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A review by ihateprozac
The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee
3.0
This book is touted as “Gossip Girl…..but make it sci-fi” and it was about as good as you’d expect it to be. It’s an entertaining look at terrible people doing terrible things, who you can’t help but envy.
Interestingly, the building in which this is set becomes a character in and of itself. On the surface level it’s a fun lite approach to sci-fi, but on a deeper level it’s a physical manifestation of privilege, inherited wealth, and it gives physical dimension to the disparity between rich and poor. It takes ingrained oppressive systems and gives them physical form, making it abundantly clear how little opportunity and resources are given to marginalised groups. The building almost acts as a malcontent.
Sidenote: I don’t usually pay much attention to maps in novels, but I really could’ve used a map of the building with this ebook. I want to absorb every damn detail of this crazy structure and how it works!
Admittedly there are a lot of POVs here and it makes the book difficult to get into. It’s hard to keep the characters straight, and while each POV is valid and important, I wouldn’t blame people for tapping out early.
And while I was invested in each POV, I felt they needed a stronger thread linking them together and a stronger driving force for the central conflict. While the prologue provides the shape of the story and the end destination, the story was 50-100 pages too long and didn’t adequately use those pages to build up to the conflict.
I enjoyed this overall but probably won't continue on with the series purely due to the length of these books. I want my trashy reads to be shorter and more impactful.
Representation: bisexual female main character, queer female love interest, at least two POC POVs.
Interestingly, the building in which this is set becomes a character in and of itself. On the surface level it’s a fun lite approach to sci-fi, but on a deeper level it’s a physical manifestation of privilege, inherited wealth, and it gives physical dimension to the disparity between rich and poor. It takes ingrained oppressive systems and gives them physical form, making it abundantly clear how little opportunity and resources are given to marginalised groups. The building almost acts as a malcontent.
Sidenote: I don’t usually pay much attention to maps in novels, but I really could’ve used a map of the building with this ebook. I want to absorb every damn detail of this crazy structure and how it works!
Admittedly there are a lot of POVs here and it makes the book difficult to get into. It’s hard to keep the characters straight, and while each POV is valid and important, I wouldn’t blame people for tapping out early.
And while I was invested in each POV, I felt they needed a stronger thread linking them together and a stronger driving force for the central conflict. While the prologue provides the shape of the story and the end destination, the story was 50-100 pages too long and didn’t adequately use those pages to build up to the conflict.
I enjoyed this overall but probably won't continue on with the series purely due to the length of these books. I want my trashy reads to be shorter and more impactful.
Representation: bisexual female main character, queer female love interest, at least two POC POVs.