst the chaos the Tower brings her?
Rylin lives on the thirty-second floor with her younger sister. Their mom died a year ago leaving Rylin to work a dead-end job and keep things afloat. She has a drug dealing boyfriend and is always behind on rent. So when an opportunity to work on one of the highest floors in the Tower comes her way, she couldn't possibly turn it down. If only she knew how much this job would truly cost her.
Eris comes from old family money and is Avery's oldest friend. Upon new information, her life begins to fall apart at the seams. Her whole world flips upside down.
Watt is a genius living on the 240th floor with his family. He has a deep secret that could get him locked up in prison for life. It's also the reason why he's so damn good at hacking. And why he gets hired by one of the upper-level girls to spy on someone making the lies go deeper than even he could imagine.
There's a whole lot more to the plot, but I'd view some of these little things as spoilers. It's best to find out as you go along. Just know there's a whole lot more drama involved. There's a complicated and not-so-typical love triangle, financial issues, problems with parents and siblings, a secret addiction, and really so so much more. I even feel like there were some things alluded to, just not quite gotten to yet in the plot. I'm really excited to see where the series takes us from here. I enjoyed all of the characters. Some are more likable than others, but I found myself intrigued by all of the characters' individual stories. I loved the futuristic aspects within the story. I'd like to learn more about how things came to be the way they are, though. I wish there was a little bit more world-building to explain certain complexities. However there was just enough in book one. I only hope to see the world expanded a bit more.
Prepare for plenty of backstabbing, secrets, betrayal, romance, and even more. Bonus for excellent diversity. And bisexual characters like it ain't no thang. Finally with it in the future. If you've enjoyed anything by Sara Shepard, Private, Gossip Girl, Emancipated, Unrivaled, or any series like these, you'll fall in love with the world Katharine McGee created.
January 13, 2018
The Thousandth Floor is a YA novel set in the future. All the characters in the book live in a giant tower located in New York city. The amount of wealth and status citizens possess dictates where they live in the tower. The wealthiest families live on the top floors, the poorest on the bottom, and everyone else in between.
Throughout the story, we follow 5 characters, Avery, Eris, Watt, Rylin, and Leda, and get to read from each of their points of view. The book is written in third person. That's not my favorite, but I think it worked well here. It took me a little while to get into the story, but that was mostly because I was switching back and forth between 5 different people. It was absolutely necessary though to set up the story, and after a certain point, I was hooked!
Secrets and lies are at the root of most of the characters troubles. Whether it be keeping them or telling them, no one is immune from the damage they cause. One of them even winds up dead, and finding out who falls from the top of the tower propelled me to plow through the second half of the book. The author did an amazing job of creating suspense in the last few chapters. I couldn't put the book down if I had to!
The ending is unforgettable and infuriating! Never has a book ending made me so absolutely livid! I was literally yelling at my kindle like a crazy person. I'm serious. People were staring! It wasn't pretty! Lol I couldn't even rate the book when I was done, because I was so furious!
After I slept on it, I realized that the fact that I felt so passionately about the end and that I cared so much for the character that wound up on the ground means that the author did a damn good job with making me invested. I felt so much for the character that met their demise. I wanted to scream! I wanted to cry! I wanted to write to Katherine and tell her that she broke my heart! I would also tell her that she is fucking amazing at the same time.
I've seen many mixed reviews for this book, and most of them seem to be due to the ending. I understand why, because it isn't a happy one by any means. We still have two more books to go though, and I'm holding out hope that I'm satisfied in the end! It won't change what happened, but hopefully, it makes me feel better in some way. It's driving me crazy not to grab the second book right away to see what happens next. I'm reading these with my book club though, so suffer I shall until we have the next one scheduled. I recommend this book with the warning that it will drive you crazy and piss you off beyond belief! In my case, it was worth it. Your mileage may vary!
Throughout the story, we follow 5 characters, Avery, Eris, Watt, Rylin, and Leda, and get to read from each of their points of view. The book is written in third person. That's not my favorite, but I think it worked well here. It took me a little while to get into the story, but that was mostly because I was switching back and forth between 5 different people. It was absolutely necessary though to set up the story, and after a certain point, I was hooked!
Secrets and lies are at the root of most of the characters troubles. Whether it be keeping them or telling them, no one is immune from the damage they cause. One of them even winds up dead, and finding out who falls from the top of the tower propelled me to plow through the second half of the book. The author did an amazing job of creating suspense in the last few chapters. I couldn't put the book down if I had to!
The ending is unforgettable and infuriating! Never has a book ending made me so absolutely livid! I was literally yelling at my kindle like a crazy person. I'm serious. People were staring! It wasn't pretty! Lol I couldn't even rate the book when I was done, because I was so furious!
After I slept on it, I realized that the fact that I felt so passionately about the end and that I cared so much for the character that wound up on the ground means that the author did a damn good job with making me invested. I felt so much for the character that met their demise. I wanted to scream! I wanted to cry! I wanted to write to Katherine and tell her that she broke my heart! I would also tell her that she is fucking amazing at the same time.
I've seen many mixed reviews for this book, and most of them seem to be due to the ending. I understand why, because it isn't a happy one by any means. We still have two more books to go though, and I'm holding out hope that I'm satisfied in the end! It won't change what happened, but hopefully, it makes me feel better in some way. It's driving me crazy not to grab the second book right away to see what happens next. I'm reading these with my book club though, so suffer I shall until we have the next one scheduled. I recommend this book with the warning that it will drive you crazy and piss you off beyond belief! In my case, it was worth it. Your mileage may vary!
April 3, 2017
You might like this if:
-You liked Pretty Little Liars or anything else by Sara Shepard (or Gossip Girl according to every other review, but I never saw or read that one to compare).
-You like stories that hinge on lies, frenemies, and revenge.
-You like books with enough POVs that even when you really hate one character/situation, there are plenty of others to get invested in to balance it out.
You might not like this if:
-You dislike stories about privileged rich kids doing drugs upon drugs out of boredom.
-You're skeeved out that one of the characters has a crush on their adopted sibling that they grew up with. It's a major storyline in the book.
Diversity: Leda is black. Watt is Iranian. Eris is bi. I may have missed other identifiers.
It took me about halfway in to get into this because I was so grossed out by the sibling crush, but then I got invested in the other characters. I did like how the book opens with someone falling to their death and you don't know who it is or if they were pushed or jumped, and the story goes back a few months and you read everything leading up to that wondering who it will be and why.
Basically, this book is exactly what it says it is. Lies, drama, parties.
-You liked Pretty Little Liars or anything else by Sara Shepard (or Gossip Girl according to every other review, but I never saw or read that one to compare).
-You like stories that hinge on lies, frenemies, and revenge.
-You like books with enough POVs that even when you really hate one character/situation, there are plenty of others to get invested in to balance it out.
You might not like this if:
-You dislike stories about privileged rich kids doing drugs upon drugs out of boredom.
-You're skeeved out that one of the characters has a crush on their adopted sibling that they grew up with. It's a major storyline in the book.
Diversity: Leda is black. Watt is Iranian. Eris is bi. I may have missed other identifiers.
It took me about halfway in to get into this because I was so grossed out by the sibling crush, but then I got invested in the other characters. I did like how the book opens with someone falling to their death and you don't know who it is or if they were pushed or jumped, and the story goes back a few months and you read everything leading up to that wondering who it will be and why.
Basically, this book is exactly what it says it is. Lies, drama, parties.
September 21, 2018
Well fuck. When I started this book I wasn’t that into it tbh. I struggled a little bit for about 75ish pages but then I was HOOKED. It reminded me so much of Gossip Girl but a little bit darker and I honestly could not put it down. The chapters fly by so fast since the perspective is always changing. I really enjoyed all the characters but I’d have to say Watt is probably my favourite but I definitely love Rylin and Avery also. I didn’t predict the twist at all. I was pretty set on it being something else and I was wrong and that left me pretty damn impressed tbh. Such an amazing book if you’re into shows like Gossip Girl and enjoy high society teen drama. Can’t wait to pick up the next one next week!
4.5 stars!
4.5 stars!
September 30, 2016
“Up here on the roof, so close to the stars, she felt young and alive and hateful.”
Hateful is a little harsh but annoying certainly fits the bill; it’s very hard for me to finish a book and not find a single character likable but alas, here we have it. Still, there were a couple of elements that made me like this book, and tons that didn't. If you like gossipy high school-ish petty drama this book might be for you, but I'll leave it up to you dear reader whether or not to embark on a 400+ page ride that leads to nowhere. So here are the Pro’s and Con’s.
Pros:
• The cover, packaging and art of this book. It's amazingly gorgeous in person, seriously one of the prettiest I've seen, looks great in any library.
• The technology described in the book doesn’t sound far-fetched and maybe actually achievable in the future; I loved it when she talked about the gadgets they all used, and kept thinking to myself “Damn I wish those were around now.” (The hologram that enables you to try on outfits without having to move a single muscle was my particular favorite).
• The tower concept is also very cool and not something I’ve read about before, I loved the fact that it had absolutely everything in it, from aquariums to pieces of Central Park.
• The idea that a ride to Paris, France is only three hours away by undersea transportation.
• This fact that this book is NOT dystopian as some would have you think, it’s the future yes, but nothing like other YA novels portray it; the only problem seemed to be global warming, (which let’s face it we’re already suffering the effects of now), apart from that everything is just modernized and a reality I could definitely see myself living in.
Cons:
• The characters, not a *single* salvageable one - except maybe Maribel (but this remains to be seen in the next book because she has very little scenes in this one); I hated them all a little and for different reasons, but at the end of the day they were all 100% SHALLOW. Although I did have a particular hate for Leda, DIE LEDA DIE!
• I guarantee the only reason you’ll keep reading till the end is to find out who the hell ended up being scraped off the pavement after falling from the thousandth floor. (Which is actually the prologue of this book so no spoilers there). Which leads me to the next thing...
• The cliffhanger, yes you heard me, after 400+ pages, the plot is left half-way and if you want to find out what happens, I’m guessing we’ll have to purchase the next book.
• Last but certainly not least - the incest. One of the characters is completely obsessed with her brother, and whilst he is her half-brother, they still grew up together and let’s all face it, that’s f-ing weird. Maybe it’s because I’m a sibling myself but I strongly believe in the nurture vs. nature, if you raise someone to be your brother/son/daughter then that is your family, period.
So in total I give this book 3 stars and will begrudgingly buy the next one - but only if the cover is as sexy as the first.
Hateful is a little harsh but annoying certainly fits the bill; it’s very hard for me to finish a book and not find a single character likable but alas, here we have it. Still, there were a couple of elements that made me like this book, and tons that didn't. If you like gossipy high school-ish petty drama this book might be for you, but I'll leave it up to you dear reader whether or not to embark on a 400+ page ride that leads to nowhere. So here are the Pro’s and Con’s.
Pros:
• The cover, packaging and art of this book. It's amazingly gorgeous in person, seriously one of the prettiest I've seen, looks great in any library.
• The technology described in the book doesn’t sound far-fetched and maybe actually achievable in the future; I loved it when she talked about the gadgets they all used, and kept thinking to myself “Damn I wish those were around now.” (The hologram that enables you to try on outfits without having to move a single muscle was my particular favorite).
• The tower concept is also very cool and not something I’ve read about before, I loved the fact that it had absolutely everything in it, from aquariums to pieces of Central Park.
• The idea that a ride to Paris, France is only three hours away by undersea transportation.
• This fact that this book is NOT dystopian as some would have you think, it’s the future yes, but nothing like other YA novels portray it; the only problem seemed to be global warming, (which let’s face it we’re already suffering the effects of now), apart from that everything is just modernized and a reality I could definitely see myself living in.
Cons:
• The characters, not a *single* salvageable one - except maybe Maribel (but this remains to be seen in the next book because she has very little scenes in this one); I hated them all a little and for different reasons, but at the end of the day they were all 100% SHALLOW. Although I did have a particular hate for Leda, DIE LEDA DIE!
• I guarantee the only reason you’ll keep reading till the end is to find out who the hell ended up being scraped off the pavement after falling from the thousandth floor. (Which is actually the prologue of this book so no spoilers there). Which leads me to the next thing...
• The cliffhanger, yes you heard me, after 400+ pages, the plot is left half-way and if you want to find out what happens, I’m guessing we’ll have to purchase the next book.
• Last but certainly not least - the incest. One of the characters is completely obsessed with her brother, and whilst he is her half-brother, they still grew up together and let’s all face it, that’s f-ing weird. Maybe it’s because I’m a sibling myself but I strongly believe in the nurture vs. nature, if you raise someone to be your brother/son/daughter then that is your family, period.
So in total I give this book 3 stars and will begrudgingly buy the next one - but only if the cover is as sexy as the first.
June 16, 2018
I actually really enjoyed the plot twists and the relationships were well crafted! The story definitely gave off dark gossip girl like vibes and it was absolutely thrilling to read :)
July 17, 2022
This is a trashy, fun read filled with dramatic romance and stupid teenagers, but I still like it, given that I've read it 4 times.
The book opens with an unknown girl falling off the thousandth floor of The Tower, a thousand-floor skyscraper in Manhattan, 2118.
Then it goes back to two months before the incident, where we meet Avery, who lives on the thousandth floor. She is the perfect girl—literally. Her parents picked out the best genes from their gene pools and made her. She's a "custom made baby". She is like that girl that you want to hate, but can’t. Atlas is her adoptive brother and she is in love with him.
The next person we meet is Leda. She lives on the 962nd floor and is a recovering drug addict, who just got out of rehab. No one, but her family knows this—not even her best friend, Avery. Why? Well, Leda and Avery have been drifting apart. They used to tell each other everything, but now they are both keeping something from each other. Avery is obviously hiding the fact that she is in love with Atlas and Leda… she's hiding the fact that she hooked up with Atlas during winter vacation.
**sniff, sniff**
Do you smell that?
It's a love triangle brewing.
Rylin lives on the 32nd floor. She is an orphan and has a younger sister named Chrissa. She works hard every day to ensure her sister lives well and can go to college. One day, she is out partying with her friends and her boyfriend when she receives a call from Cord Anderton. He is around Rylin's age and an orphan as well. He's loaded and lives on the 969th floor. Rylin's mother used to be a maid for them. Rylin receives this call from Cord because he's hosting a party and needs a maid.
Eris lives on the 985th floor and is one of Avery’s best friends. She’s a playgirl. She comes from old money. Eris and her parents have a great relationship until a shocking truth is revealed.
Watt lives on the 294th floor. He is a tech genius that built his own illegal quantum computer named Nadia. She, Nadia, is embedded in Watt’s brain and helps him get girls, good grades, and money. His family is tight on money, so Watt and Nadia team up to take hacking jobs.
So how do all these characters get entwined with each other? You’ll have to read to find out.
The beginning of the book is probably one of the best hooks I’ve ever read. I normally don't like high school drama or romance books, but this book is different. This is a thriller and it’s probably the first I’ve read. I’ll definitely be reading more thrillers. The characters have a lot of depth and are very interesting despite the questionable and morally wrong decisions they make.
The characters in this book are very easily distinguishable even though there are 5 POVs (Avery, Leda, Rylin, Eris, and Watt) because it’s written in third person and the characters all have different voices (or maybe it's just because I've read this book 4 times already).
The levels of The Tower symbolize wealth. The higher a person lives in The Tower means that the more wealth a person has. I love that the author showed all levels of society in this world. The majority of the book takes place in The Tower. There are restaurants, bars, spas, parks, farms, supermarkets, shops, etc… in The Tower.
You won’t find out who the girl that fell from the Tower is until the end. It’s like a murder mystery. It might seem super boring to read through 400 pages and only at the end find out who the girl is. But it’s not. All the 400 pages in between are super entertaining.
You will hate all the characters at some point. In some chapters, I love them, and in others, I hate them and am so annoyed with the choices they made.
The character that I disliked the most was Leda. I hated that she always compared herself to others to make herself better and that she looked down on people with less wealth than her. She is smart in some aspects, but definitely not when it’s love.
The thing that bugged me the most was the incest. It’s not a spoiler because it was revealed in the first couple of characters. It’s between Avery and her brother, Atlas. Atlas is her adoptive brother, but still. It’s annoying and disgusting. I got so sick of this “romance”. I kept skipping over pages of Avery and Atlas.
The book opens with an unknown girl falling off the thousandth floor of The Tower, a thousand-floor skyscraper in Manhattan, 2118.
Then it goes back to two months before the incident, where we meet Avery, who lives on the thousandth floor. She is the perfect girl—literally. Her parents picked out the best genes from their gene pools and made her. She's a "custom made baby". She is like that girl that you want to hate, but can’t. Atlas is her adoptive brother and she is in love with him.
The next person we meet is Leda. She lives on the 962nd floor and is a recovering drug addict, who just got out of rehab. No one, but her family knows this—not even her best friend, Avery. Why? Well, Leda and Avery have been drifting apart. They used to tell each other everything, but now they are both keeping something from each other. Avery is obviously hiding the fact that she is in love with Atlas and Leda… she's hiding the fact that she hooked up with Atlas during winter vacation.
**sniff, sniff**
Do you smell that?
It's a love triangle brewing.
Rylin lives on the 32nd floor. She is an orphan and has a younger sister named Chrissa. She works hard every day to ensure her sister lives well and can go to college. One day, she is out partying with her friends and her boyfriend when she receives a call from Cord Anderton. He is around Rylin's age and an orphan as well. He's loaded and lives on the 969th floor. Rylin's mother used to be a maid for them. Rylin receives this call from Cord because he's hosting a party and needs a maid.
Eris lives on the 985th floor and is one of Avery’s best friends. She’s a playgirl. She comes from old money. Eris and her parents have a great relationship until a shocking truth is revealed.
Watt lives on the 294th floor. He is a tech genius that built his own illegal quantum computer named Nadia. She, Nadia, is embedded in Watt’s brain and helps him get girls, good grades, and money. His family is tight on money, so Watt and Nadia team up to take hacking jobs.
So how do all these characters get entwined with each other? You’ll have to read to find out.
The beginning of the book is probably one of the best hooks I’ve ever read. I normally don't like high school drama or romance books, but this book is different. This is a thriller and it’s probably the first I’ve read. I’ll definitely be reading more thrillers. The characters have a lot of depth and are very interesting despite the questionable and morally wrong decisions they make.
The characters in this book are very easily distinguishable even though there are 5 POVs (Avery, Leda, Rylin, Eris, and Watt) because it’s written in third person and the characters all have different voices (or maybe it's just because I've read this book 4 times already).
The levels of The Tower symbolize wealth. The higher a person lives in The Tower means that the more wealth a person has. I love that the author showed all levels of society in this world. The majority of the book takes place in The Tower. There are restaurants, bars, spas, parks, farms, supermarkets, shops, etc… in The Tower.
You won’t find out who the girl that fell from the Tower is until the end. It’s like a murder mystery. It might seem super boring to read through 400 pages and only at the end find out who the girl is. But it’s not. All the 400 pages in between are super entertaining.
You will hate all the characters at some point. In some chapters, I love them, and in others, I hate them and am so annoyed with the choices they made.
The character that I disliked the most was Leda. I hated that she always compared herself to others to make herself better and that she looked down on people with less wealth than her. She is smart in some aspects, but definitely not when it’s love.
The thing that bugged me the most was the incest. It’s not a spoiler because it was revealed in the first couple of characters. It’s between Avery and her brother, Atlas. Atlas is her adoptive brother, but still. It’s annoying and disgusting. I got so sick of this “romance”. I kept skipping over pages of Avery and Atlas.
June 24, 2016
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)
This was a YA futuristic story, about a group of teenagers living in a thousand-floor tower in New York City.
Avery was a girl who lived at the top of the tower, and had a crush on the one person she couldn’t possibly be with – her adopted brother Atlas. We then got a bit of a weird love-triangle going on, with Avery, Atlas, and Avery’s best friend Leda, with Avery hopelessly hung up on Atlas and having no clue what to do about it.
Leda, Avery’s best friend, had just gotten out of a stint in rehab after getting hooked on a prescription-only medication which aided concentration (xenperheidren). She had previously slept with Atlas, and was intent on repeating the experience, to the extent that she hired a hacker to track his every move and feed her back information.
Eris, Avery’s other best friend, also lived near the top of the tower, and very quickly found out that he father wasn’t her biological father, and ended up moving to a much lower level apartment with her mother. We then got a surprise about who her biological father really was, which shook things up a bit, and we also got a romantic storyline involving Eris and a girl who lived near her new apartment.
Rylin lived with her sister on one of the lower floors following the death of her mother. She had a boyfriend who dealt drugs, and a dead-end job, and we got a storyline involving the drugs, and a boy called Cord who lived on one of the upper floors. I was actually quite surprised that we didn’t get a storyline from Cord’s point of view as he seemed like quite a major character.
Watt was a hacker who basically had an AI type thing in his head which was totally illegal, was hired by Leda to try and track Atlas, and developed a bit of a crush on Avery, which was pretty hopeless because of the whole Avery-Atlas-Leda love triangle. His hacking skills were pretty impressive though.
The storyline in this was woven together by the characters interlocking stories, and it seemed like everyone had something to hide. The pace was a little bit slow, but I think this was probably necessary because of how many main characters there were, and the way their stories all coincided.
The ending to this was quite shocking, as someone died, and someone else started blackmailing people to cover up their part in the murder! Will be interesting to see what happens in the next book!
7 out of 10
“Was she ready for this – ready to come back here and face everything that had sent her into a tailspin in the first place?”
This was a YA futuristic story, about a group of teenagers living in a thousand-floor tower in New York City.
Avery was a girl who lived at the top of the tower, and had a crush on the one person she couldn’t possibly be with – her adopted brother Atlas. We then got a bit of a weird love-triangle going on, with Avery, Atlas, and Avery’s best friend Leda, with Avery hopelessly hung up on Atlas and having no clue what to do about it.
“On the other end of the call was Atlas, her brother – and the reason she never wanted to kiss anyone else.”
Leda, Avery’s best friend, had just gotten out of a stint in rehab after getting hooked on a prescription-only medication which aided concentration (xenperheidren). She had previously slept with Atlas, and was intent on repeating the experience, to the extent that she hired a hacker to track his every move and feed her back information.
“She didn’t need the drugs, not the way those girls did.”
Eris, Avery’s other best friend, also lived near the top of the tower, and very quickly found out that he father wasn’t her biological father, and ended up moving to a much lower level apartment with her mother. We then got a surprise about who her biological father really was, which shook things up a bit, and we also got a romantic storyline involving Eris and a girl who lived near her new apartment.
“Her mom had cheated on her dad, and kept it a secret for the past eighteen years.”
Rylin lived with her sister on one of the lower floors following the death of her mother. She had a boyfriend who dealt drugs, and a dead-end job, and we got a storyline involving the drugs, and a boy called Cord who lived on one of the upper floors. I was actually quite surprised that we didn’t get a storyline from Cord’s point of view as he seemed like quite a major character.
“Two hundred nanodollars for just one night dealing with drunk rich kids? “How soon do you need me there?””
Watt was a hacker who basically had an AI type thing in his head which was totally illegal, was hired by Leda to try and track Atlas, and developed a bit of a crush on Avery, which was pretty hopeless because of the whole Avery-Atlas-Leda love triangle. His hacking skills were pretty impressive though.
“He was in possession of an illegal quant, and he needed to hide her somewhere she could never be found.”
The storyline in this was woven together by the characters interlocking stories, and it seemed like everyone had something to hide. The pace was a little bit slow, but I think this was probably necessary because of how many main characters there were, and the way their stories all coincided.
The ending to this was quite shocking, as someone died, and someone else started blackmailing people to cover up their part in the murder! Will be interesting to see what happens in the next book!
7 out of 10
February 21, 2023
They say that before death, people’s lives flash before their eyes. But as the ground rushed ever faster toward her, the girl could think only of the past few hours, the path she’d taken that ended here. If only she hadn’t talked to him. If only she hadn��t been so foolish. If only she hadn’t gone up there in the first place.
THIS BOOK IS A FREAKING TREAT!
When I first added it to my tbr, months ago, I would have never imagined it to suck me in the way it did. I basically devoured it and with every turn of the page, I felt myself clinging onto the various subplots like my life depended on it.
It's nothing extraordinary or life-changing, but I had so much fun soaking in the drama Avery, Leda, Eris and Rylin were experiencing I think I might need to continue the series.
Also, when I searched the tags and found out belongs to the dystopian category, I expected a world in ruins (because that's how Hunger Games & Co. grew me), or a lot of world-building and politics (again, I'm blaming HG), but I didn't find any of this.
I don't really know if this pleases me or not, but, who cares???
Whether you read it for the plot, the characters, the drama, the romance, the whatever-you-want-to-call-it, just dive into this expecting nothing but entertainment, because entertainment is what you'll get.
Lol, sorry, that was random, but I can't put into words how much fun I had while reading this. It kind of brought me back to a time where I was obsessed and in love with Serena Van Der Woodsen (and, consequently, Blake Lively) and I spent my afternoons binge-watching GG with my friends.
I have a few other complainings about it, to be completely honest, but they're a bit spoiler-y so I'll keep them so myself. They're not that important, anyway. *rubs hands* I loved it. What's more important than that?!
Sometimes all you need is to read a book that won't teach you a flipping beep but that's juicy interesting just the same.
Sometimes all you need is to read a book that allows you to act like a little spy into someone else's amazing (and totally fucked-up) life.
Sometimes all you need is to read a book packed with intrigues, teen drama, futuristic technology and Gossip Girl-like scenarios.
Sometimes, all you need is a Katharine McGee book.
And, damn, only the bookish goddess herself knows how, for me, this was without a doubt one of those times.
August 12, 2018
Me ha gustado desde el primer capítulo hasta el último. Cada personaje me ha absorbido por completo, su historia, su vida, y como con giros increíbles todo se va complicando cada vez más, algo que hacía que cada vez me sintiera más y más enganchada hasta llegar a unos capítulos finales que te dejarán con la boca abierta. Un libro que me ha encantado por completo y al que espero poder leer su continuación porque se ha quedado increíble.
Reseña: http://rubiesliterarios.blogspot.com/...
Reseña: http://rubiesliterarios.blogspot.com/...
December 26, 2016
It's 7am and I didn't slept at all because I couldn't stop reading. I loved it.
October 21, 2016
This review appears on Happy Indulgence. Check it out for more reviews!
So it appears that you can disagree with your co-bloggers on books. While Jenna loved The Thousandth Floor, I could not stand it.
It started out promising, with the use of technological advancements leading to life with Manhattan in a thousand floor tower. Those who live at the top, such as Avery and her friends, live a charmed life filled with parties, drugs, gossip and opulence, while those who live towards the bottom live a life of poverty. I found the use of technology throughout the novel to be really fascinating, especially when contrasted to the lives of the poorer Rylin who has to work as a cleaner and Eris who has to move to the lower levels.
There’s some interesting concepts here, where everyone wears contacts which acts as super computers. They can watch TV from these contacts, read people’s lips, but the contacts are directed by voice commands. There’s also bars filled with hoverboards, dresses filled with illuminated mirrors and genetically modified flowers that attract light.
The real reason I couldn’t stand The Thousandth Floor however, is also the same reason why I couldn’t continue with the Mortal Instruments series past the first few books – it contains a hefty dose of brother-sister romance, or incest. I don’t care if Avery and Atlas aren’t related by blood and they’re technically step-siblings, but hearing about them pining away for one another made me uncomfortable. And it’s not just a brief mention, in fact most of the book is centered around this and the drama and the fall out from it.
I wasn’t particularly interested in any of the characters either, I felt like they got pretty boring really fast. While on the upside, their dramas and complaints seemed to be valid, it was filled with nonsensical friendship and romantic drama that doesn’t really go anywhere until the last few chapters of the book. Avery pines away for Atlas, Leda and Watt who start dating them wonder why they’re aloof, Eris starts dating someone from a lower floor and Rylin starts dating Cole. It all felt a bit too messy and convoluted and no one really interacted with each other outside of the parties outside of their thoughts.
Watt was probably the most interesting character for me, who has a supercomputer Nadia embedded into his skull. But when he decided to use his skills for picking up Avery and hacking instead of anything particularly useful, he soon lost his appeal. He also felt a lot like Dan from Gossip Girl, the typical outsider who isn’t that attractive but somehow works his way into the in crowd. I didn’t like Dan at all, which also summarises my feelings on Watt.
The heavy use of drugs and alcohol was also rather disturbing here, with Leda as a drug addict recovering from rehab and Rylin’s involvement with people who deal in drugs. Their use of hardcore drugs and partying rarely had any repercussions outside of a simple hangover. You would think for someone like Leda, that this would be handled with more care, but it felt like it was added for more dramatic effect. She used the drugs to cope with the drama but there wasn’t any guilt or much thought around the restraint behind this.
Whether you’d be able to stomach The Thousandth Floor depends on your squick level when it comes to sibling romance and a heavy drug use. If someone told me before I picked this up that hey, there’s a brother and sister romance here (but they aren’t actually related), I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. As a futuristic Gossip Girl, it lost it’s shine really fast when the character motivations were paper thin and over-dramaticised. While I enjoy a guilty pleasure read as much as the next person, the limited depth in this one just made it drag throughout the book.
I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
So it appears that you can disagree with your co-bloggers on books. While Jenna loved The Thousandth Floor, I could not stand it.
It started out promising, with the use of technological advancements leading to life with Manhattan in a thousand floor tower. Those who live at the top, such as Avery and her friends, live a charmed life filled with parties, drugs, gossip and opulence, while those who live towards the bottom live a life of poverty. I found the use of technology throughout the novel to be really fascinating, especially when contrasted to the lives of the poorer Rylin who has to work as a cleaner and Eris who has to move to the lower levels.
There’s some interesting concepts here, where everyone wears contacts which acts as super computers. They can watch TV from these contacts, read people’s lips, but the contacts are directed by voice commands. There’s also bars filled with hoverboards, dresses filled with illuminated mirrors and genetically modified flowers that attract light.
The real reason I couldn’t stand The Thousandth Floor however, is also the same reason why I couldn’t continue with the Mortal Instruments series past the first few books – it contains a hefty dose of brother-sister romance, or incest. I don’t care if Avery and Atlas aren’t related by blood and they’re technically step-siblings, but hearing about them pining away for one another made me uncomfortable. And it’s not just a brief mention, in fact most of the book is centered around this and the drama and the fall out from it.
I wasn’t particularly interested in any of the characters either, I felt like they got pretty boring really fast. While on the upside, their dramas and complaints seemed to be valid, it was filled with nonsensical friendship and romantic drama that doesn’t really go anywhere until the last few chapters of the book. Avery pines away for Atlas, Leda and Watt who start dating them wonder why they’re aloof, Eris starts dating someone from a lower floor and Rylin starts dating Cole. It all felt a bit too messy and convoluted and no one really interacted with each other outside of the parties outside of their thoughts.
Watt was probably the most interesting character for me, who has a supercomputer Nadia embedded into his skull. But when he decided to use his skills for picking up Avery and hacking instead of anything particularly useful, he soon lost his appeal. He also felt a lot like Dan from Gossip Girl, the typical outsider who isn’t that attractive but somehow works his way into the in crowd. I didn’t like Dan at all, which also summarises my feelings on Watt.
The heavy use of drugs and alcohol was also rather disturbing here, with Leda as a drug addict recovering from rehab and Rylin’s involvement with people who deal in drugs. Their use of hardcore drugs and partying rarely had any repercussions outside of a simple hangover. You would think for someone like Leda, that this would be handled with more care, but it felt like it was added for more dramatic effect. She used the drugs to cope with the drama but there wasn’t any guilt or much thought around the restraint behind this.
Whether you’d be able to stomach The Thousandth Floor depends on your squick level when it comes to sibling romance and a heavy drug use. If someone told me before I picked this up that hey, there’s a brother and sister romance here (but they aren’t actually related), I probably wouldn’t have picked it up. As a futuristic Gossip Girl, it lost it’s shine really fast when the character motivations were paper thin and over-dramaticised. While I enjoy a guilty pleasure read as much as the next person, the limited depth in this one just made it drag throughout the book.
I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
January 13, 2023
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#1 The Thousandth Floor - ★★★★
#2 The Dazzling Heights - Not Read Yet
#3 The Towering Sky - Not Read Yet
In the year 2118, in New York City there’s a thousand-story tower. It has everything you could imagine inside, and there is no need for you to ever get out.
The floor you live on represents your status. The higher you live, the more money you have, which means you become more popular. The rich people don’t necessarily hang around with the poor, and gossips spread faster than lightning. The thousandth floor is the top!
But then one night, at a party, one girl falls down from the rooftop of the tower, and the mystery remains – what exactly happened that night?
Despite all the mixed reviews I’ve seen for this book, I actually really enjoyed it! The world is futuristic and I loved reading about all the different cool items and gadgets that the author was writing about.
The main character that we have is Avery Fuller, who lives on the thousandth floor of the tower. She has been genetically designed to only have the best genes from her parents, and is, therefore, perfect. But then – SPOILER ALERT –
Apart from Avery, there were many other characters as well, all of them different and all of them unique at the same time. A girl that works as a main in a rich boy’s house, a girl who is best friends with Avery but doesn’t feel she belongs there, a girl that suddenly finds out she is not rich anymore and has to move onto the lower floors of the tower, a hacker who wants to earn money, no matter the what… The book is written from all these character’s points of view, and I loved the variety and also how all these characters connect to each other in an interesting way. They all have goals, dreams, hopes, fears, and everything is surrounded in drama.
If you love Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars or the TV Show Riverdale, I guarantee you will enjoy this one. It’s full of mystery, drama, romance, sci-fi and luxury.
Thank you to my sister, for letting me read this book. I borrowed it from her and will unfortunately have to give it back soon…
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#1 The Thousandth Floor - ★★★★
#2 The Dazzling Heights - Not Read Yet
#3 The Towering Sky - Not Read Yet
In the year 2118, in New York City there’s a thousand-story tower. It has everything you could imagine inside, and there is no need for you to ever get out.
The floor you live on represents your status. The higher you live, the more money you have, which means you become more popular. The rich people don’t necessarily hang around with the poor, and gossips spread faster than lightning. The thousandth floor is the top!
But then one night, at a party, one girl falls down from the rooftop of the tower, and the mystery remains – what exactly happened that night?
Despite all the mixed reviews I’ve seen for this book, I actually really enjoyed it! The world is futuristic and I loved reading about all the different cool items and gadgets that the author was writing about.
The main character that we have is Avery Fuller, who lives on the thousandth floor of the tower. She has been genetically designed to only have the best genes from her parents, and is, therefore, perfect. But then – SPOILER ALERT –
Apart from Avery, there were many other characters as well, all of them different and all of them unique at the same time. A girl that works as a main in a rich boy’s house, a girl who is best friends with Avery but doesn’t feel she belongs there, a girl that suddenly finds out she is not rich anymore and has to move onto the lower floors of the tower, a hacker who wants to earn money, no matter the what… The book is written from all these character’s points of view, and I loved the variety and also how all these characters connect to each other in an interesting way. They all have goals, dreams, hopes, fears, and everything is surrounded in drama.
If you love Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars or the TV Show Riverdale, I guarantee you will enjoy this one. It’s full of mystery, drama, romance, sci-fi and luxury.
Thank you to my sister, for letting me read this book. I borrowed it from her and will unfortunately have to give it back soon…
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September 11, 2016
3.5 stars
This book was such a lovely guilty pleasure. Like treating yourself to a lazy reading day even though you have a lot of work to do; you know you shouldn't, but you don't really care, and you enjoy every second of it.
If you've read a couple of reviews on this book already, you've probably already heard what everyone else is saying - that this book is basically a futuristic version of Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars. Which is true, to some extent. I don't normally enjoy reading books about petty rich people problems. Boo-hoo, you got a wine stain on your new Chanel dress. Poor you, you're so beautiful that people only approach you because of your looks! But sometimes, to get away from Real Life Problems, this is exactly what I need to read. And, somehow, this book managed to never annoy me, even though most of the characters (but not all of them) were definitely too spoiled for their own good.
The Thousandth Floor is set in New York City, one hundred years from now. All the major cities in the world now have a one thousandth stories Tower, which is basically like a city inside a city. The richer you are, the higher your floor is. They live in a highly technological world, and can do almost anything they want in a matter of seconds. Everything is faster and more comfortable, as long as you're rich enough to afford it.
Rylin lives on the 32nd floor with her younger sister. After their mum passed away, Rylin was forced to drop out of school and to get a job - or several - in order to pay rent and send her sister to school. She can't help but look with utter disdain at the people who live on the highest floors. Until one day, broke and desperate, she has to make a difficult choice.
Eris is pretty, bubbly and carefree. Her parents love her, and have spoiled her her whole life. She always smiles, goes to all the parties, hooks up with all the beautiful boys and girls. And then, suddenly, her perfect life shatters completely, and she is forced to face reality.
Leda has never felt like she's good enough. She is rich, pretty but severe-looking, and she's hiding one too many secrets. Something happened one night, that she can't tell anyone about. People keep asking her where she's been all summer, and Leda keeps lying to them, but all those lies are starting to weigh on her heart, and her mind is becoming a darker and darker place...
Watt is a hacker. He's a bit too smart and a bit too resourceful, and he knows that what he does can be very dangerous. He bends the rules - the law - in an almost careless way. He knows everything about everyone, and nothing ever feels new to him, not when he has some extra help that allows him not to ever make a misstep.
Avery is the most beautiful girl on earth - genetically engineered by her parents to be so. She lives on the thousandth floor, and people think she's untouchable. She used to be best friends with Leda, but now they are slowly drifting apart. But Avery, seemingly perfect and detached from the entire world, is hiding a dark secret that no one can know about. She is in love with someone she can never have.
The book is told from five different points of view, and though their voices weren't all that different from one another, each character had their own unique perspective on things. Their stories slowly started to collide, becoming tangled and more and more complicated. It was a bit Gossip Girl-like in the way that everyone was sleeping with everyone and even the most innocent people were hiding unspeakable secrets, but I enjoyed most of the characters and their arcs nonetheless. It was also interesting to have a good amount of diversity, both in terms of ethnicity and sexual orientation, and while most of the focus was on a privileged world of wealthy - but not so happy - people, we also got to see the struggles of the lower classes. The writing was better than I expected, which made the book extremely easy to read, and some of the characters surprised me in their complexity. If some of them felt a bit shallow, as if the author had just started to shape their personality (just to mention a few: Eris, Cord, Watt...), some of them turned out to be quite disconcerting (mostly Leda, who was much more twisted than I had originally anticipated.) While none of the romantic pairings were particularly swoon-worthy - though I think I would've liked Cord if he had been a bit more developed - they were all interesting enough.
Since I was mostly entertained by all the drama, the biggest problem I had with The Thousandth Floor was probably the absolute lack of world-building. Look, I'm a Linguistics major. I'm not exactly a mechanical engineer. But even I could tell that the technology displayed in the book was a bit too far-fetched, especially since no explanation was ever provided for it. I'm not saying that I wanted entire pages explaining how all the machinery worked because, no thanks, but it would have been nice if the author had at least hinted to the new technological discoveries, or to why the Towers even existed in the first place. And what about the genetic engineering for unborn children? Still, I cannot deny that I had a lot of fun reading this book, and I am rather impatient for the second installment to come out (I'm not yet sure if this is a trilogy or a duology, but after that ending, I really want to know how the situation will evolve.)
This book was such a lovely guilty pleasure. Like treating yourself to a lazy reading day even though you have a lot of work to do; you know you shouldn't, but you don't really care, and you enjoy every second of it.
If you've read a couple of reviews on this book already, you've probably already heard what everyone else is saying - that this book is basically a futuristic version of Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars. Which is true, to some extent. I don't normally enjoy reading books about petty rich people problems. Boo-hoo, you got a wine stain on your new Chanel dress. Poor you, you're so beautiful that people only approach you because of your looks! But sometimes, to get away from Real Life Problems, this is exactly what I need to read. And, somehow, this book managed to never annoy me, even though most of the characters (but not all of them) were definitely too spoiled for their own good.
The Thousandth Floor is set in New York City, one hundred years from now. All the major cities in the world now have a one thousandth stories Tower, which is basically like a city inside a city. The richer you are, the higher your floor is. They live in a highly technological world, and can do almost anything they want in a matter of seconds. Everything is faster and more comfortable, as long as you're rich enough to afford it.
Rylin lives on the 32nd floor with her younger sister. After their mum passed away, Rylin was forced to drop out of school and to get a job - or several - in order to pay rent and send her sister to school. She can't help but look with utter disdain at the people who live on the highest floors. Until one day, broke and desperate, she has to make a difficult choice.
Eris is pretty, bubbly and carefree. Her parents love her, and have spoiled her her whole life. She always smiles, goes to all the parties, hooks up with all the beautiful boys and girls. And then, suddenly, her perfect life shatters completely, and she is forced to face reality.
Leda has never felt like she's good enough. She is rich, pretty but severe-looking, and she's hiding one too many secrets. Something happened one night, that she can't tell anyone about. People keep asking her where she's been all summer, and Leda keeps lying to them, but all those lies are starting to weigh on her heart, and her mind is becoming a darker and darker place...
Watt is a hacker. He's a bit too smart and a bit too resourceful, and he knows that what he does can be very dangerous. He bends the rules - the law - in an almost careless way. He knows everything about everyone, and nothing ever feels new to him, not when he has some extra help that allows him not to ever make a misstep.
Avery is the most beautiful girl on earth - genetically engineered by her parents to be so. She lives on the thousandth floor, and people think she's untouchable. She used to be best friends with Leda, but now they are slowly drifting apart. But Avery, seemingly perfect and detached from the entire world, is hiding a dark secret that no one can know about. She is in love with someone she can never have.
The book is told from five different points of view, and though their voices weren't all that different from one another, each character had their own unique perspective on things. Their stories slowly started to collide, becoming tangled and more and more complicated. It was a bit Gossip Girl-like in the way that everyone was sleeping with everyone and even the most innocent people were hiding unspeakable secrets, but I enjoyed most of the characters and their arcs nonetheless. It was also interesting to have a good amount of diversity, both in terms of ethnicity and sexual orientation, and while most of the focus was on a privileged world of wealthy - but not so happy - people, we also got to see the struggles of the lower classes. The writing was better than I expected, which made the book extremely easy to read, and some of the characters surprised me in their complexity. If some of them felt a bit shallow, as if the author had just started to shape their personality (just to mention a few: Eris, Cord, Watt...), some of them turned out to be quite disconcerting (mostly Leda, who was much more twisted than I had originally anticipated.) While none of the romantic pairings were particularly swoon-worthy - though I think I would've liked Cord if he had been a bit more developed - they were all interesting enough.
Since I was mostly entertained by all the drama, the biggest problem I had with The Thousandth Floor was probably the absolute lack of world-building. Look, I'm a Linguistics major. I'm not exactly a mechanical engineer. But even I could tell that the technology displayed in the book was a bit too far-fetched, especially since no explanation was ever provided for it. I'm not saying that I wanted entire pages explaining how all the machinery worked because, no thanks, but it would have been nice if the author had at least hinted to the new technological discoveries, or to why the Towers even existed in the first place. And what about the genetic engineering for unborn children? Still, I cannot deny that I had a lot of fun reading this book, and I am rather impatient for the second installment to come out (I'm not yet sure if this is a trilogy or a duology, but after that ending, I really want to know how the situation will evolve.)
"Sometimes, love and chaos are the same thing."
July 15, 2017
*3.5
I'm so conflicted about my feelings for this book... it was bad but also good? For many different reasons? And I desperately want the next one? I honestly don't know what I'm feeling right now xD
Super fast review:
The diversity in this book was great though like that part was amazing.
I loved how I got Pretty Little Liars vibes from this especially towards the end... I wasn't expecting that.
The ending was totally unexpected like damn I need the next book RN
The futuristic setting was cool too.
The complicated, interwoven way these characters pushed together was brilliant.
I didn't really like any of the characters though. They all felt kinda meh.
I wasn't 100% into the story. I had to force myself to keep going. And there was a lot of eye rolling while reading this one.
I will be reading the sequel though probably because I'm intrigued enough with these characters to read another story about them...
I'm so conflicted about my feelings for this book... it was bad but also good? For many different reasons? And I desperately want the next one? I honestly don't know what I'm feeling right now xD
Super fast review:
The diversity in this book was great though like that part was amazing.
I loved how I got Pretty Little Liars vibes from this especially towards the end... I wasn't expecting that.
The ending was totally unexpected like damn I need the next book RN
The futuristic setting was cool too.
The complicated, interwoven way these characters pushed together was brilliant.
I didn't really like any of the characters though. They all felt kinda meh.
I wasn't 100% into the story. I had to force myself to keep going. And there was a lot of eye rolling while reading this one.
I will be reading the sequel though probably because I'm intrigued enough with these characters to read another story about them...
August 28, 2017
Reseña -> http://thewordsofbooks.blogspot.com.e...
«Cuando descubres que la persona en la que más confiabas del mundo se ha pasado toda la vida mintiéndote, las excusas no significan nada.»
OMG el final.... y en serio como odio a cierta personita odiosa y repelente!!! Madre mía, a ver como se da en el segundo libro porque lo quiero yaaaaaaaaa!!!
«Cuando descubres que la persona en la que más confiabas del mundo se ha pasado toda la vida mintiéndote, las excusas no significan nada.»
OMG el final.... y en serio como odio a cierta personita odiosa y repelente!!! Madre mía, a ver como se da en el segundo libro porque lo quiero yaaaaaaaaa!!!
April 1, 2018
FOR SOME REASON, I NEVER RATED THIS BUT I FINISHED IT IN 2016????!!!!!!
OK first of all, this book is like a much lesser version of Gossip Girl. It tried hard to be great, but unintentionally fell far, far, down into a messy and completely shit splattered mess.
This book killed off its ONLY redeeming character. A character that was probably the most developed and interesting AND .
WHAT THE FUCK.
I was completely irritated and frustrated at the ending.
Utter bullshit.
I remember the day I finished this book (at work on a lunch break) and I was soooooo fucking bitter; it was not a good day. I snapped at people and wanted to stew in 'how-the-fuck-did-this-just-happen'.
Easily mindless entertainment and drama to say in the least, but every time I think how unjustly the only character I liked in this dumb book was killed.....
R A G E Q U I T .
goodbye.
2 MEAGER STARS
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August 9, 2017
About: The Thousandth Floor is a young adult dystopian written by Katharine McGee. It was published on 8/30/16 by HarperCollins, 448 pages. The genres are young adult, dystopian, and science fiction. This book is the author’s debut.
My Experience: I started reading The Thousandth Floor on 8/1/17 and finished it on 8/9/17. This book is a great read! There are a lot going on because there are many characters to keep up with. Not only that, the technology in this book is very high tech and out of this world. Some are very cool and others are hard for me to imagine, especially how they get from the building to the river to see a comet. It seems like the river is at the tower? I like Watt and his Nadia technology. The stories of the individual characters are interesting. It can be relatable. The Tower sounds very cool.
In this book, readers will follow 5 high school students: Leda Cole, Eris Dodd-Radson, Rylin Myers, Watt Bakradi, and Avery Fuller. Leda turns to drugs when the guy she likes left, Eris finds out her life was a lie, Rylin couldn’t be with the guy she loved because of what she did, Watt is a tech genius and does hacking to make extra money, and Avery who is perfect in every way but is still unhappy. They all live at the high rise, The Tower in New York where the higher up you live, the wealthier your family are. This is a futuristic book, therefore, there are high tech in every way, from eartennas to hovercrafts inside the tower. What they have in common is finding someone to love. The wealthy will have a dazzling lifestyles but still struggle with love just as much as the poor who works dead end jobs to pay rent. The wealthy or the poor will turn to drugs when life gets stressed out. Everyone keeps secrets from one another and everyone resents each other thinking that the other has it all.
This book is very Gossip Girl style where the rich are spoiled and entitled while the poor struggled to pay bills. The teens are selfish and do what makes them happy. This book is written in third person point of view and readers will get to follow all 5 characters. There is suspense at the end of each chapter for each character. I like following Leda’s train of thoughts. She surprises me the most despite her situations. I like her quick thinking. The ending does leave readers a bit of a cliffhanger. Overall, this book is an interesting read and I do recommend it.
Pro: secrets, humor, suspense, multiple point of views,
Con: too high tech for my imagination
I rate it 4 stars!
***Disclaimer: Many thanks to the author Katharine McGee, publisher HarperCollins, and Edelweiss for the opportunity to read and review. I originally lost my access to the ARC and this time I’m reading the finished copy from the library. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.
xoxo,
Jasmine at www.howusefulitis.wordpress.com
My Experience: I started reading The Thousandth Floor on 8/1/17 and finished it on 8/9/17. This book is a great read! There are a lot going on because there are many characters to keep up with. Not only that, the technology in this book is very high tech and out of this world. Some are very cool and others are hard for me to imagine, especially how they get from the building to the river to see a comet. It seems like the river is at the tower? I like Watt and his Nadia technology. The stories of the individual characters are interesting. It can be relatable. The Tower sounds very cool.
In this book, readers will follow 5 high school students: Leda Cole, Eris Dodd-Radson, Rylin Myers, Watt Bakradi, and Avery Fuller. Leda turns to drugs when the guy she likes left, Eris finds out her life was a lie, Rylin couldn’t be with the guy she loved because of what she did, Watt is a tech genius and does hacking to make extra money, and Avery who is perfect in every way but is still unhappy. They all live at the high rise, The Tower in New York where the higher up you live, the wealthier your family are. This is a futuristic book, therefore, there are high tech in every way, from eartennas to hovercrafts inside the tower. What they have in common is finding someone to love. The wealthy will have a dazzling lifestyles but still struggle with love just as much as the poor who works dead end jobs to pay rent. The wealthy or the poor will turn to drugs when life gets stressed out. Everyone keeps secrets from one another and everyone resents each other thinking that the other has it all.
This book is very Gossip Girl style where the rich are spoiled and entitled while the poor struggled to pay bills. The teens are selfish and do what makes them happy. This book is written in third person point of view and readers will get to follow all 5 characters. There is suspense at the end of each chapter for each character. I like following Leda’s train of thoughts. She surprises me the most despite her situations. I like her quick thinking. The ending does leave readers a bit of a cliffhanger. Overall, this book is an interesting read and I do recommend it.
Pro: secrets, humor, suspense, multiple point of views,
Con: too high tech for my imagination
I rate it 4 stars!
***Disclaimer: Many thanks to the author Katharine McGee, publisher HarperCollins, and Edelweiss for the opportunity to read and review. I originally lost my access to the ARC and this time I’m reading the finished copy from the library. Please be assured that my opinions are honest.
xoxo,
Jasmine at www.howusefulitis.wordpress.com
June 9, 2017
If you liked the show Gossip Girl, then you will definitely love this.
Going into this, I didn't really know much about it other than the fact that it's set in the future and follows the story of 5 teenagers. My expectations weren't that high for it either, but it ended up blowing me away. This is Katharine McGee's debut novel but it was written as if she is a seasoned author. She clearly has a talent for writing and her style really captivates you. After reading the very first page, I knew that I was going to love this story.
The Thousandth Floor is set in the year 2118 in none other than New York City. The Tower is an unimaginable large building that everyone lives in, works in, goes to school, and everything else. Each floor consists of neighborhoods, schools, restaurants, etc. Basically each floor is so gigantic, that it's like a mini-city on each floor. There's no need to leave the Tower at all. There are 1,000 total floors in the building. The higher floors are for the wealthy only, called highliers. The lower floors are for the poorer people. Everything is super futuristic and the technology is amazing. There aren't cell phones anymore. People wear contacts that allow them to see their messages and social media. Retina scanners above front doors let you in instead of having to use keys.
The story is narrated by 5 different teenagers whom live in the Tower and they all lead very different lives. Yet their stories all come together at the end.
Avery lives on the 1,00th floor, which means that she's the richest and the most popular. She's also the most beautiful, and everyone either wants to be her or be with her. But Avery is hiding a dark secret from everyone..
Eris is a highlier as well, and she comes from very old money. She's also friends with Avery, and she's that girl that has had a fling with pretty much everyone. She is also a bisexual character. But something happens that wrecks Eris's world.
Leda is yet another highlier, and is best friends with Avery. She's just returned from rehab after becoming addicted to drugs due to her party-filled life. But the reason that Leda started using drugs is back, and she starts to lose control of her life again.
Watt is a downlier. He lives on the 240th floor and his family is really struggling with money. So he creates an illegal supercomputer and does jobs on the side for more money. But he begins struggling once he's brought into the crazy life of the highliers.
Rylin lives on the 32nd floor and is the poorest of them all. Her parents are gone so she was forced to drop out of school and get a job in order to take care of her younger sister. But her life gets crazy when her boyfriend deals drugs, and she starts working for a highlier.
All of the characters, including the huge group of minor characters, were totally enjoyable. Rylin and Cord were my favorites, but they were all great and written very well.
GRADING SCALE
Characters - 18/20
Plot line - 13/15
Originality - 15/15
Writing Style - 15/15
Pace - 14/15
Ending - 15/15
Total = 90/100
5/5 stars
It's a story full of partying, lies, deceit, scandals, drama, romance, and so much more. Like I said, it's kind of like a very futuristic version of Gossip Girl.
The Thousandth Floor was an excellent story, and I would gladly recommend it to others. I need the next book right now.
Going into this, I didn't really know much about it other than the fact that it's set in the future and follows the story of 5 teenagers. My expectations weren't that high for it either, but it ended up blowing me away. This is Katharine McGee's debut novel but it was written as if she is a seasoned author. She clearly has a talent for writing and her style really captivates you. After reading the very first page, I knew that I was going to love this story.
The Thousandth Floor is set in the year 2118 in none other than New York City. The Tower is an unimaginable large building that everyone lives in, works in, goes to school, and everything else. Each floor consists of neighborhoods, schools, restaurants, etc. Basically each floor is so gigantic, that it's like a mini-city on each floor. There's no need to leave the Tower at all. There are 1,000 total floors in the building. The higher floors are for the wealthy only, called highliers. The lower floors are for the poorer people. Everything is super futuristic and the technology is amazing. There aren't cell phones anymore. People wear contacts that allow them to see their messages and social media. Retina scanners above front doors let you in instead of having to use keys.
The story is narrated by 5 different teenagers whom live in the Tower and they all lead very different lives. Yet their stories all come together at the end.
Avery lives on the 1,00th floor, which means that she's the richest and the most popular. She's also the most beautiful, and everyone either wants to be her or be with her. But Avery is hiding a dark secret from everyone..
Eris is a highlier as well, and she comes from very old money. She's also friends with Avery, and she's that girl that has had a fling with pretty much everyone. She is also a bisexual character. But something happens that wrecks Eris's world.
Leda is yet another highlier, and is best friends with Avery. She's just returned from rehab after becoming addicted to drugs due to her party-filled life. But the reason that Leda started using drugs is back, and she starts to lose control of her life again.
Watt is a downlier. He lives on the 240th floor and his family is really struggling with money. So he creates an illegal supercomputer and does jobs on the side for more money. But he begins struggling once he's brought into the crazy life of the highliers.
Rylin lives on the 32nd floor and is the poorest of them all. Her parents are gone so she was forced to drop out of school and get a job in order to take care of her younger sister. But her life gets crazy when her boyfriend deals drugs, and she starts working for a highlier.
All of the characters, including the huge group of minor characters, were totally enjoyable. Rylin and Cord were my favorites, but they were all great and written very well.
GRADING SCALE
Characters - 18/20
Plot line - 13/15
Originality - 15/15
Writing Style - 15/15
Pace - 14/15
Ending - 15/15
Total = 90/100
5/5 stars
It's a story full of partying, lies, deceit, scandals, drama, romance, and so much more. Like I said, it's kind of like a very futuristic version of Gossip Girl.
The Thousandth Floor was an excellent story, and I would gladly recommend it to others. I need the next book right now.
September 4, 2016
I don't want to sound repetitive, but I have to start this review by saying what pretty much every other reviewer has already said about this book: this is, in a nutshell, futuristic Gossip Girl. And since I devoured that series when I was younger, making it one of my favorites (nope I'm not ashamed), this was a pretty good read for me. It was easy enough to go through, and very quick once you're in the mood for it. But if you're not a fan of reading about petty teenage drama and first world problems, this will definitely not be the one for you.
We follow a cast of five different characters, each with their own questions and problems. There's Avery, the genetically engineered Serena Van der Woodsen of the group, who hails from the richest family and is the most beautiful human in the world but hides some pretty ugly secrets of her own; Leda, who just got off from a stint in rehab and will do anything to keep that part of her life a secret; Eris, who receives unexpected news from her parents that will completely change her life forever; Rylin, whose mom passed away a while ago, forcing her to drop out of school and get a job to keep custody of her little sister; and Watt, who's trying to save for his college fund by performing illegal hacking jobs for people all over the Tower. In the middle of it all, we deal with a drug addiction, drug dealing, some light incest (yeah I know wasn't expecting it either) and money problems. Some of these kids are friends and some of them have never met before, but somehow, all of their problems end up intertangling with each and they gotta find a way out of the mess they created.
I'll be honest, some of the storylines were more interesting than others to me, and some characters were just plain annoying. I honestly could not stand Avery and her "woe is me" attitude to life simply because she couldn't be with the boy she loved . She was incredibly selfish but still had this holier than thou air around her simply because, in her eyes, she was the one suffering the most. I honestly just wanted to smack her. But other than her, I actually enjoyed pretty much all the characters, especially Watt and Rylin. In the midst of all the crazyness of the millionaire people, it was nice to see the perspective of two people who couldn't just go on a shopping spree to calm their nerves every time shit went down.
And also props to the diversity of this book! It has SUCH a great representation of a variety of characters, in a way I've hardly ever seen before.
My main problems with this was the lack of worldbuilding, and the sexist attitudes from the male highliers (aka people who live on the highest floors) who went by unnoticed.
Seeing as this is a futuristic, slightly sci-fi novel, the reader needs worldbuilding to understand the story better. But absolutely nothing is explained, only briefly mentioned, and I had a really hard time understanding the concept of the Tower. At first I thought the entire city of New York had been transferred to inside the tower, but then at various times there are mentions to characters going outside to visit the rest of the city, like Brooklyn. Does the tower encompass half the city? Just one borough? Why did so many people leave their homes, where they probably led more comfortable, middle-class lives, to live in the lower floors of the Tower in terrible housing? Were they in danger, was there climate change? I thought the construction of the Tower had to do with a heat wave (because climate inside is controlled and at many points, when characters are talking about NY outside the tower, they mention the horrible heat), but then some people go overseas to Paris and Florence and no one mentions anything about climate changes, so... Also, the current currency are ~nanodollars~ and actual paper money is illegal, but does that apply to the people who don't live inside the Tower as well? How do they deal with their finances since they don't have access to as many technological stuff as the people inside? SO MANY QUESTIONS WE DON'T HAVE ANSWERS TO!
And in regards to the sexism:
The rich boys were INCREDIBILY misoginystic at a numbers of times, and NO ONE called them out on it. On the quote I highlighted, I understand why Rylin wouldn't have said anything, because she was, at the time, working as a maid and probably would've gotten in trouble for saying something to the brother of the man who hired her. But she doesn't even think anything about it. She's seen as a piece of meat, clearly harrassed, and she doesn't even exclaim "fuck you" in her head. This happens a number of time throughout the novel; there are plenty of situations where the boys are clearly harrassing and staring at girls like they're made solely for their observation, and they catcall and make gross remarks about them, and the girls say absolutely nothing. There's not even a sentence afterwards that could be interpreted as "hey, this is not actually a nice thing!" They just go on doing their thing like that's normal. It's not. Men don't have the right to stare at girls like they're pieces of meat and exist solely for their gaze. That was a pretty upsetting thing for me.
Overall, it was a fun, fast-paced, light book. Definitely recommend reading it if you're tired of heavier books and just needs something quick to get through.
We follow a cast of five different characters, each with their own questions and problems. There's Avery, the genetically engineered Serena Van der Woodsen of the group, who hails from the richest family and is the most beautiful human in the world but hides some pretty ugly secrets of her own; Leda, who just got off from a stint in rehab and will do anything to keep that part of her life a secret; Eris, who receives unexpected news from her parents that will completely change her life forever; Rylin, whose mom passed away a while ago, forcing her to drop out of school and get a job to keep custody of her little sister; and Watt, who's trying to save for his college fund by performing illegal hacking jobs for people all over the Tower. In the middle of it all, we deal with a drug addiction, drug dealing, some light incest (yeah I know wasn't expecting it either) and money problems. Some of these kids are friends and some of them have never met before, but somehow, all of their problems end up intertangling with each and they gotta find a way out of the mess they created.
I'll be honest, some of the storylines were more interesting than others to me, and some characters were just plain annoying. I honestly could not stand Avery and her "woe is me" attitude to life simply because she couldn't be with the boy she loved . She was incredibly selfish but still had this holier than thou air around her simply because, in her eyes, she was the one suffering the most. I honestly just wanted to smack her. But other than her, I actually enjoyed pretty much all the characters, especially Watt and Rylin. In the midst of all the crazyness of the millionaire people, it was nice to see the perspective of two people who couldn't just go on a shopping spree to calm their nerves every time shit went down.
And also props to the diversity of this book! It has SUCH a great representation of a variety of characters, in a way I've hardly ever seen before.
My main problems with this was the lack of worldbuilding, and the sexist attitudes from the male highliers (aka people who live on the highest floors) who went by unnoticed.
Seeing as this is a futuristic, slightly sci-fi novel, the reader needs worldbuilding to understand the story better. But absolutely nothing is explained, only briefly mentioned, and I had a really hard time understanding the concept of the Tower. At first I thought the entire city of New York had been transferred to inside the tower, but then at various times there are mentions to characters going outside to visit the rest of the city, like Brooklyn. Does the tower encompass half the city? Just one borough? Why did so many people leave their homes, where they probably led more comfortable, middle-class lives, to live in the lower floors of the Tower in terrible housing? Were they in danger, was there climate change? I thought the construction of the Tower had to do with a heat wave (because climate inside is controlled and at many points, when characters are talking about NY outside the tower, they mention the horrible heat), but then some people go overseas to Paris and Florence and no one mentions anything about climate changes, so... Also, the current currency are ~nanodollars~ and actual paper money is illegal, but does that apply to the people who don't live inside the Tower as well? How do they deal with their finances since they don't have access to as many technological stuff as the people inside? SO MANY QUESTIONS WE DON'T HAVE ANSWERS TO!
And in regards to the sexism:
"Ah," Bryce said quietly, his eyes traveling up and down her body. "Well, I'm glad Cord's taste is improving. You're certainly better than the last one."
The rich boys were INCREDIBILY misoginystic at a numbers of times, and NO ONE called them out on it. On the quote I highlighted, I understand why Rylin wouldn't have said anything, because she was, at the time, working as a maid and probably would've gotten in trouble for saying something to the brother of the man who hired her. But she doesn't even think anything about it. She's seen as a piece of meat, clearly harrassed, and she doesn't even exclaim "fuck you" in her head. This happens a number of time throughout the novel; there are plenty of situations where the boys are clearly harrassing and staring at girls like they're made solely for their observation, and they catcall and make gross remarks about them, and the girls say absolutely nothing. There's not even a sentence afterwards that could be interpreted as "hey, this is not actually a nice thing!" They just go on doing their thing like that's normal. It's not. Men don't have the right to stare at girls like they're pieces of meat and exist solely for their gaze. That was a pretty upsetting thing for me.
Overall, it was a fun, fast-paced, light book. Definitely recommend reading it if you're tired of heavier books and just needs something quick to get through.
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