ARC REVIEW: FLOORED – A COLLABORATIVE NOVEL

Title: Floored
Author: Sara Barnard, Holly Bourne, Tanya Byrne, Non Pratt, Melinda Salisbury, Lisa Williamson, Eleanor Wood
Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Overall Rating: 4/5

So here we have it, my review (finally) of FLOORED – a collaborative novel by some of the best UK YA authors right now. I was so excited to receive and advance reader copy of this book, and especially since I was chosen as one of seven bloggers to do a completely new piece (working collaboratively with the other six of course). You can find my blog tour post here!

When they got in the lift, they were strangers (though didn’t that guy used to be on TV?): Sasha, who is desperately trying to deliver a parcel; Hugo, who knows he’s the best-looking guy in the lift and is eyeing up Velvet, who knows what that look means when you hear her name and it doesn’t match the way she looks, or the way she talks; Dawson, who was on TV, but isn’t as good-looking as he was a few years ago and is desperately hoping no one recognizes him; Kaitlyn, who’s losing her sight but won’t admit it, and who used to have a poster of Dawson on her bedroom wall, and Joe, who shouldn’t be here at all, but who wants to be here the most.

And one more person, who will bring them together again on the same day every year.

What is wonderful about this book is the diverse cast – all of them finding themselves in a very unforgettable situation. But all together? It’s unlikely this group of individuals would have connected at all in the absence of this. This creates a great vibe amongst them, and really allows the authors to contrast and complement characters in a variety of ways.

This book is more of a journey, so I wouldn’t say that it’s a book to read if you’re looking for pace, drama etc. It essentially dips in and out of their lives as important and influential events occur; annual meetings, milestones in a character’s life etc. However I love the role of the narrator, each of the characters on their own are fantastic and well-developed people, but the narrator really brings the story together facilitating a seamless transition between time periods and stories.

As mentioned before, this novel hosts a diverse cast and also highlights a number of important issues likely to be experienced by many teenagers at some point; whether these themes be on family, friendship, or relationship levels. Without spoiling the story for those of you who wish to read it (and you should if you enjoy contemporary, YA books), these themes are handled well and respectfully without losing the impact which is so important when voicing and speaking about them.

One downside of the books is that the authors all go into different levels of depth with their characters; some we barely see outside of the environment of the seven and so we rely on their thoughts when with the rest of the group to determine their character – these often have a more active story, the others whom we do get to know a little better tend to have a smaller side story. Given the book is only 320 pages long, it is not surprising that the seven authors have had to compromise and find a balance with their characters and stories.

I don’t think this really took away from the book, but where I had questions answered about one character, I maybe wouldn’t find them about another. That being said, the way the authors have timed the narratives is excellent. Just trying to get 7 blog posts to fit nicely together was difficult enough! But unless I knew this books was a collaborative effort, I probably wouldn’t have guessed. Though I did have fun guessing which author wrote which part (I still don’t know the correct answer to this either!)

Overall I’m awarding this book 4/5. I’m not going to give it more purely based on the storyline. The main action occurs in the first few chapters of this book, and the remainder of the book follows along their life paths. Though this made room for the authors to bring important themes to the surface and makes this a great book if you’re looking for a diverse cast with a real-life feel to it (kind of… I hope I’m never in the situation where an unforgettable event like that happens). The characters themselves all have an individual and realistic voice which I love and really helps bring them out of the pages and still lets the reader run wild with their imagination.

I’d like to thank Macmillan Kid’s UK and the authors; Sara Barnard, Non Pratt, Holly Bourne, Melinda Salisbury, Tanya Byrne, Lisa Williamson, and Eleanor Wood for this fantastic book and 5* blog tour experience! Can’t wait to (hopefully) meet you all at YALC!