Review: The 100 by Kass Morgan

The 100 by Kass Morgan
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date:
Purchase: Amazon / B&N

In the future, humans live in citylike spaceships orbiting far above Earth's toxic atmosphere. No one knows when, or even if, the long-abandoned planet will be habitable again. But faced with dwindling resources and a growing populace, government leaders know they must reclaim their homeland...before it's too late.
Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent on a high-stakes mission to recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the teens arrive on a savagely beautiful planet they've only seen from space. Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a tentative community. But they're haunted by their past and uncertain about the future. To survive, they must learn to trust-and even love-again.

My Thoughts:
This book is all about controlled Chaos.  Every storyline has a certain intensity to it that kept me on the edge wondering what was going to happen next and when the big BOOM would happen.  Unfortunately nothing huge happens until the final chapters, but we do get a lot of background information that definitely sets the scene for an awesome sequel.

The 100 is sort of like Lord of Flies but more controlled.  Basically everyone that survived the fall of Earth has been living on a spaceship for the last 300 years.  There are many rules as you can imagine to keep everyone under control and the population manageable.  When someone was convicted of a crime if they were a minor then they would go to confinement until their eighteenth birthday where then they would have a retrial with the hope of being pardoned.  Trouble is nobody has been pardoned in a long time.  The time has come for everybody to return to Earth so the Chancellor has decided to take 100 minors who have been convicted and put them on a ship back to Earth to see if it is ready for humans.  If they 100 die then no harm done right?  That is everyone's thinking who is involved, but the 100 that are sent are determined to live and show that they deserve a chance at life.

The premise is so cool!  I loved the whole idea behind it and I honestly thought that when the 100 emerged from the wreckage it would be mass chaos.  The opposite actually happened.  Yes there were fights and disagreements, but for the most part everything was pretty well controlled and the 100 sort of worked together.  I loved this!  It gave the book an even more edgy feel because you know that this will not last and I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

This book has a lot of POV's and I mean a lot.  It was kinda hard in the beginning to keep up with who was who, but after awhile I got it.  I liked that we had views from both the ship and Earth.   This shows that not everything is peachy on either and that things are about to get really rough for everybody.  Two huge bombs are dropped at the last minute and man it really makes me pine for the sequel!  I wasn't expecting what happened at all and I can only guess what will happen next.

I found out that this book is being made into a series and I can see it.  The cast of characters do have sort of a soap operay feel to them.  There is all kinds of love, relationships, break ups, and self sacrificing going on and I think that will translate well to the TV.  In the books though I am hoping that some of that is toned down.  I like most of the characters but the love triangle and drama got to be a little old.  I wanted more of the world building and major storyline instead of teenage stuff, but it did set the stage so it did help.

All in all a pretty good start to what I hope is an amazing series!

4 Snowflakes