Lauren O’Malley, Reporter
@lomalleycourant
It’s 2118 in futuristic Manhattan, New York. There’s a new main attraction that’s got everyone’s attention, a tower with a thousand floors overshadowing the city. Everyone who lives in the tower has ambition and hopes, but with that also comes sacrifices and painful realities. In the story, “The Thousandth Floor” by Katherine McGee, you take a look into people’s lives that look absolutely perfect but in truth, are broken. And, everyone is hiding something. Dive into this trilogy and you won’t regret it.
The author explores the concept of social classes by putting characters on different floors. The higher you go up, the wealthier you are. It’s interesting to see the different character’s ways of life and how each of their lives seem to interconnect in the weirdest ways. It gives the reader perspective and understanding of society and classes in the real world.
The story starts out with five characters who tell their own perspective, alternating the narrater in each chapter. Typically, I don’t prefer books that switch between perspectives because I feel that it takes away from the plot. However, McGee makes each person so interesting, that you just keep waiting for their chapter to arrive. The five main characters are Leda Cole (floor 962), Eris Dodd-Radson (floor 985), Rylin Myers (floor 32nd), Watt Bakradi (floor 294), and Avery Fuller (floor 1000).
Personally, my favorite character is Watt Bakradi who has the worst secret of all the main characters (each main character has a detrimental secret that would tear their lives apart if it was ever found out). His secret is that he has an illegal robot named Nadia in his brain, and this would land him life in prison. I find it really interesting how the author describes how he built the robot, what the robot says in his mind and the process in which it hacks into servers. With knowledge comes great power, so, the other characters try and use his knowledge to their advantage, literally trying to find out secrets from their closest friends. Often, the kids try to discover the secrets from those on the higher floors because they think they are superior. Keep in mind, these people are all seventeen! I mean think about it, if you had this kind of technology, what would you do? Watt tries his hardest to not abuse that power which everyone is trying to get their hands on.
Overall, this dystopian novel explores so many concepts that happen in our daily lives that I never think much about. I really love all the characters and their development at the end. Be warned, all three books drag on a bit, but it really helps further the plot. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a thought-provoking read.
To read “The Thousandth Floor”, check for availability at your local library, or use this link to purchase from Amazon.
