The Dazzling Heights (The Thousandth Floor #2) by Katharine McGee

Synopsis

“New York City, 2118. Manhattan is home to a thousand-story supertower, a breathtaking marvel that touches the sky. But amid high-tech luxury and futuristic glamour, five teenagers are keeping dangerous secrets…

Leda is haunted by memories of what happened on the worst night of her life. She’ll do anything to make sure the truth stays hidden—even if it means trusting her enemy. Watt just wants to put everything behind him…until Leda forces him to start hacking again. Will he do what it takes to be free of her for good? When Rylin wins a scholarship to an upper-floor school, her life transforms overnight. But being there also means seeing the boy whose heart she broke, and who broke hers in return. Avery is tormented by her love for the one person in the world she can never have. She’s desperate to be with him…no matter the cost. And then there’s Calliope, the mysterious, bohemian beauty who arrives in New York determined to cause a stir. And she knows exactly where to begin.

But unbeknownst to them all, someone is watching their every move, someone with revenge in mind. After all, in a world of such dazzling heights, just one wrong step can mean a devastating fall.”

-Synopsis from Goodreads

Review

*spoilers ahead*

The Dazzling Heights is book two in The Thousandth Floor trilogy by Katharine McGee. If you haven’t yet read these books, I suggest you do something about that because they are really good!

What I Liked

The introduction of Calliope Brown was perfect. While she seems like a (not so) innocent outsider who just happened to end up at the Tower, she has ties to Atlas that are going to put his relationship with Avery at risk, and then some. She was one of my favorite character to follow during this book.

I continue to be lukewarm on Avery and Atlas Fuller, and I don’t know why. They just aren’t quite the most compelling characters for me personally. Watt Bakradi inevitably gets sucked into Leda Cole’s crazy little world, and it was a bummer to see him dragged down by her. Contrary to Leda’s statement, I don’t think she and Watt are the same and I wished he’d walked away from her a long time ago.

Once again, all the extravagant parties being thrown, such as the Under the Sea party at the bottom of the Hudson River, were so imaginative and fascinating and fun to read about. The Mirrors aka Dubai’s version of New York City’s Tower, sounded stunning and I was perfectly able to picture them in my mind. I love the concept of various Towers existing around the world. It leaves hope for spinoffs, galore.

Finally, one of my favorite things about this series continues to be all the innovative and sometimes outlandish 22nd Century tech that Katharine McGee has dreamed up, like Rylin Myers’ holography class at school, not to mention all the amenities the Tower has to offer, including that hundreds-stories-high literal farm smack in the middle of it.

What I Didn’t Like

(This is more of a continued commentary on what happened.)

Leda is my least favorite character, and I was truly hoping she would die after what she did to Eris in the last book. The prologue tells us that someone is going to die, but it isn’t until the very last pages of the book that we find out who that someone is.

Mini Spoiler: It was not who I was expecting, and I was once again annoyed at another good character being killed off. Now that I’m thinking about it, part of me hoped Avery would die at the end – too harsh?

I would have to say Rylin is one of my favorite characters, and it just didn’t feel like we got to see as much of her in this one, so I’m hoping there’s more in store for her in book three.  Ultimately, there was nothing I truly disliked about this book. McGee’s writing makes the characters seem like real people, which is a true talent.

Would I Recommend?

Yes! Readers who enjoy the likes of Gossip Girl or Pretty Little Liars, or just relationship drama/family drama/revenge stories will love this series.