Review: The 100 by Kass Morgan

Title: The 100 (The Hundred)

Author: Kass Morgan

Genre: Sci-Fi/Dystopian

POV: Third Person (switches between four main character's POVs each chapter)

Average Rating: 3.49

My Rating: 2.5

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Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | Chapters/Indigo

The 100 follows a society living above the Earth after a nuclear war made it un-livable. However, now that's it's been hundreds of years since, the leaders of the society have decided to send people down to test the livability of Earth. Their test subjects? 100 teens that have been convicted and await their 18th birthdays until they're re-trialed and most-likely executed.
We see the story through four pairs of eyes as each chapter follows a different character in third person. Clarke was arrested for treason; Wells will do anything to get back the girl; Bellamy just wants to protect his sister; and Glass is about to discover that the ship isn't as safe as she always thought.

Within The 100, we get to see the two different settings we're most interested in; the ship, and Earth.
Within the ship are three different colonies; Phoenix, Walden, and Arcadia. Phoenix consists of the most privileged, where Walden and Acadia consist of the lower class who become guards, and work to provide basic needs (food, sanitation, materials). Through Glass, and flashbacks in other's POVs, we get to see daily life on the ship as well as the justice system and relationships between the different colonies.
We don't get to venture too far when the ship lands on Earth. The teens simply make camp and wait to either die or be rescued. They land in a forest, and from descriptions of what Earth looks like from space, it seems that almost the whole planet is covered in forest (but we can't be certain). The biggest difference is when we get to see animals. After radiation wiped the planet, the animals all evolved, and the descriptions of the animals we see are pretty cool!

Here's where I can talk about my problems with this book. I loved the concept and found the premise very interesting, but I think it could've been executed better. The writing just fell flat for me. I found the secrets very easy to guess minus maybe two? And while the constant flashbacks were fun, some of them felt unnecessary and the only major purpose for them was to explain thing I'd already figured out and weave all the character's lives together.
I liked that each character had a complex past, but it never showed through in their personality or behavior. Everything the characters did seemed to be all impulse and I hate to say it but, stupidity. Even when a character tried to justify something for themselves, it just didn't make sense.
And the romance? It completely took priority over the plot. Every single character is in their own horrible and stupid situation solely because of their mostly romantic (and rarely platonic) feelings for someone else. I picked up this book because the plot intrigued me, and then there was no plot. The only rising action I found was after the non-climatic climax to explain the climax and then a cliff-hanger that was never even foreshadowed.
If it weren't for the short length, and flipping back and forth from different perspectives, I'm not sure that I would've gotten through the book.

I picked up this book because I've heard nothing but amazing things about it's TV adaptation on the CW. In the end, this book is definitely made for the screen and I'll still be watching the show despite my dislike of the book. As for the second and upcoming third book, I'll try to read them, but I won't be wasting my time if I find the plot nonexistent and the writing flat, again.
If you like a sci-fi/dystpoian setting and romance being the driving force, I'd recommend this book for you, but unfortunately, it was not for me.

Have you read The 100? Do you watch the TV show? Let me know your thoughts in a comment or hit me up on Twitter!