REVIEW | The 100 by Kass Morgan

The Deets:
Title: The 100
Author: Kass Morgan
Series?: Book 1 of the 100 Trilogy
Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction
Big Issues: Morality, Survival
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Goodreads Summary:
NO ONE HAS SET FOOT ON EARTH IN CENTURIES - UNTIL NOW.

Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth's radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents - considered expendable by society - are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life... or it could be a suicide mission.

Clark was arrested for treason, though she's haunted by the memory of what she really did. Wells, the chancellor's son, came to Earth for the girl he loves - but will she ever forgive him? Reckless Bellamy fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And Glass managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth.


Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind's last hope.


I went into this book thinking that I would be comparing every little thing to the TV show. Every detail, every character, every sentence of history. While, in the first couple of chapters, I was doing this, I eventually just let myself completely separate the two (well... almost completely). By the end of this book, I found myself wanting to continue on with the series (which I probably will, at some point); however, ultimately, I still have this overwhelming love for the television adaptation that just wasn't matched here. This isn't a knock on Morgan's writing or vision, though. It's simply a bias that I have to acknowledge while writing this review and moving forward with the series. Who knows - maybe if I read this before watching the show, my thoughts would be different!

I do love the plot of this book. I think that it is a way to write about society and interaction and power and all of that jazz while also keeping with some more common young adult themes of romance and dystopias and so on. I found that, in actuality, I wasn't getting all of the societal observations that I wanted to be getting. Sure, there are power struggles between the 100 - what should happen to the medicine thief? - but I found these to be few and far between, with other ideas taking the forefront. I think what the show does so well (ugh, I told myself I wouldn't do these show/book comparisons but, come on, it's inevitable) is find a nice balance between the more "light" aspects - Bellarke vs Clexa, for example - and those that are heavier and more serious. Maybe it is just because this is book one and life on Earth has yet to really get going but I just wanted more in the way of creating this new society.

The four narrators were a little much. I think that Glass (because we need that point of view still on the Ark) and Clarke could have been the only two narrators and it would have worked fine. It wasn't a struggle or anything to switch these POVs every chapter, it just wasn't the most cohesive thing in the world. I also found that there were some weird discrepancies in the dialogue. Sometimes, it would flow perfectly well and I felt that teenagers were actually speaking but, other times, it just seemed way too stiff and unnatural. Again, not a struggle, but a little jarring.

One thing that the book gives us is a main character who remains in space. While the show has Raven, who eventually comes to Earth, and does show us life on the Ark through Jaha and the other citizens, there isn't that one character like Glass. That being said, I was really looking forward to her chapters and her story. Unfortunately, I thought that it fell a little flat. Her pardoning after escaping the Drop Ship seemed to happen entirely too quickly - I almost wish she had been present at that meeting so we, as readers, could have seen it happen but, because we weren't there, I felt this overwhelming sense of "something isn't right." The whole book, I expected Glass' mom to betray her! I did like that we saw the effects of the dwindling oxygen supply and I am interested to see how that plays out in the next book but, overall, I just wasn't hooked on Glass' story. I didn't think it was necessary to add in the scene where she almost got raped and I don't think it really added anything to have her name her attacker as her baby's father; conflict between her and Luke could have - and was - been ignited in ways that made more sense. For example, my initial thought was that she had had an abortion. Maybe this is illegal? Maybe she got in trouble for it and that's why she was confined? I don't know. The reality of her story just didn't sit well with me.

Another thing that I couldn't stop thinking about - in relation to both the show and the book - was the character of Wells. I don't like him. I hate him. He's a Nice Guy who does the stupidest things because of a girl. He betrays his girlfriend's trust and acts like a child when she is rightfully mad at him. He causes a leak on the Ark for the dumbest of reasons. He's just the worst. I'm really, really glad the show didn't go that route. I could not handle his whining - "oh, I will make Clarke love me again" - boy, STOP. You are on Earth for the first time in hundreds of years! You might not even live! And you willingly came down because of a girl?! And that's all you can think about?! MOVE ON.

Overall, this book is a lot of explanation and set-up for what I am assuming will come in the next books. I'm not sure how I would have enjoyed this if I didn't have the show's influence. I think it still would have been a 3-star rating. It was a fun and fast read and I think that reading the rest of the series could be a decent way to pass the time before season 3 of the show starts.

I still really enjoyed Clarke, Bellamy, and Octavia in the book. I also thought the inclusion of Thalia was smart but I wish we had seen more of her and Clarke's friendship.

Also, Bellamy and Clarke kissed. Sorry, show. The book beats you there.


And Graham is totally Murphy, right?