Katharine McGee’s The Thousandth Floor, the first book of her young adult, futuristic melodrama three-part series, is a tangle of romance triangles incorporating elements of the science fiction and soap opera genres. In this world, meat is grown in tubes and one can try on clothes holographically. Most of the plot's action takes place within a giant skyscraper, a world-class luxury apartment complex towering two miles high. This building is a physical manifestation of a social construct: a caste system where the richer you are, the higher up you live. Narrated in the first person, the <a href="http://www.supersummary.com/point-of-view/">point of view</a> shifts often and rapidly between the five protagonists, a host of teens with various social ties to one another and a variety of socio-economic backgrounds. What they have in common are the scandalous lives they lead and the secrets they hide. Each of their personal stories and struggles provides a unique view into what life looks like in the year 2118. The prologue is set in the future, revealing the death of an anonymous character. It is ambiguous whether the female depicted has jumped or fallen to her death, a tragedy that sets the stage for the work's central tension and climax. One of these protagonists is Avery Fuller, a girl genetically engineered to be beautiful by her wealthy parents who live on the top floor. She enjoys gardening, country music; she is tired of only being noticed and complimented for her looks. Avery is deeply in love with her stepbrother, Atlas, who also lives on the 1000th floor. She thinks he might have feelings for her too. Leda is Avery's best friend who lives on floor 962. Unlike Avery, Leda was not born into wealth; her parents worked hard for it. When Atlas ignores Leda after they have sex one night, she grows depressed and obsesses over him, driving her to become addicted to xenperheidren, a fictional drug with similar effects to an anti-depressant and stimulant. Once Leda returns from rehabilitation, she resumes her substance abuse, and her obsession for Atlas still blazes stronger than ever. Rylin Mysers’ parents died leaving her to raise her little sister, Chrissa on Floor 43. Despite her parental role in her sister’s life, she is a pill-popping party girl. She leaves her job at a concession stand to become Cord Anderson's maid. Soon, she falls for Cord, an athletic though sensitive sort, who is also grieving the loss of his parents. This complicates her existing romantic relationship with Hiral, her low-life, drug-dealing boyfriend. She is pressured to steal drugs and deal drugs with him. The two of them cannot simply stop selling on the streets; their safety is at stake. Eris Dodd-Radson lives a relatively normal and contented life on Floor 985. The discovery that she is not related to the man who raised her detonates her home life; she and her mother are forced out of their apartment and life of luxury. Later, Eris learns that her real father is Leda's father, making the two half sisters. She also struggles to come to terms with the fact that she has a crush on Mariel Valconsuelos, her neighbor who waits tables. The two forge an authentic romantic connection. Watt Bakradi is a tech genius and professional hacker hired by Leda to spy on Atlas. He provides a service: learn people's secrets. He quickly becomes engrossed by the gossip and glamour of the upper tower, quickly developing feelings for the beautiful Avery. Once he learns that Avery has feelings for Atlas, the few sparks blazing between them grow cold. When Watt shares his findings with Leda, the book comes to its boiling point. When Avery and Atlas throw a party on the 1000th floor, the five protagonists end up on the roof together. Leda arrives to the party high, enraged that Avery and Atlas are together and certain that Eris is sleeping with her father. This combination of anger, substance abuse, and confusion causes a confrontation between the two. Inconsolable, Leda does not listen to Eris’s reassurances and pushes her off the roof. Eris plummets to her death, revealing the mystery identity and circumstances of the death depicted in the book’s prologue; her death reveals the delusionary effects of substance abuse, jealousy, and anger, epitomizing the work’s thematic undercurrents. This dramatic ending is an abrupt cliff-hanger, leaving readers eager to pick up the next work in the series, The Dazzling Heights.

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Katharine Mcgee

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