A review by anxiousrooster
House of Stairs by William Sleator

3.0

In the end, I believe that I really did enjoy this book (even though it did remind me of the type of books I used to be forced to read in my high school English classes). House of Stairs by William Sleator is a quick, interesting read; one that reminds the reader of the tiny (yet significant) difference inside us all that keeps us from reverting back to our animal instincts...that keeps us human. Oliver, Peter, Lola, Blossom and Abigail (five sixteen year old orphans) all awake to find themselves in a place that is not a prison or a hospital or even a room, but a place entirely full of stairs, and a red machine. And while all five have a sense of right and wrong in the beginning, as time and hunger wears on they not only begin to lose that sense, but the human part of them as well. Set in a broken, damaged, and entirely different world than our own, we witness the different changes in these young adults who are forced into an impossible situation by the world in which they live in.