My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Macmllian- Tor/Forge for an advanced copy of this science fiction novel.

Imagine having access to travel to alternate worlds, to see places where instead of turning right or left one person went straight, making a new world on one decision good or bad. Five friends discover the power to crossover, a group of young people with long lives ahead, dreams, hopes and desires to be discovered, here there and everywhere, each with particular skills exploring these new worlds. And finding a rot that seems to infest everywhere, and one of this friends disappears into it.

Max Gladstone in Last Exit has created a science fiction, with a bit of fantasy and horror, about youth losing innocence, finding your place in the world, maybe trying another world to find a better place, finding love, growing old, and watching it all turn to rot. Zelda meets Sal short for Sally in college, and soon are inseparable. Along with three friends they find an ability to enter different alternative worlds the alts. Everything is grand and exciting until Sal disappears, thought dead in the rot they find that is destroying these alternative worlds, causing the group to separate and Zelda to fall into despair. Until Zelda finds Sal is still alive.

There is a lot going on in the book. A lot of Americana, big cars, the open road, the city is a cage, youth finding itself. And getting old and finding out that reality is not jus what you make it, but what a lot of others are content to make. The characters are interesting, Zelda might get a little maudlin especially in the beginning, but she, and the rest of the cast, especially June, Sal's younger cousin. June gives an especially good rant on the evils of Robert Moses and his "works" for the city of New York, one that I never expected to find in a science fiction novel, so that was great.

A good story with a lot of potential for growth. This was my book by Mr. Gladstone, who has won quite a few awards, and I will have to track down more. For fans of N. K. Jemisin's The City We Became, or any one who likes science fiction with a strong dose of the weird and the real.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.