The 100 Book Series Review- 5 Stars!

Today's Tea Choice: Starbucks Iced Pecan Crunch Latte

Trigger Warnings: apocalyptic situations, death, some gore, animal hunting/killing scenes, grief, and death

Genre: post apocalyptic sci-fi

Pages:

Book 1: 323

Book 2: 320

Book 3: 345

Book 4: 352

Summary of Book 1(goodreads.com):

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.

My Review:

How would you deal with the end of civilization? What’s the scariest situation you can imagine?

In recent years, I’ve began to explore other sci-fi subgenres, especially ones that scare me and explore end-of-the-world themes. But despite my fear to confront these themes and dark topics, I was blown away with Kass Morgan’s series. Between the setting details, background lore, POV changes, and plot progression, this is a phenomenal series that many authors interested in post-apocalyptic literature can learn from.

What I loved:

Writing must always start with a phenomenal hook, no matter if it’s a novel or even an essay! In my undergraduate literature and English classes, I always remind my students to start your essay (or short story, or novel) with a punchy hook that will grab the reader’s attention.

On the very first page, and the first line, Kass Morgan writes:

The door slid open, and Clarke knew it was time to die (Morgan 1).

I had to re-read this sentence a few times. Not only does it start with a potential character death, but it’s incredibly concise and catchy. Much to the annoyance of my sleeping husband (I tend to read very late) I kept saying “wow” each time I read this line.

This is how you know you’ve found a book gem, something that will transport you away to a different time, world, or place.

Characters and POV: Each of the characters had their own distinct personality, and through the POV we learn more about the main characters- Bellamy, Clarke, Wells, and Glass- and how they handle each life-or-death situation. For example, Glass is stuck on the dying mothership cradling the last humans alive, and we get to see how she deals with the rigid class structure and super strict laws in each sector. Although all of humanity was meant to be equal, we slowly learn that each sector represented a social class along with the desperate measures the rich socialites will take to preserve themselves. For a while, Glass is the only way we get a perspective of what’s going on in the ship and how society is handling the limited resources.

Meanwhile on earth, Bellamy, Clark, and Wells are learning more about the planet they only dreamed of but never explore due to deadly levels of radiation from nuclear warfare. As the one hundred delinquent teens land on the planet, our MCs each adapt a different role in society. There’s Bellamy the hunter and provider (who also has amazing self preservation skills because of his time on one of the lower class sectors), Clarke, the medical student, who must heal and treat any major wounds or illnesses despite her lack of complete training, and Wells, the leader. While nobody appointed Wells as the leader, he takes up this role fairly easily when he sees chaos is about to break out. However, he is resented for this, since his father, the Chancellor(the space equivalent of the president) was responsible for sending these teens to the potentially deadly planet. Everyone assumes he’s haughty and desperate for power, but he quickly makes it known that he’s nothing like his father and wants to create an equal society with reasonable punishments (like not being killed over stealing a piece of food to feed yourself).

Each chapter starts with a new POV, and I really liked that Morgan showed us the way each teen viewed the others, questioning their motives and whether they can be trusted under these life-or-death scenarios. Each character’s motivation is also clear, with a defined understanding of what they fear and love the most.

Setting details: This is one area of the series that Kass Morgan mastered. For the first few chapters, we get a sense of the ship’s layout and equipment, living situations etc., but once the characters land on Earth and see their first sunrise and sunset, sensing nature’s beauty still prevails, it’s a magical reading experience. In later chapters and books, Morgan also describes the post-apocalyptic atmosphere of Earth in scary detail. Below layers of accumulated soil are the roads we once traveled, some homes and city buildings nearly preserved with the victims dying during nuclear winter.

We also get to see how the radiation mutated some of earth’s common species. When Bellamy goes hunting and brings back a kill, everyone is shocked to see a two-headed deer over his shoulders. Some plants and trees have even become bioluminescent!

Without spoiling too much, we also get to see other parts of earth, and how society dealt with the incoming end of the world.

Dialogue: Morgan is also skilled at writing authentic dialogue with appropriate pauses/interruptions, questioning tones, and showing tension without describing it in too much detail. Dialogue tags were sparse and dispersed, making it easy for readers to focus on the character exchanges. Additionally, similar to the POV changes, each character had a distinct way of speaking or interacting, making them stand out in a pretty large cast.

Plot: Throughout each book, every single chapter propelled the plot forward and progressed the story instead of bogging it down in too much exposition. I lost track of time easily with each installation, staying up way too late because I just had to see what happened next!

What Needed Improvement:

While the plot details were phenomenal and engaging, I felt a bit confused with the antagonist arc. While books 1-3 focus on a specific faction on Earth (that’s right: some people lived), the primary battle was glanced over, and then a cult-like group was focused on in the last book. Since this major Earth faction grew in intensity throughout the first three books, I wish this was covered more with a grander battle instead of it ending quickly and changing gears to a new antagonist.

I also wish there was more physical character description. While the reader gets a sense of what each character’s role is and how they behave with others, the sparse descriptors made it difficult to envision the characters in these scenes. For example, I know that Glass is blonde and Clarke has reddish hair, but otherwise, I can’t remember any distinguishing features. This is an important reminder for aspiring authors that even if your setting descriptions and lore/backstory are detailed, your characters must be, too.

Authors Can Learn:

• How to write immersive setting details, especially with post apocalyptic sci-fi novels, even pulling on real-life fears of today and incorporating them into a darker tomorrow.

• The importance of showing varying character perspectives and adding nuanced differences to each.

• How to build plot tension and make every chapter count to progress the story instead of weighing it down in too much detail.

Readers Will Love This For:

A phenomenal post-apocalyptic survival series that makes you root for each character, no matter their faults or motives. The series is also an interesting take on what will happen to humanity in the future if we never learn to work through our differences and destroy each other.

I give this series 5 stars.

Kyla