Author : Kass Morgan
Publisher : Little Brown Books for Young Readers
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.CLARKE 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.
As stated in the summary of this book, The 100 is about 100 juvenile delinquents who were sent to earth on a mission. That premise sounds interesting and it intrigued me. The 100 is a dystopian young adult book sets in space and earth. This book is told from four different perspective. Our first character, Clarke, was arrested because of her parents. Her parents somehow involved in an illegal experiment. Her parents were executed while she's confined. Wells is the chancellor's son. In the 100 universe, chancellor is the equivalent of president. Wells intentionally did a crime so he's arrested and being sent to earth. He did it all because of the girl that he loves. While Bellamy, like Wells, went to the extreme so he could follow his sister Octavia to the earth. The last main character is Glass. In a riot, she manages to escape the transport pod and back to the spaceship.
Based on these four characters, the story is split into two storyline. The first is the earth survival storyline with Clarke, Wells, and Bellamy. While in the second storyline we follow Glass back in the spaceship. It helps me knowing what is happening on both sides. So that's a plus point. There's also a lot of flashback which help me learning more about each characters. This book starts with the hundred being sent to earth and I didn't really know much about them or why they're sent to earth. That's another plus point.
One thing that I have a problem with is the romance aspect of this book. Being in love supposed to make the character more appealing. It makes them realistic, or should I say makes them 'human'. But in this book, falling in love is too much. They all are juvenile for God's sake, yet they feel like the person that they're falling in love with is their soul mate for life. Maybe that's because they think that they don't have much of a choice. I mean, the spaceship only holds like what, thousands of people? Not to mention that only a hundred people are sent to earth. Maybe that's why.
I also think that this book is lacking in the world building department. I need more back story on how the government system was built and why they end up on space in the first place. The nuclear war which is told as the reason why they left earth is not enough for me. How big was the nuclear war? The people who survive the war and now live in space, who are they? Do they represent the whole countries on earth, or what? There are just too many questions. I'm hoping some of them are revealed more in the sequel. I don't really recommend this book if you're looking for an action packed dystopian novel. But I'll definitely read the sequel of The 100.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.
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