Book Review | The Thousandth Floor, by Katharine McGee

When I started reading The Thousandth Floor, I had a lot of conflicted thoughts.

This wasn’t a book I flew through—it didn’t grip me straight away, and to be honest, I thought about stopping pretty early on. That’s probably got a lot to do with the fact that this book is basically a futuristic version of Gossip Girl, and I could never get into that show.

That being said, I think this book gets better close to halfway through— and a lot of that has to do with the introduction of more interesting characters.

 

The Premise:

The story is set in a tower, in the year 2118, with one thousand floors– the higher ones being more luxurious than the lower ones.

 

Avery

Living at the very top, in the most extravagant apartment, with her luxury life and wealth, is Avery Fuller, who was literally genetically created to look perfect.

I was expecting her to be a real b*tch, and I will admit that she acts super low throughout a lot of the book, but I could also see her internal struggle. She was constantly reminding herself that it was wrong, and trying to do the right thing, but failing. So in all honesty, I kind of tolerate her.

However, her love interest— that’s a whole other story. Not down with that one.

 

Leda

Okay, so I couldn’t STAND Leda from the moment I met her to the very end. I just really disliked her whole character— something about it was off-putting the entire time. Even when things started to fall apart for her, and with everything playing out the way it did, I still couldn’t seem to summon sympathy for her. She just came across as obsessed, clingy, whiny, etc.

I guess that makes for a strong character though, because I was really scared of her in the end. She’s pretty unpredictable— and that’s saying something for a book that was very predictable (more on that later).

 

Rylin

I really loved Rylin’s character. At first, I was unsure about her, but I warmed up to her super quickly. Especially once Cord was introduced— I love a good romance.

(Emphasis on good).

Rylin’s story was the one that hit me pretty emotionally. I felt like everything was unfair for her and I really just wanted to give her a big hug and tell her it would all be okay.

Also, can I just say how much I adore Cord?

 

Watt

Now, Watt was my FAVOURITE character. Not trying to be sexist or anything, but I have a hard time clicking with books who have male leads. And I REALLY have a hard time clicking with the characters in books when it’s narrated in third person, like this one.

So I was super shocked when Watt ended up being my favourite character. Seriously, when I started this book and I wasn’t enjoying it, and then Watt was introduced, my first thought was ‘oh no it got worse’. Then, by the end of his first chapter, I was thinking ‘oh this got way better’.

But, I do want to say that he seemed older than 17 in the story. That’s the way my mind portrayed him. But other than that, I loved his character, and Nadia, and everything.

 

Eris

I wasn’t a fan of Eris at the start, but she grew on me— especially towards the end with her father and everything. I feel pretty indifferent towards Mariel, but it seems like she’ll be a character in the next book so maybe I’ll warm up to her too.

 

General Thoughts:

It was interesting to see how things have changed in this futuristic world, and I felt that it was very subtly, well woven into the story without having to explain things too much. It had good world building.

However, in other places, I felt like the story pacing was off, or it needed more development. Perhaps it was the third person narration making me feel disconnected from the characters, but I really felt that things went too fast sometimes, or weren’t addressed to their full potential.

I guess, what I’m trying to say is, I wasn’t being shown their reactions or emotions as much as I wanted, and I was being ‘told’ about their characters— in a lot of places, there would be mini flashbacks as the characters would reminisce on their childhood days or the fun stuff they used to do together, and that told me about the kind of person they were, but in present settings it was hard to see their personalities and reactions because it wasn’t shown to me in the moment. In a few instances, it was done quite well, and I could really understand the reasons behind reactions, but a lot of the time it felt flat.

I also find it so ironic that the whole plot basically comes down to a dramatic love feud and it sparks a chain reaction that affects everything. But then again, that’s high school drama for you.

 

Tea Rating:

White Tea | This book is a relaxing, light and fun read!