Reviews

The Dazzling Heights by Katharine McGee

Only show reviews with written explanations

teilorann's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

It just seemed to drag on for no reason and I skimmed the last 100 pages or so just to get the gist of the end. I am not going to read the third book.

janagaton's review against another edition

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5.0

I need this series to become a movie or TV series, ASAP. I enjoyed the 2nd book better than the first because I knew all the characters already, and I loved the new characters introduced in this one as well. I felt all the Gossip Girl vibes, I can't wait to read the last installment, and I will read anything Katharine McGee writes afterwards!

danielled75's review against another edition

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4.0

Just like the first book, this one is told in multiple points of view, with a new character added into the mix this time.

Despite the ending of The Thousandth Floor, everyone is trying to going on with their lives as best as they can.

Avery is still pining after Atlus, despite the issues that they face on a day to day basis. The strain of keeping their relationship secret is becoming harder and harder and when their father makes an announcement about a new tower being built and Altus’s involvement, it makes things even harder. Avery seems so naive with this relationship and holds unto a childhood dream of them running away together.

Leda is still being manipulative and holding what she knows over others heads, despite her fighting her own nightmares of what she knows. Her hold on Watt gets tougher and more controlling at the start of the book, but things take an odd turn between them.

We are introduced to Calliope, who is the “new player” added into the game. Calliope and her mother have traveled the world conning men and women out of their money and items.

It felt that Callipoe was the main focus of this story despite there already being a foundation of everyone else that carried over from The Thousandth Floor. I didn’t care much for her or her mother, since they had one main goal in mind, which to me felt like it dominated the book. It didn’t make sense to me that with all this technology in the book, no one found out what she was up to until way later in the book. I know she wasn’t around all of them unless it was at a party or something, but how can you seriously believe that anyone would be that trusting of a girl that just appears out of nowhere.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about Rylin and her placement in the book either. I understand she got a scholarship thanks to her sister, but once she was in the school it just felt strained. Things were awkward with her and Cord, it felt forced when Rylin was trying to apologize to Cord and explaining what happened. The tension between Rylin and Leda and seeing each other in each class was forced also (but we know why). Then there is her situation with one of the teachers, which I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

I did like the fact that there was one other person that was watching everything from the background, and you don’t find out who it is until the end of the book. I can’t blame said person for hiding and watching everything going on around them. I didn’t like how they went about doing what they did though. Even if they got the answers they wanted and even dropped a surprise on one of the other residents of the Tower in the end.

I do hope there will be more to this series, since I feel there does need to be some type of closure for everyone involved.

annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition

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5.0

Ik had gisteravond een boek naast mijn bed gelegd om vanochtend in te beginnen, maar toen ik vanochtend wakker werd, had ik helemaal geen zin in dat boek. Ik had wel zin in dit boek. Het eerste boek was ongelooflijk goed bevallen en ik was heel benieuwd of het tweede boek weer net zo tof zou zijn. En net zo tof was een understatement. Dit boek was nog veel beter.

Al vanaf het begin zat ik er weer helemaal in en het verbaasde me hoe sterk mijn band met de karakters geworden was. Ik merkte dat ik ongelooflijk meeleefde, vooral met Avery en Rylin, en met elk hoofdstuk opnieuw een schietgebedje deed dat het misschien toch onverwachts goed zou komen met ze. Maar het was natuurlijk een tweede deel, dus ik vrees dat ik nog een heel boek geduld moet hebben. Dammit.

Wat McGee ongelooflijk knap doet, is de spanning opbouwen door ons een heel boek ons af te laten vragen welk meisje er in dit deel gaat sneuvelen. En doordat we ze allemaal zo goed leren kennen, ontstaat al snel het gevoel dat je als lezer bepaalde personages in elk geval NIET wil verliezen. McGee is erin geslaagd om hele realistische en gelaagde karakters te schrijven. Het zijn rasechte tieners, en ze doen niet altijd het juiste en niet altijd het goede, maar ze hebben heel veel verschillende kanten en hun emoties zijn rauw en eerlijk.

En het zijn dan ook haar karakters die het plot vooruit stuwen. Het hele plot valt en staat met de ontwikkeling van haar karakters, met de uitdagingen die zij aangaan, met de fouten die ze maken en met alles wat ze voelen. En ondanks het feit dat Eris aan het einde van het vorige boek is doodgegaan, drukt ze nog steeds een stempel op de karakters en daardoor hun verhaal.

Hoewel er strikt genomen actie-technisch gezien in deze boeken wellicht niet heel veel gebeurt tot aan de laatste vijftig pagina's, gebeurt er emotie-technisch wel ongelooflijk veel. Ik had, toen ik deze boeken goedkoop op de kop tikte, niet verwacht dat ik ze zo ongelooflijk leuk zou vinden.

En nu wil ik dolgraag het volgende deel!

alexbach's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.0

fairiesdust's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

kbhayford's review against another edition

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3.0

Can't say that the dystopian genre has ever been my favorite. This one was better than most but still didn't make me change my mind about dystopians. But the tower idea with all the technology was kind of cool; I just can't do the moral-less mindsets and everyone always out to get each other and how back and forth many of the character dynamics were, specifically Rylin and Cord. Hated Calliope at first but by the end I fell in absolute love with her. And Avery was starting to piss me off a bit