The 100 (The 100, #1) (2024)

A terrifying plan began to take shape, and his chest tightened in fear as he realized what he would have to do. But Wells knew there was no other way. To save the girl he loved, he’d have to endanger the entire human race.

f*ck YOU, WELLS. There is another way. You stop being a selfish motherf*cker whose brain is located in your f*cking penis.

This book is not a dystopian novel of a spaceship society. It's not a post-apocalyptic tale of survival. It's not about the nitty gritty of life within a group of the only humans left in the universe. It's a teenaged romance, where the characters' intelligence ranges anywhere from 5-9 on the 1-10 scale of idiocy. Whose life, whose society, whose spaceship colony has been endangered by a boy whose thought process first filters through his dick.

The world building is piss poor and vague, and more of a scenic backdrop to the overwhelming romance-centric plot instead of being the focal point. If you are a reader who prefers their reads to be overwhelmingly romantic to the exclusion of an actual plot: this book is for you.

Remember the whole "the planet might be deadly" thing? It's still in the air. Who cares?! Our intrepid boy, Wells Jaha, decides to sacrifice himself by committing a stupid and senseless crime in order to become a criminal and get shipped off to earth---potentially sentencing himself to death so he can be with his ONE TWOO WUV. Her name is Clarke. Wells' dad is surprisingly chill about sending his only son off to his death.

One of the narrators (Glass, yes, her name is Glass) is not even on the damn ship headed to Earth. I guess she's a part of the 100, but her part of the novel involves going shopping for clothes to wear to the comet viewing and mourning the loss of her relationship with her ex, Luke, and driving everyone f*cking nuts by not letting anyone know until the very end why the f*ck she, a Phoenician socialite (because socialites are so very important on a spaceship that's the last bastion of humanity), wound up becoming a prisoner in the first place. And when we're finally told the reason, I just wanted to slap the girl upon the head, because I have a lot of sympathy in me, but stupidity doesn't deserve it.

We also get to hear the stories from the POV of Bellamy, Wells, and Clarke as they go to Planet Earth and fall in love. Who will Clarke choose? Will it be dreamy dark, orphaned bad boy Bellamy? Will it be her gorgeous, wealthy, Judas of a knight in shining armor, who's actually not a knight in shining armor after all, but more of a sad, lost puppy who follows Clarke around with his tail (and his brains) between his legs.

He wasn’t the brave knight who’d come to rescue the princess. He was the reason she’d been locked away in the dungeon.

Wait a minute. They're supposed to be trying to SURVIVE on a potentially hazardous nuclear-damaged planet.

Get out of here. No, really. Get out of here. This isn't the book you want if you want a realistic survival tale.

Truly, this book is just so vague and inconsistent in the development of a believable, compelling setting. The spaceship itself is so completely poorly defined. The ship itself is barely mentioned in any detail. We know there are three colonies on board, Phoenix, Walden, Arcadia. We don't know how many citizens there are. We can't see the sun and the sunset even though we can see the comet and stars from on board. We don't know how the three separate colonies are sectored up, we don't know how they're sectored up, we don't know their history, or how they became that way. We don't know where the spaceship is orbiting, besides the fact that it takes about 30 minutes to get from the ship to Earth. For some reason, some sectors have more water and resources than others.

There's no background. There is no society. There is no culture.

For a futuristic society, there is a surprising lack of diversity. Two of the main characters (both girls) have reddish-blonde hair.

There's a lack of resource, and because of it, people are killed. So, so many people are killed. Most of them teenagers. The premise is that teenage delinquents are captured for the smallest of infractions---stealing food, for example, and sent to prison, called Confinement. There they stay until they're 18, where they get a Retrial, which is an absolute joke, because everyone knows that nobody ever, ever gets a Pardon. If you are less than 18, you get sent to prison until you're 18. Then you die. Which doesn't really make any sense when the government of the ship could just sentence the kids to death right away as soon as they're convicted, so save money, resources. And forget about committing a crime over the age of 18. You just get executed right away once you are convicted.

SO. MANY. PEOPLE. ARE. KILLED. It makes no f*cking sense. You are also sentenced to die if you have more than one child, under a vague "Gaia Doctrine." It's a wonder there are any people left on the spaceship at all. There is a surprising amount of hatred and resentment between the Waldens and the Phoenicians, which would have been more compelling if sh*t was actually EXPLAINED.

There is absolutely nothing about the spaceship that's anything beyond an idea of a vaguely futuristic concept. The lack of background is utterly laughable if it wasn't so depressingly superficial.

As for the Earth. Do I really need to explain the preposterousness of it all? We don't even know how the Earth was destroyed, except for some vague notion of a nuclear winter and a war that made the earth go boom. There was some enigmatic concept of an event called the "Pre-Cataclysm," which was, once again, NEVER EXPLAINED IN DETAIL. There was something referred to as "the burning of North America," and that's pretty much all you get on that. Radiation? What radiation. There's an instance of a two-headed deer. Let's just pretend that nuclear fallout is limited to one weird animal and everything is all safe again after a few centuries. Never mind radioactive traces in water and everything, which could last for thousands of years. Science? f*ck that sh*t. It's all about the romance.

Am I supposed to believe that?

And in the midst of romance, there's survival. Wait a minute, that sounds wrong. It's supposed to be, in the midst of survival, there's a romance? No. I said it right the first time. The romance is so incredibly f*cking overwhelming. There is a love triangle.

He grabbed on to a branch for balance, gasping as he tried to force air into his lungs. The girl he’d risked his life to protect wasn’t just kissing someone else—she was kissing the hothead who may have gotten his father killed.

He co*cked his head to the side and surveyed Clarke quizzically. The skin under her eyes was bruised with exhaustion, but the purple shadows just made them look greener.

He didn’t care whether they’d found the missing medicine. There was no drug strong enough to repair a broken heart.

God! There is so much idiocy in the name of love in this book From endangering the entire ship to potentially save a girl to potentially killing yourself so you can be with her to ignoring all common sense. And the girl left on board the spaceship is no better. Her name is Glass (lol wtf, Glass?), she escaped. Instead of running to her mother to say goodbye, Glass goes to see her ex-boyfriend. Glass claims to be "desperate to see her mother," but there's no proof of it because despite the fact that she might be recaptured at any f*cking moment, she takes that ONE opportunity to see her ex. Glass is not as sharp as, well...glass.

Glass is in f*cking Confinement. She has been for six months. She knows she's going to die. If I knew I were going to die, I'd be thinking of my own mortality, not spending all that time mooning over a boy. As an example of how idiotic Glass's thought process goes, this is what she thinks upon seeing Luke again: "Being Luke’s ex-girlfriend somehow felt odder than being an escaped convict."

This book is too heavy on the romance, to the detriment of the plot. The remnants of the book is rendered utterly unsalvageable by the farcical actions of the main characters. I didn't have any trouble distinguishing between the four narrators, despite the fact that they are overwhelmingly similar in their idiocy. Not recommended, unless you want love shoved down your throat.

I'm gonna feel like a dick for saying this, but: watch the show instead.

I'm really utterly fascinated with the differences they made to the material, and I honestly feel that the television adaptation made it a much stronger work & story -- I could write a lengthy essay on every single change, but won't, to spare you. I can really only recommend the book for die-hard fans of the show (which is what I have become, ahahahahahahaha sob) and who may want more from their faves, specifically POV chapters from Clarke, Bellamy, and Wells. They all have a lot more backstory flashbacks which are pretty great and gutting, and the one thing I did love in the book that wasn't in the show was certain details about characters' past crimes & guilt. Literally every single character has some kind of darkness in them which I appreciated. There are some extra worldbuilding details that weren't in the show either, which I dig.

But! Again, my main enjoyment came only from having a predetermined attachment to these characters from the show. Nothing much happens in the book (the first season covers soooo much more ground); the romances are kinda rushed and slipshod; Clarke and Glass are pretty f*ckin' awful as characters because they spend the entire book mooning over their respective boyfriends (I really missed the strong, resilient, 'has no time for boys because f*ck this nonsense we need to survive' Clarke of the show).

Whereas the TV show features:
- a larger ensemble cast (so hey did you like Jasper, Monty, Abby, Kane, Raven, Finn, Murphy, Charlotte, etc? NONE OF THEM EXIST HERE),
- more strong female characters,
- paradoxically less focus on shipping despite creating a new love triangle,
- extremely compelling plot with the adults in the Ark,
- and the wonderful acting of the people inhabiting all these characters (JUST LEAVE ME HERE TO DIE).

I feel awful for saying it, but the book felt like an AU fic to the superior show, its main benefits coming in backstory & more Bellamy scenes & Bellamy/Clarke scenes because this is a situation, okay, you don't even want to talk to me about Bellarke, I've fallen down the rabbit hole and I'm never getting back out and I could write essays on them and please send help I am not okay

... but apart from that. It's a quick read, I blazed through it in one day. I'm interested to see what happens in the second book, at least, considering how the TV series and book series already vastly diverge from each other. As silly/ridiculous as it sounds, I will definitely continue buying and reading these purely because I enjoy the act of compare-and-contrast so much, not because they're actually... good books.

My reviews:
- Day 21 (#2)
- Homecoming (#3)
- Rebellion (#4)

My recaps of the show!
Episode 1 - The Embodiment of Stupidity
Episode 2 - To Survive, Be Idiots
Episode 3 - Everyone is Valuable, Except The Guy I Hate
Episode 4 - Double Standard Much?

“This sh*t is going to be a TV show?” was the first thing I thought of when I turned the last page of this book.

I was initially interested in 100 by Kass Morgan when I found out it was going to be adapted into a TV show on CW channel (I think. I may have got this wrong, so please correct me if I got it mixed up!). As I have mentioned over and over again in my reviews, Dystopia and Post-Apocalyptic remain as my favourite genres ever, so it's a no-brainer that I really wanted to get this book as soon as it was out. Conspiracies! Suspense! Thrills! I was expecting these all!

And yet...

Like many others before 100 by Kass Morgan...

It left me disappointed...

AGAIN.

It started with a bang. We're introduced to Clarke, imprisoned somewhere in a space settlement, for allegedly doing a heinous crime, a crime which was also related to her parents'. We're informed that in this world, as soon as a prisoner turns 18, he is granted a trial and can either go free or be put to death. Fortunately, Clarke has been chosen as one of the hundred teenage prisoners to be sent to Earth, their previous they left three hundred years ago due to the Cataclysm, an nuclear-something-radiation-something event that crippled their planet. They are to be sent there to find out if the world is still liveable, and if they survive, they will be pardoned of their felonies.

Sounds exciting, right? Yup, I was ecstatic myself. The general plot sounded like something that could attract A LOT of twists and conspiracies!

And then the romance came...

Which pretty much ruined this book for me.

What would you feel if you were stuck in a planet, all by yourself and 99 other strangers (okay, make that 97 because OF COURSE there has to be a love interest and that mandatory best friend), a planet, which, may I remind you, has been labeled toxic due to the immense radiation in the past? You'd think about survival... right? You'd at least TRY to set aside your feelings and think about how you could live for another day, right? Right. Of course. Any rational being would.

Unfortunately, Clarke and the rest of the three characters, which all have their own chapters, by the way (holy sh*t, four POVs?!), think otherwise. What could have been a really good sci-fi, action, post-apocalyptic dystopia turned into one mushy drama-rama, like those telenovelas from Latin America that my parents used to watch. That means a lot of conflictedfeewings,jealousies, love rages, etc. etc. It made me RAGE.

Imagine this: you just crashed into Earth with the other delinquents. You're a boy and you weren't supposed to be in this operation, but you risked your life in order to "protect" the girl you supposedly "love" but hates you because you betrayed her in the past. A lot of people have been killed on impact, a lot are injured, and a lot are dying. But you focus on that onespeshul girl and end the chapter with, "I'll make her fall in love with me."

If you're that kind of person, come here and let me punch you please. Many times.

I felt rage each and every chapter as soon as they got to Earth. Sure, there were some fighting over food, over equipment, over medicine, but those were in passing and in the larger scheme of things, were put aside for the romance aspect. The unnecessary, annoying part took a large percentage of the book that it drove me bat-sh*t insane. See, look here. If I wanted drama, I have other avenues for that (like my life, for instance) and I didn't sign up for it especially when the synopsis is all about Danger! Conspiracies! Survival! It was a constant questioning of WHO KISSED WHO, THEY KISSED WHERE, WHO IMPREGNATED WHO, WHO WAS SEEN EMBRACING WHO, and I'm like... f*ck you, boo. f*ck you very much.

Here's a very memorable quote that would make you want to punch a brick wall:

Clarke rose with a groan, her muscles stiff from their hike yesterday. But it was a good kind of pain; she'd walked through a forest that hadn't been seen by a single human being for 300 years. Her stomach squirmed as she thought about another distinction she'd inadvertently earned — the first girl to kiss a boy on Earth since the Cataclysm.

Um... congrats?

Awesome priorities, by the way. /sarcasm

And because the romance aspect was the number one priority, nothing really happened on Earth in this book. Yeah, like I said, there were some fighting here and there, but generally, all of it were just idle stuff. And when exciting events started to happen, BOOM! CLIFFHANGER! GOTTA BUY THE NEXT BOOK GAIS.

The writing was also very juvenile. I did not like it at all. I found no depth in it, and was very telling than showing. There were four narrators (Clarke, Wells, Bellamy, and Glass) and chapters rotated among them, each one having a present and a past thing, which made the flow of the story absolutely terrible and wonky. I kid you not that it gave me a migraine (I had to skip the last eighty percent because it was at that point that I GAVE ZERO f*ckS ANYMORE), and a lot of the past stuff were nonsensical gibberish that could have been omitted. Because of that, the characters lacked personalities as well.The characters were complete simpletons. Girl offends guy she kissed, he storms away, and she cries about it — all in 2 pages. Next chapter. Guy gets all moody, and both are acting like they had a nasty, drawn-out confrontation when it f*ckingbarely lasted half a page.

Aside from that, they were just flat, annoying, and stupid. Clarke was annoying. She's this holier-than-thou character, making herself the kindest of the group when I found her very self-righteous. Wells, on the other hand, is this dude who threw away everything (EVERYTHIIIING) to follow Clarke. He's borderline, Edward-creepy with his quest to make Clarke fall in love with him again (yes, of course! Because that is SO obviously important!) Of course, like any other typical YA, here comes Bellamy, the survivalist angry/co*cky loner whose role also includes the-mandatory-love-triangle! There's also Glass, another girl who managed to escape and get back to their space/moon settlement (how they got there we have no idea), who I found extremely superficial and shallow. Here she is, just escaped from a fate supposedly worse than death, and the first person she goes to is of course... her ex. Who she found is with another girl. DUN DUN DUN DUUUUUN... DRAMA ERRBODY!

Anyway, f*ck them.

I see reviews where they are praising the world-building, and I'm left scratching my head because I'm wondering if we even read the same books. World-building? What world-building? Unless you count that single sentence explaining there was a sort of nuclear-ish war 300 years ago and a paragraph of the shady judicial system as world-building, then yeah, okay, fine, but I'd have to disagree. How they even got to space and built their orbiting settlement were never even explained in depth (in fact, I'd wager it was never mentioned at all. YES, GREAT WORLD-BUILDING), making everything just one big blur.

All in all, I hated this book a lot. I read this while I was on a flight back home and I totally regretted it. I could have made my flight memorable if only I chose something better. I mean, I was disappointed in a lot of dystopia/post-apocalyptic books... what would make this any different? Should've known better. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS. If interested, I really think you're better off watching the show. It may be better than this crap and would probably explain the countless plotholes the novel has. I would imagine some things would be changed.

Final Verdict: NOT IMPRESSED.

OMG!!! This book. Bellarke FEELS!! If you watch the show and you're a Bellarke shipper you'll love it! ♥

There were characters missing from the show,like Finn or Jasper and Raven. BUT we had others to keep us company. Glass and Luke are so cute and their story is amazing! Octavia is less fierce in the books. And we had lovely POVs of lots of different characters,so that was interesting. Now the important stuff. BELLARKE. BELLAMY AND CLARKE. CLARKE AND BELLAMY. OTP ♥ I adore them so much!!

Beautifully written book,easily read,small and satisfying. LOVED IT ♥

I think about this book all the time, and to this day, I cannot actually believe this book spawned the first two seasons of the 100. How did the tv shows' creators make anything half-decent out of this sh*tshow?

A quick list of the reasons the book doesn't live up to the tv show
• Clarke is not a badass with complex morality
• she's a shallow, undeveloped prop for a love triangle because that’s what we need more of in YA
• Bellamy and Clarke have crappy romantic development. I don't even ship them hard in the show but their relationship is f*cking beautiful as a friendship too. Here, their relationship is creepy and based entirely on his abs. Hate it!!
• Wells is basically a creepy stalker, rather than a guy who wants Clarke to be happy even if he can't be a part of that
• Octavia is whiny and annoying rather than being a badass with a great character arc
• where the f*ck was Lincoln
• No Raven Reyes whatsoever
• was her character based on Glass?? Well, Glass sucks. In contrast Raven is my f*cking wife
• No subversion of a typical love triangle, meaning no takedowns of girl hate, meaning no book version of the Spacewalker episode, meaning no Raven and Clarke's gorgeous beautiful perfect relationship
• Every single character is white and straight?? oh my god there are literally no characters who aren't straight and white
• And of course it pulls the brutal-race-of-brown-people-trope out
• god knows the show was not immune to this trope but the show at least has major nonwhite characters, and the “other” are sympathetic
• Did I mention that there's literally no moral conflict? Or plot?
• Did I mention Raven was literally not here
• This had nothing to do with the tv show
• The tv show is somehow better
• Even though I hate season three with the burning passion of a thousand suns

DO NOT RECOMMEND. If I were writing this in another time I'd throw in a ringing endorsem*nt of the tv show, but unfortunately it got terrible [more racism, no moral conflicts, bury your gays, you’re still not game of thrones]. Shoutout to Raven and Clarke and Bellamy, miss y’all

I didn't hate this. I thought I would but I didn't.
I think if I hadn't already watched the show, and loved these characters I would have been extremely annoyed and frustrated with them. But since I went into the book with love of the characters and the world, things that typically would annoy me didn't.

But yeah I honestly only liked this because I love the show so much and because I FINALLY got a Bellarke kiss

DNF at 182 pages. It's not bad, it's just not terribly engaging, and there are too many POVs. Best to stop at this line:

There was no drug strong enough to repair a broken heart.

Let me pre-ample this review by saying I adore the TV show "The 100". A lot of this, I will admit, has to do with this:

BUT a greater part of that is because I think it does a superb job of showcasing humanity's strengths and weaknesses.

To say that Morgan's novel does the same would be a lie! Where the show is about survival, the book is - primarily - about human stupidity and the ridiculous sh*t we will do for "love".

I have often said I am not a romantic person, this is not entirely true. The truth is that I am a realist first and a romantic second. What this means is that I would do anything for love, to a point. Morgan's

To be clear; I would DIE for those I love, I would LIE, I would possibly KILL and I would bend or break the law, my morals and my ethics for those I love. I WOULD. I know, I would. However, I would NEVER sacrifice the ENTIRE of our species for it. THAT is f*cking absurd. It's not that I don't believe that someone would do it, it's that I think it sends the absolute wrong message.

Wells, isn't so "in love" with Clarke that he CAN NOT watch her die, people watch those they love die every day! Wells is SOOOOOO selfish that he would let all of humanity die just at the chance of saving her because he's AFFRAID. He isn't a hero, he's a f*cking COWARD! And highlighting him as a love interest rather than a psycho is a HORRIBLE idea.

Okay, so obviously I didn't HATE this story. There are some redeeming parts to this love-triangle dramafest. The most notable being Morgan's ability to actually keep four POVs distinguishable. (I hated two of them, but that's besides my point.)

She also got the sibling relationship between Bellamy and Octavia down wonderfully!! His motivations were amazingly understandable and for a girl who grew up with an older brother entirely relatable. Also, Octavia's frustrations. It is frustrating to have a human being not all that much older than you become insanely protective, I assure you. It is, however, valid.

Okay, so I've learned that if I like a TV series, unlike a movie, it DOESN'T mean I will like the books. (In fact this is three for three in the the-series-is-better category! *hangs head*)

Category: A Book at the Bottom of my To-Read List

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With a fantastic premise and an overall interesting plot, I can see why The 100 has already been signed on by CW as a TV series. If only it was tightened up with better character development and a stronger dedication to world building instead of establishing the romantic angle, it could have been a real page turner. Nevertheless, it's interesting enough to warrant a read. I believe its success will lay in the TV series, however.

100 teenagers are to be sent to earth after humans evacuated it 300 years prior due to a nuclear war. After only a brief introduction, we embark on this unnerving trip to a now foreign planet. While I enjoyed this quick drop into the big picture, I was left feeling like I'd missed the chance to get to know these people beforehand. We do get flashbacks throughout the book, which I first assumed would give us insight into the world and its characters, but it merely expands the romance with nothing but minor glimpses at the happenings inside the ship.

Consequently, The 100 left me with endless questions from the events that led to life on this ship, to how life has been sustained for three centuries, to how they have evolved and adapted, especially technologically speaking. I find it hard to believe they haven't been able to use satellites or other technology to keep track of Earth's condition to some extent. Furthermore, when they get to earth, aside from it being regrettably unexciting for a while, I was unconvinced at how they could adapt so easily - they don't seem to be affected by the sun or foreign bacteria (like those found in all water sources) for instance.

This leads me to problems in terms of character development. First and foremost, four POVs is not an easy feat, so it was not unexpected to find little to no variation between character voices. I kept needing to pay attention to recall which POV I was reading. And don't forget my mention of flashbacks on top of it! If we speak individually, whether due to the number of perspectives or simply poor character building, the characters are hard to grasp. It's difficult to see them as real people, or as anything other than plot devices. How can a kid raised in a ship be an instant pro at hunting prey, to the point of being able to shoot a bird with a bow and arrow in a matter of days (or maybe a couple of weeks, either is unrealistic) with minimal effort? Additionally, being the first humans to arrive on this planet in centuries, who then must depend on each other to survive, we get a group dynamic that remains mostly superficial. I would have expected this to be the driving force of a story with such a setting.

It may sound like I have a lot of negative to say about this book and thus telling you you should not read it, but this is not the case. In the end I have to admit that it kept my interest from start to finish due to its fascinating premise and my love of survival stories. The book's short chapters makes it a quick read, add some frightening turn of events on top of an ending that stirs up the pot and we have ourselves an entertaining read despite its flaws. A lot depends on the sequel at this point. If the author puts effort into making her world solid and her plot sustainable, I think it could be one of those that's better rated as a series than its individual installments. I would recommend this one to fans of the TV series Lost and sci-fi romance.

--
An advance copy was provided by the publisher for review.

For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads

･:*:･ﾟ⁀➷ 3/5 ★

A decent read! 🤍🤍 i haven't read a dystopian in what feels like forever, so this was super fun despite the issues i had with it 💌

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

Tropes:
🪐 Dystopian
🪐 Sci-fi elements
🪐 Love triangle
🪐 Multiple povs

i picked this up pretty randomly bc I needed something quick & easy to read, and you know what, this definitely delivered on that. Definitely not my fav but I had a good time 🫶

I think the entertainment factor is definitely the best part of the book ✨️ The writing is pretty to the point and it's also really short, which made it soo easy to fly through. Definitely a very bingeable read if you're in a reading slump! 🫶🫶 I enjoyed the plot and learning more about the world throughout the book, and there were so many interesting plot twists. The way it was written was that we had the present timeline but we also got to see flashbacks of all the characters' backstories and there was so much drama hehe 🤭🤭

“Octavia was the only person in the world who truly knew him. There was no one else he really cared about ever seeing again. But then he glanced over Clarke, who was leaning over to breathe in the scent of a bright pink flower, the sun catching the gold strands in her hair, and suddenly he wasn't so sure.”

However, the book did feel pretty surface level 🫤 Neither the characters or the romance felt particularly well-developed and bc of that, I couldn't develop an actual emotional connection to the story. The love triangle going on was actually so irritating and also some of the decisions made by the characters were downright idiotic. i really wanted to slap one character in particular at one point 😤😤

“But Bellamy had been doing stupid things his whole life, and he had no intention of stopping now.”

Overall, it was fun! 🫶🫶 It made me feel like I was reading Hunger Games and Divergent for the first time again and I would recommend if you're looking for:

✔ Bingeable
✔ Super simple writing
✔ Sci fi/dystopian vibes

A mediocre review for a mediocre book 💌

Side note: if you've watched the show, do you think it's worth watching? 👀

:*:･ﾟ･:*:･ﾟ･:*:･ﾟ･:*:･ﾟ･:*:･ﾟ･:*:･ﾟ･:*:･ﾟ･:*:･ﾟ

A fun read that brought me back to my dystopian era 💌 but unfortunately I just couldn't connect to the characters or romance 🫤

Rtc🌷

The top of the review space says : What did you think?

What did I think? I think I'm out. That's what I think. DNF @ 40%.

There were too many PoV's. As well, there were too many flashbacks for too many PoV's. And let's not forget that I get iffy when there's too much flirting/pining/romance when it starts to choke out a great sci-fi concept.

Sadly, I'm not even sure if the show is going to work for me. When all the kids ran off the ship in a very non-cautious and jubilant way, I think my mouth dropped open. My husband casually remarked, "they're teenagers. What did you expect?"

I think I'm gonna have to give teens way more credit than that. Engaging in drunken antics which you end up regretting the next morning is not equal to disembarking a spaceship without concern on a possibly dangerous, contaminated, and uninhabited planet.

One thing I have learned about all post-apocalyptic and/or dystopia shows : everyone owns leather jackets, cargo pants, and combat boots. IN THE FUTURE, JEANS, T-SHIRTS, and RUNNING SHOES DON'T EXIST! Also, hair dye and makeup are always plentiful, even when you're nowhere near civilization

For those who've watched the show...is Glass from the book even on the show, or did I miss something here?

I've been watching the show since it first aired and am ashamed to admit I didn't know there was a book it was based on.

Having read this, I understand why changes were made for the show's purposes but I feel the book really did more with the characters. It was written in a style I felt was engaging and engrossing overall; however, some of the characters relied heavily on tropes and had flimsy, foolish motivations at times. For that reason the plot stretched disbelief in some places while wearing patience elsewhere.

Nonetheless, it was entertaining with a few genuine twists whether or not you've watched the show. I'll eventually read on with the series to see what comes of it but I'll say it's an exciting, interesting start so far.

4,5
Empecé a leer el libro por que la serie de Los 100 me encantó y dije bueno vamos a ver que tal, y ahora mismo estoy enamorada. Puede ser que me haya encantado tanto por que mi otp de la serie (Bellarke) tienen acción y más momentos juntos que en la serie y eso me ganó por que es lo que más espero. Bueno voy a dejar de comparar el libro con la serie, pero me ha encantado.

Es una lectura rápida y muy entretenida y todos los puntos de vista te hacen ver como viven y por qué cada uno hizo lo que hizo y me impresionó ver cómo muchos de ellos se han sacrificado tanto por otros, no sé, es genial. Si queréis leer algo rápido que engancha y que tenga muchos sentimientos conflictivos, Los 100 es infinitamente recomendado.

Humans had abandoned Earth during its darkest hour. It wouldn’t care how many died trying to return.

He tasted like joy, and joy tasted better on Earth.

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

I picked The 100 up

50% Damon.

50% Stefan.

Random percentage who love not only one of the Salvatore brothers, but also love Klaus.

Just me? Naaaaaaaah, I didn’t think so.

So when the premise for The 100 was the populous residing on a (soon-to-be uninhabitable) space station for the past 300 years due to Earth being evacuated after a nuclear holocaust, and the only for the survival of civilization is in the hands of 100

(Get it? LORDE of the Flies? Ha! I kill me!)

When it comes to The 100, make sure you go in with low expectations. Are they lowered? Okay, lower them even more until you reach something a little more along these lines:

There’s not a whole lot of action to be had in this first book (unless your definition of “action” means tonsil-hockey). However, it wasn’t completely terrible either. Think of this as a giant introduction – you’re dealing with backstory and character history/development of FOUR narrators (plus their families/significant others), along with world building, etc., etc., but there’s not a whole heck of a lot covered with respect to the nitty-gritty of what happens to “the 100” after their arrival on Earth. That’s what Day 21 is for (well, that’s what I’m hoping it’s for). Good news is, Day 21 is also available as an instant read on NetGalley. Crossing my fingers for a little less talk and a lot more action in in the next installment.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

Este libro me atrapó muchísimo, creo que es por el parecido con Lost (mi serie favorita), ya que esta contado de la misma forma y el punto de partida de la historia también es similar.

La historia tuvo picada mi curiosidad hasta el final, incluso los capítulos finales fueron los más intrigantes de todos.

I initially gave The 100 three stars, but after starting the TV show, I’ve realized how much better this book could have been. And it could have been 1000x better.

After a nuclear winter almost destroyed earth, what was left of the population had to turn to space to keep the human race alive. They are what they call the “colony” and have been living in space for what has been three hundred years. But their home has begun break and fall apart, and so 100 criminals are sent on a desperate mission to earth to see if the planet is survivable.

That sounded interesting enough to read about to me. But what could have been a great sci-fi and dystopian novel was instead a mushy gushy novella-like tale with no shortage of drama. I was really expecting a survival story of the 100 fighting radioactive apes or zombies or SOMETHING when they reached earth, but nope, I found something else entirely.

One of the things that bothered me the most was the utter lack of world building. The amount of details and information not given was ridiculous. First of all, we are told no good reason as to why humans had to abandon earth. This is, for real, all we get:

As nuclear and biological war threatened to destroy Earth, space had been the only option for those lucky enough to survive the first stages of the cataclysm.

Second of all, the colony puts the 100 (young children and teenagers btw) on a rickety drop ship and shoots them in the general direction of what was once east coast USA. Besides only one month of total provisions, they are sent with nothing but bracelets that monitor its user’s vital signs. But that’s it. They send juvenile children to a desolate, possibly radiation soaked planet with no way to communicate with them and I just had to shake my head.

There are four main characters, each with their own POV: Clarke, Wells, Bellamy and Glass. They’ve each broken the law in some way or another and their crimes (besides Bellamy’s) are slowly revealed throughout the book by way of flashbacks.

Bellamy, the hot-headed rebel who always thinks he knows best was my favorite for sure.

Now she was being given a second chance at life. And Bellamy was going to make damn sure she got it. He didn’t care what he had to do. He was going to Earth with her.

But everyone else? These people who were given a chance at a new beginning? Yeah, they spend the book wrapped around their love lives.

Exhibit A:

Clarke rose with a groan, her muscles stiff from their hike yesterday. But it was a good kind of pain; she’d walked through a forest that hadn’t been seen by a single human being in three hundred years. Her stomach squirmed as she thought about another distinction she’d inadvertently earned-the first girl to kiss a boy on Earth since the Cataclysm.

I was the most disappointed with Glass. I found her storyline to be ENTIRELY pointless. Glass wasn’t a part of the 100, but actually remained within the colony. I saw a lot of potential there, but she was not utilized properly. I thought her character would be used for us to witness all the inner workings and politicking going on by the Chancellor and the rest of the colony’s government, but unfortunately, we don’t get any of that stuff. All her pages were filled with the drama between her and her boyfriend. It contributed nothing to the plot and I felt that it was an absolute waste of space.

After finishing this book, I was actually extremely wary about watching the show. While I found reading the book to be funny. It’s not something I would like to watch on tv. But the show totally wins. It’s sooooooo much better! It’s everything this book could have and should have been. It’s actually about survival, and while it does have some drama (it’s a CW show after all), it’s tells a great story about people having to war with their humanity in order to survive.

And blessedly, Glass’ character doesn’t even exist!

If you find the plot interesting, I recommend for you to just watch the show. But with that being said, this book wasn’t ALL bad. I was still entertained and others probably would be as well. I don’t know why, but I found all the angst and drama (though bizarre) to be very amusing for some reason and I had a great time snickering and shaking my head at the characters. I think I might actually want to read book 2 someday. When I’m REALLY bored.

2 – 2.5 stars for Bellamy

P.S. Why on earth is Finn on the cover of this book? He's not in the book!

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I sort of really don't want to read this, but I would like to try out the show.

Crossing my fingers this won't be as cheesy as I fear it will be.
Here goes nothing!

It's been a full 24 hours since I read this, but I CANNOT stop thinking about it! I am obsessed. I am sitting here impatiently waiting for the last two books in the series to get in my mailbox so I can marathon them both. Probably in one sitting. It's that good.
This is one of those books that completely surprised me, and a combination of beautiful (and seemingly effortless) writing, plus really cool characters, and an AWESOME/totally original storyline has sucked me in and consumed me.
READ. THIS. BOOK.

Saw a clip for the CW show, and all I can say is that it looks awesome! Now, I'm super excited for this book. Plus...this is generally what I think about YA books being made into television shows:

Edit after watching 2 seasons of the TV Show in less than a week:

You guys ditch this book and go watch the TV Show like right now! It's 10 times better I kid you not.

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So I basically read this book only because I heard so many great things about the tv show. I didn’t hate it, it was definitely a good story but I didn’t love it either, mainly because of the writing style.

The ones I hated:

Wells:

The stupidest idiot I’ve ever read about. He took some very questionable decisions throughout this novel.
« But Wells knew there was no other way. To save the girl he loved, he’d have to endanger the entire human race. »
Seriously, Wells ?

Clarke :

Not my favorite main character, even though there was nothing really wrong with her but I just couldn’t connect with her or relate to her at all. Needless to say that the love triangle didn’t help.

The ones I liked :

Bellamy & Octavia :

I actually loved their story line especially all the flashbacks about their past and everything they’ve been through to keep Octavia alive.

Glass :
My favorite storyline.
For some reason I can’t find any picture of her from the tv show. Please don’t tell me she’s not in it!
Her whole story was just so interesting and heart breaking at the same time. I won’t go into details because of spoilers, but I will say that the chapters from her POV saved this book for me.

Ships ?

I didn’t ship anyone with Clarke. There, I said it.
She was just jumping back and forth between two guys (Bellamy and Wells), which is a huge turn off for me.

I wanted to love this with all of my heart, I truly did. The show is not terrible, but the book just left me disappointed.(except that one character that dies in the show in the first few episodes but is not dead in the books, although he is very hate-able in the book but likable in the show)It is:Wells

Also Finn is not in the book, I have no idea why there are covers with his face on, he is literally an invention for the show.

Now let us talk about two main things, plot and characters, since everything else is not really worth talking about, since I could find no redeeming qualities in this novel except the fact that the show is based off of it.

Plot: Same plot as the show, except it takes for ever for anything to happen here, and when it does is a lot of things we do not care for, or that don't make as much sense at all. It is basically a bunch of kids truing to make a fire during the day, while in the show they encounter grounders, betrayals, a hunt for their original destination, loves and friendships are formed. Yep I must have definitely skipped that part in the book since the plot has no development.

Characters: So you know Bellamy? Strong?Handsome?Intelligent?Caring?Militia-leading?Good-hearted but hides it because doesn't know how to deal with his feelings? Yep, he is not in the book. There is someone with a similar name, but he is a doormat with no depth. You remember Clarke right? The boss of the show? Well versed in medicine? The kick-ass? Cares about others? Leader that alongside Bellamy must make hard decisions? Nope, she is literally the cause of the problem, because some imbecile was so in love with her that he risked everyone else's life on the spaceship. Freaking Wells destroys the tree that gives them air so he can be punished to be sent with her. YOU SIR ARE AN ASSHOLE!. Octavia is not Octavia, she is an insolent child with no distinguishable characteristics. There is Glass and Luke but they are so irrelevant that I don't even want to discuss them. Jasper? Monty?Murphy? I don't even think they were mentioned, and they could have added so much to the plot.
This is not the post-apocalyptic book the series presents, but rather a very weak and unnecessary way to introduce a love triangle. There is literally so little world building that you are just left confused and with a desire to burn the book from every library on earth and stop the distribution of such idiocy.

Oh and I forgot about the writing, let me summarize my opinion with a few quotes:
“But I should warn you… I’ll probably take off my shirt at some point.”
“Bellamy leaned back with a sigh and closed his eyes, wondering how long it would take until she stopped being the last person he thought about before he fell asleep.”
“I love you" he whispered in her ear. No matter how many times she heard them words, they never ceased to make her shiver.”
"To save the girl he loved, he’d have to endanger the entire human race."
"He co*cked his head to the side and surveyed Clarke quizzically. The skin under her eyes was bruised with exhaustion, but the purple shadows just made them look greener."

UPDATE 22/02/2021 - content warnings added

CW: attempted sexual assault, quite a bit of violence, and heavy issues such as medical experiments on kids, drug addiction, suicide and euthanasia.

Well I enjoyed the TV series more.

There is a whole story arc in the book that they never pursued in the TV series. For good reason. It was way too yearny and quite frankly boring. I just didn't care about Glass (really?) and the sad sap she was crushing on. I was literally willing the ship to plummet to the woefully described world beneath. I say world but really I mean island. That's right. The 100 landed on an episode of Love Island. If you enjoy books about teens tent hopping on school camp then you will enjoy this.

First read: July 2015 - 3.5 stars
Second read: May 2016 - 4 stars
Still: an amazing start to an amazing trilogy! I don't know why these books aren't more popular, the plot is fantastic, the characters feel so real, it's so good!

The tv show is one of my absolute favourites, so going into this book, I didn't actually have very high expectations. I'd heard that the book was very different to the show, and since I love the show, I wasn't too sure on what to expect. However, this book was exactly what I needed to feed my cravings whilst the tv show is on break until later in the year!

The story is different, and I liked hearing about the characters that have no appearance on the show. I mean, anything that involves Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin I am bound to love. For me, the story was a compelling read which I finished in one day. Although, if I hadn't watched the show before I'd read the book, I highly doubt I would've liked it as much as I did. It got 3 stars due to me recognising that I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much without watching the tv show, although, I would definitely recommend this to any 'The 100' fans waiting for the show to come back!

ahh I loved this! It is so insanely different from the amazing tv show but I still love it! I read this for one reason, bellarke ACTUALLY happens. I am obsessed with the tv show and in love with ALL the characters.

.I'm very glad that there is at least one version of this story that fricken amazing bellamy doesn't die.

my fav parts

1. when bell and clarke kissed in the woods
2. bellamy's flashbacks
3. every chapter glass narrated

Llegué a este libro sabiendo que había tanto personas que lo adoraban como personas que lo odiaban, unas decían que era súper cursi y no se centraba en la historia y otros decían que estaba bien tal como estaba. Yo estoy en un punto medio: el libro me gustó, pero podría haber sido mucho mejor. Me explico:

Los 100 tiene una premisa súper interesante: los últimos hombres y mujeres de la raza humana están viviendo desde hace 300 años en una especie de nave espacial porque sus antecesores tuvieron que escapar de la Tierra por culpa de un invierno nuclear. Hasta ahí todo súper guay. En esa nave espacial, están divididos por sectores (que vienen a ser más o menos clase sociales) y para mantener el orden, las reglas son muy estrictas... al igual que los castigos. Es por eso que hay un montón de jóvenes criminales encerrados que, básicamente, están esperando a su cumpleaños número 18 para que los juzguen una segunda vez, revisen su crimen y, de todas maneras, los condenen a muerte. Insisto, hasta aquí la idea del libro pinta genial.

Ahora bien, el libro realmente empieza cuando nos enteramos de que van a seleccionar a 100 de esos jóvenes criminales para enviarlos en una misión a la Tierra. Ellos tendrán que llegar allí y ver si el planeta ha vuelto a ser habitable: si se puede respirar, si la radiación ya no es dañina, etc... De nuevo, este libro tiene todos los elementos para ser genial, el problema es que no los aprovecha.

Desde un primer momento nos presentan a unos 8 o 10 personajes que tienen historias diferentes. Cada uno va un poco por su lado, aunque hay ocasionales interacciones entre ellos. El punto es que el libro está contado desde por lo menos seis ángulos diferentes que, aunque siguen el mismo hilo temporal de la historia, a la vez están tan separados y tan concentrados en explicarnos la historia detrás de cada personaje, que la trama realmente no avanza mucho y se queda un poco estancada.

Que sí, que es importante conocer las relaciones que hay entre Wells, Clarke, Bellamy, Luke, Glass, Olivia (la odio) y los demás, pero sentí que el libro se quedó en eso: en una introducción. Aunque, debo admitirlo, los capítulos de Glass y Luke en la estación espacial lograban darle un poco más de ritmo a todo, sobre todo al final que es cuando realmente se revela el porqué envían a gente a la Tierra y qué está pasando realmente con la estación espacial.

A pesar de todo, no me molestó demasiado el uso constante de flashbacks. De hecho, creo que en cierto punto me gustaban más que la historia del presente, jajaja... Aunque luego la historia del presente, como dije antes y sobre todo en las últimas cincuenta páginas, se pone tremendamente intensa. Y, por supuesto, como era de esperarse, la autora termina el libro en un cliffhanger diseñado para que quieras empezar a leer de inmediato Los 100: Día 21.

I'm glad I watched the TV show first, because while it is a great TV show, it is a boring book. It feels like this is only half of a book. It's only 213 pages and not much happens except the kids crash land on Earth. From there it's 150 pages of whining and moaning, most of it about boys. I think the entire book is covered in the pilot of the show.

I quite enjoyed this book.

Loved seeing the different perspectives and flashbacks, those added a little something extra to the novel.

It was also fun picking out the similarities and differences to the TV Show, which I love so much.

I didn't feel a great connection to the characters in this book, but there was definitely something there, so hopefully it grows when I read the next 2 books!

3 Stars for The 100 (audiobook) Kass Morgan read by Phoebe Strole.

I think this premise is interesting but overall the story just didn’t work for me. After reading other reviews it seems many think that the TV show better. Maybe I’ll give it a try.

Perfect read for everyone craving to deep dive into the dystopian era nostalgia!!!
As a dystopia genre fan myself, this book was quite a solid work and I understand why we received a quite lengthy TV series, which I btw also HEAVILY recommend to watch!!m :))