Review: The 100 by Kass Morgan

The 100
(The Hundred, #1)
By: Kass Morgan
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: Sept. 3, 2013
Genre: YA Distopian
Rating:

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.

This is not a book about 100 teens surviving on Earth with small hints of romance sprinkled throughout. Instead, this is a book about what happens when you put 100 teens together with their sexual hormones raging out of control. 😕 This was nothing like what I expected.

The POV’s consist of Clarke who blames her ex-boyfriend for her parent’s death. The moment she sets foot on Earth she waffles between two guys, her ex and a new kid. There’s Wells (the ex) who commits a stupid felony in order to be sent to confinement to ensure that he’s one of the 100 who get sent to Earth. Why, you may ask? Well, to save and protect his love, Clarke, of course. So needless to say he spends his time following here around and pining after her. Then there’s Bellamy who sneaks onto the ship that’s taking the 100 to Earth so that he can try to save his sister. However, his plan fails and they both end up shipped off to Earth where he ends up as Clarke’s love interest. And last there’s Glass. Glass is a girl who was able to escape the ship at the last possible moment. She runs to her ex-boyfriend’s place in the hopes of telling him why she broke up with him but she soon finds out that he has moved on. No worries though because he soon dumps his girlfriend to be with her again. 🙄 Bleh

I knew that there would be romance but I didn’t know that that would be the sole focus of the entire book. I thought this would be a sci-fi story with suspense. A story so intense that I wouldn’t be able to put it down. Instead, I was bored out of my mind. Each chapter rotates between characters and sometimes the chapter is only a couple pages long. That really took away from being able to connect with the characters. There are also a ton of flashbacks to their life before they found themselves on Earth. It just really took away from the story itself for me. Here we are on Earth. This is a place that is supposed to be inhabitable, with toxic air, deadly animals, and plants that can kill you. Instead, I felt like it was a bunch of horny teens away at camp.

The only reason why I finished this book is because it was for my book club.

“That was the thing about secrets-you had to carry them with you forever, no matter what the cost.”