The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee Series: The Thousandth Floor #1
Published by HarperTeen on 8/30/16
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 448
Source: BEA
My content rating: YA (Characters have sex but it's not really shown, Lots of drinking and some drug use)
My rating:
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. But people never change: everyone here 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 her 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 by 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.
Debut author Katharine McGee has created a breathtakingly original series filled with high-tech luxury and futuristic glamour, where the impossible feels just within reach. But in this world, the higher you go, the farther there is to fall….
A fun guilty pleasure read with lots of drama and an interesting mystery, The Thousandth Floor had me intrigued from the start!
What Fed My Addiction:
- The Players:
Since there were SO many characters and POV’s in this book, I’ll give you a little rundown of the major players. I really enjoyed almost all of them!
Avery and Atlas: These two live on the top floor in the penthouse. Even though Avery is obviously the richest girl in the tower, and therefore has the highest social standing, I love that she isn’t a snob. She’s actually one of the warmest characters in the book, and she genuinely seems to care about her friends, whatever floor they live on. Atlas, Avery’s adopted brother, has been away for quite some time and he’s left a hole in her life that she can’t seem to fill.
Leda: Leda is Avery’s best friend, but she secretly went off to rehab after she turned to drugs out of loneliness (boy troubles). When she comes back, nothing is the same for her, and she can’t seem to get her life back on track. Leda’s my least favorite of the gang because she seems more than a little obsessed with the boy who broke her heart. I felt a little bit sorry for her at first and then … not.
Eris: Poor Eris is probably my favorite character in the book. As I was reading, I felt horrible for her because of her family drama. And I seriously wanted to punch her father in the nose. Eris does not deserve the way he treats her, and it made me so mad! She has to deal with so much throughout the book, and her problems seem a lot more real and substantial than a lot of the other characters’.
Rylin: I know I just said Eris is my favorite, but Rylin is a very close second. She’s from the lower floors and she’s been trying to take care of her sister since their mother’s death. When Rylin accepts a job on the upper floors it changes things for her in a lot of ways, but there are developments that make her life even more complicated.
Watt: The only boy POV we get in the book, Watt is a sort of computer genius/hacker. He’s been hiding an illegal computer in his brain! Watt was also from the lower floors, but he’s not quite as down-to-earth as Rylin. Of course, since Watt is male, we know that he’s not the person who falls to his death at the beginning/end of the book, but he still has an important role to play!
- The skyscraper. I loved the idea of the thousand story skyscraper and how it’s a society within itself. Of course, the higher the floor, the higher your social status (which makes perfect sense) – people on the lower floors of the tower are considered the bottom of the totem pole – though simply managing to procure a life within the tower is an advantage in life. Most people don’t even have to venture outside the tower at all except for the occasional vacation – there are shopping plazas, clubs, swimming pools (complete with non-UV “sun”), restaurants, and even parks all within the tower. The floors were so large that people use hover cars to get around – and express elevators, of course. The lower floors are especially expansive, which makes the upper floors more and more exclusive as you go up. It was really interesting how social standings and tensions were so cut and dry – what floor you lived on determined your rank.
- The future. When I jumped into reading this, I hadn’t realized how futuristic it was going to feel (I forgot that it was going to be 100 years in the future). I really loved all the little technological touches that McGee added in – it felt like just the right amount of sci fi.
- The mystery. Since you know from the very start that one of the girls falls from the thousandth floor, the whole book keeps you guessing who it is. And why! All of the girls in the book have some pretty messed up stories, so you could easily see any of them being the one to end up dead. As the book went on, the girls’ stories got more and more dramatic until it culminated in quite a shocking end! (Even though I knew someone was going to fall, it was still shocking how it all went down!)
What Left Me Hungry for More:
- Gossip Girl/Pretty Little Liars feel. I actually loved this book right up until somewhere close to the end when it all seemed to veer a little too far into petty jealousy and feelings of revenge. Even though lots of people have compared the book to these two teen shows, I didn’t feel like anything was over the top until we got really close to the end. I felt a little unsatisfied with how it all ended up – but I’ll definitely still be reading the next book to find out where it all goes.
- Weird relationship. This one’s a little bit of a spoiler (though I figured it out pretty early on), so only read past the spoiler tag if you don’t mind that. View Spoiler »
I think McGee did exactly what she set out to do with this book – gave us some mystery, some drama and a whole lot of backstabbing. Sign me up for book two! I give this book 4/5 stars.
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via BEA16 in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
About the Author:
Katharine McGee is from Houston, Texas. She studied English and French literature at Princeton and has an MBA from Stanford. It was during her years living in a second-floor apartment in New York City that she kept daydreaming about skyscrapers . . . and then she started writing. The Thousandth Floor is her first novel.
Well, I’m glad it didn’t sound nearly as confusing with so many points of view. I tend to get annoyed with an overpopulated book, but I guess I can sort of see why it’s a necessity. I must say I’m not overly fond of the GG/PLL vibe, though. I was never a fan of the tv series. :/
The cover of this book is awesome. I don’t read stories about drug-addicted people, but the futuristic setting sounds intriguing.
This sounds fabulous and I really think I would like it as well, wonderful review for this!
The synopsis of this one has intrigued me but I’ve read wildly mixed reviews so far. I guess this is just one that I’ll have to jump in and decide for myself. I love the idea of the skyscraper and the futuristic feel and the technology. I’m less excited about the GG/PLL comparisons. I think this one might me a library loan for me. Really enjoyed reading your thoughts on this one, Nicole!
This does sound really intriguing. I like that you were still shocked by events, even knowing one of the girls will die.
Hahah I’m glad you liked this one so much more than I did. Because I ended up not being able to read past page 40. Also WOW I read that spoiler and I’m not sure WHAT I think of it.
Anyways, I kind of wish I read the end of the book to see who died. I kind of forgot about that beginning part hahah.
Haha! If you want me to email you and tell you who died, let me know!!
GAH YAYYY I am so glad you liked this one! I have heard BAD stuff from my friends (see young Valerie above me) and I needed someone to like it because I want to read it SO BADLY. SO now I will, because Nicole has good taste 😉 Especially since you want to read Book 2, I consider that a success! I am fine with a good guilty pleasure book 😀 Great review!
I think that if you go into this book planning on it being a guilty pleasure read, you’ll enjoy it – I did!
It sounded really interesting right up to your spoiler and then no. I avoid those books like the plague.
Yeah, it was a bit disturbing. I had to just block that fact out of my mind.
Oooh this one sounds really intriguing. I saw this one and requested the ARC, but my request was denied. D’oh! This one does seem like it’s worth adding to my TBR. Great review. 🙂
I’m reading it now and I HATE the spoiler- that makes me not even want to finish it! I agree with you- that is a big NO in my book. Disgusting