As humanity lives out the remainder of its existence at the top of an isolated apartment tower, young Jackie dares to question Tower Authority and their ban on traveling into the tower's depths. Intelligent and unyielding, Jackie ventures into the shadows of the floors below. But will her strong will and refusal to be quiet—in a society whose greatest pride is hiding the past—bring understanding of how humanity became trapped in the tower she has always called home, or will it simply be her undoing?
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In a futuristic world where the entirety of the human race lives in one building. Rain is collected on the roof with solar panels to make sure that there is proper light for residents. It isn’t just that they all live in a building but they also only can live in the upper floors, or in this book the floors are actually reversed. Floor 1 is the very top and the floors increase as you go down. The top 11-13 are where everyone lives, with everything below 13 increasingly dangerous due to a growing, creeping, infection of sorts. No one really knows what it is, but it doesn’t matter, because you don’t talk about it. It is like Fight Club, you don’t talk about Fight Club, you don’t ask questions that you either don’t want to know the answers to or the upper echelons of individuals don’t want you to know about.
This story is divided into two stories, one from the perspective of a soldier of sorts. He is picked to be part of a group of men and women who travel to the lower floors in search for useable materials, food, clothes, etc. The other story is about a young woman who has questions. Questions about what is really going on, questions about why there is something wrong with her mom.
Sometimes when you want to know something really bad there are unintended consequences, like being arrested or finding out the truth. Sometimes the truth is worse than anything you can think up in your head.
I really enjoyed this book. It looks at not just what can happen when you let a group of people rule, but also what people are willing to do for what they think is the greatest good. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask questions, just that sometimes those questions may lead to issues beyond what you can control. I would love if this author wrote another book in this world because there are some unanswered questions. Questions like the Ghost Lady, questions about what the thing really is. Is this really an organic element, or was it created by level 1?
Purchase Link
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About Jason Luthor
Jason Luthor has spent a long life writing for sports outlets, media companies and universities. His earliest writing years came during his coverage of the San Antonio Spurs as an affiliate with the Spurs Report and its media partner, WOAI Radio. He would later enjoy a moderate relationship with Blizzard Entertainment, writing lore and stories for potential use in future games. At the academic level, he has spent several years pursuing a Ph.D. in American History at the University of Houston, with a special emphasis on Native American history.
His inspirations include some of the obvious; The Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia are some of the most cited fantasy series in history. However, his favorite reads include the Earthsea Cycle, the Chronicles of Prydain, as well as science fiction hits such as Starship Troopers and Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep?
