Release Date - August 30, 2016
Publisher Social Media - Twitter/Facebook/SavvyReader/Frenzy
Pages - 448 pages
My Rating - 5/5
**received from publisher for an honest review**
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.It starts with a fall and a scream, and ends with the devastating truth and its consequences. The Thousandth Floor reminds me of champagne - light, bubbly, and oh so good. Its the type of novel that is tailor made to be read at the end of summer. It's sudsy, filled with juicy drama, and enough secrets to make even some of the Gossip Girl characters blush. It's everything the synopsis promises, delivered in a compulsively readable package.
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….
Katharine McGee's crisp, clean writing allows the story to be the focus. It allows the incredible world that has been built to shine brightly. The 'futuristic' element felt realistic to how our technology would progress. There are certainly elements that feel fantastical, but they fit within the world that has been created, and are similar to adding a pop of colour to an otherwise black and white canvas. They are there to be eye catching while still complimenting the whole. This element is what provides the biggest splash with some of the inclusions being just as surprising as the secrets the characters hold.
A multiple point of view novel is complicated and often hard to pull off well. Each voice should feel distinct and capture the essence of the character. It is like a tower of blocks where removing one piece impacts the entire structure. It takes skill and planning. Katharine McGee not only creates distinct characters that resonate with the reader, but has intricately woven their stories together in a way that creates a stronger story. It adds to the increasing tension as we learn things before other characters do and can anticipate the consequences to come. If the entire series is this intricately plotted and executed I will be not only impressed, but a life long fan of anything Katharine McGee writes.
The characters are the heart of this novel. It is them that kept my interest, because this is not a new story. Each of the characters has something that haunts them. Its either something they cannot have, something they've lost, or something they need a little too much. There is desperation, shame, secrets, lies, and each of the character spirals as everything begins to unravel. This novel, for me, blended the plot driven focus with the characterization incredibly well to ensure that we cared about both the plot and the characters that it was happening to.
The tension coursing through this novel is like a vice grip. It is relentless and the tightening feeling only increases as the story progresses to its inevitable end. The story is like a chess game with Katharine McGee moving all the characters steadily into position with deliberate precision. The payoff is the pulse pounding, breath stealing final few chapters that leave you dizzy. It is perfectly executed and shows the amount of planning and plotting that went into this multiple point of view novel.
Fans of Gossip Girl will immediately devour this addictive read and beg for more. I predict that even non fans will fall under the spell of this decadent, delicious and satisfying read. The wait for the second novel is going to be excruciating but it'll give you time to pick your jaw up off the floor. End your summer with the residents of The Tower. I predict you'll love it.
