The Thousandth Floor by Katherine McGee

In a futuristic New York City, where the Tower, a vast building housing millions of people and the highest technology known to mankind dominates the NYC skyline, five teenagers with dirty secrets do everything to keep them hidden. This book follows Avery Fuller, a girl who is genetically perfect, but in love with someone she can never be with, Eris Dodd-Ranson, a girl who used to be at the very top but was sent straight to the bottom after a crumbling betreyal and a new discovery, Leda Cole, a girl obsessed with her sister;s best friend and struggling with her addiction to a drug that helped her fit in, Rylin Myers, a girl who will do anything to survive including get trapped in the web of lies that are the residents of the Tower's top floors, and finally Watt Bakradi, a hacker who has a secret weapon that if anyone knew about it, he would definatley get sent to jail. These teens don't realize how close they are to the ground before they start to fall.

Anyone who loves upper class gossip and futuristic technology-governed worlds should read this book. A very good read, I never felt for a second that I was bored and the worldbuilding was superb- everything on why the world functioned the way it did made sense and I never felt any confusion over the futuristic aspect. This book handles important issues very well like addiction, adultury, and social pressure. Two main quibles.

1. At the end, the book played on a major lesbian stereotype which was very dissapointing, considering the casual representation started out very well- a girl moved, met another girl, and fell in love without all of the tragic homophobic backstory angst that is a very popular trope.

2. Setting changes from the tower to the outside world were a bit clunky since so much of what readers see in the novel is in the tower including "outdoor things" so where the charecters are in the outside world can get a bit confusing.

Definatley a book for more mature readers because of the content but a good read and an excellent addition to any YA lovers shelf.

Reviewed by Claire Skye, Grade 9

Glendale Central Library