OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Floor 21" by Jason Luthor.]

Floor 21 by Jason Luthor is a dystopian novel suitable for young adult readers and adults like me who enjoy reading stories with young protagonists. Set within a tower that the characters are unable to leave, this story takes place at some time in the distant future, as indicated by slightly comedic hints about the ancient past that pertain to the modern times. Within this fast-paced, quick read, Luthor has created a future that is not only believable, but also engaging and slightly terrifying.

The story is told (mostly) by seventeen-year-old Jackie, a slightly tomboyish, curious girl who lives near the top of the tower, the safest place within their home. Her father is a scientist, one of the top-ranking positions of the tower, so Jackie’s future is pretty much all set out for her; she’ll never have to worry about being without food or work. But Jackie wants answers. She wants to know why they are stuck in the tower. She wants to know the history of their world. And she especially wants to know as much as she can about the Creep.

For starters, what is the Creep? All Jackie knows is that it is some organic-looking mass that grows within the lower levels of the tower; the lower the level, the thicker the Creep, which makes reaching ground level physically impossible as the Creep blocks all ways out. Living among it is dangerous; the Creep causes hallucinations – demons and shadow people appear, and there are legends of how the Creep can get inside the body of a person and take over the mind. Everyone knows all of this, but no one is allowed to ask questions to learn more. Jackie’s curiosity is likely to get her into a lot of trouble.

When I first began to read this story, I had reservations about what I was reading. The story is told as a series of “recordings” as if Jackie is recording her thoughts using a voice recorder. It reads exactly the way that a seventeen-year-old girl would speak, with lots of slang and rambling. I thought that such a style would be tedious to read, but I found myself completely immersed in the story after just a few chapters. The style of writing ended up not being difficult to follow at all; I actually found it quite refreshing to read something that felt like a genuine representation of a frustrated, emotional young woman.

Further into the story, the perspective switches to another resident of the tower, Vick, who makes the voice recordings as part of his job scavenging the tower for materials. His character’s voice is quite different from Jackie’s and indicate the excellent writing skills and character development that went into this novel. I would like to commend the author on that point most of all. There are so many other amazing points I would like to comment about, but unfortunately I can’t in this review, due to spoilers.

It is my pleasure to give Floor 21 a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. I absolutely loved the characters and the overall story, and I would recommend this book to others who enjoy dystopian YA novels, such as the Uglies series or the Hunger Games. Squeamish readers might want to be warned that there are some creepy (ha ha, see what I did there?) and slightly gory moments, but nothing worse than PG-13.

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Floor 21
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I would like to thank you for taking the time to write this review. To-date we have sold several thousand copies and are preparing to release the sequel sometime in the next year, although I am currently negotiating to shift the rights to a different publisher.

Most of all, I am glad you were able to immerse yourself in the world of the Tower and that you found the voice of Jackie and Vick to be sufficiently distinguished. A lot of the mysteries that emerge out of the first book are dealt with in the second, but then even more mysteries arise. Sometimes I have found that people do find it difficult to adjust to the style of the book, particularly because it is a frustrated teenager in a horror dystopian setting, which is perhaps not the fit most people are used to. However, most of my readers come to love Jackie and her voice, and I am glad you found yourself wrapped up in the mysteries surrounding the Tower and how they came to be here.

With all that said, thanks once again and hopefully you enjoy the sequel just as much.

Great review! I am so in! I love Y.A. Dystopian novels.

bluemel4 wrote:Great review! I am so in! I love Y.A. Dystopian novels.

I certainly hope you enjoy it. Do let me know what you think of the book.

Just purchased my copy based on this awesome review!

I am so glad to hear that there will be a sequel. It was a pretty good finish to the book (but I didn't want to mention the ending in the review, of course) with just enough suspense about what was to come!

bluemel4 wrote:Just purchased my copy based on this awesome review!

So glad to hear this! Hope to hear your thoughts on it.

-- 26 Mar 2016, 17:49 --

ALynnPowers wrote:I am so glad to hear that there will be a sequel. It was a pretty good finish to the book (but I didn't want to mention the ending in the review, of course) with just enough suspense about what was to come!

Yeah I have my final book reviewer going over what I consider the final draft right now. I'm going to get her feedback today or tomorrow. Then we just have to wait on an agent I'm working with to get back to me on whether we can go ahead with transitioning the publishing rights.

Great review! This sounds like a YA read that I would like and recommend to others.

Shelle wrote:Great review! This sounds like a YA read that I would like and recommend to others.

If you decide to purchase it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the book.

Interesting premise with a lot of potential. But what is the Creep??? I want to know!!! Orange Jello??? Cool story with a neat narrative structure. Congrats to the reviewer for a great review, and to the author for...uh...a great review.

My obvious redundancy is obvious.

PashaRu wrote:Interesting premise with a lot of potential. But what is the Creep??? I want to know!!! Orange Jello??? Cool story with a neat narrative structure. Congrats to the reviewer for a great review, and to the author for...uh...a great review.

My obvious redundancy is obvious.

Your redundancy is appreciated

This sounds like it's right up my alley.
And you gave me just enough to make me too curious to live

I wanted to share some artwork that was made for the book. If you've read it, you know who tehse characters are

jasonluthor wrote:I wanted to share some artwork that was made for the book. If you've read it, you know who tehse characters are

Love them both! Especially the "Creep"-y one!! It's pretty much exactly how I pictured it!!!

Thanks ALynn. Yeah, the artist did a great job communicating the Creep. It helped that I did a brief sketch of it for him and then he transformed it into "Whoah."