Book Review: The 100 by Kass Morgan (@kassmorganbooks & @The100)



Title: The 100
By: Kass Morgan
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 9780316234498
Pages: 336

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 
The 100 is a futuristic story based in a time 300 years post-apocalyptic earth on a space station type of town hovering over earth. We know the earth was soaked in radiation during "The Cataclysm", but little information is given as to what was the cause. You are given pieces of information at a time through the course of several of the main character's (Wells, Clarke, Bellamy and Glass) points of view.

This story is geared toward young adult readers, so the pieces were pretty easy for me to put together. I wasn't taken off guard by any of the twists or turns…but a younger reader would easily be. I cannot even think of anything that would not be appealing to either female or male teenager for this book.

I can honestly tell you, I have never in my long reading career read a book so short on description and enjoyed it! There are 323 pages of straight-to-the-point story. The author is masterful in this style of writing. You're hooked and you don't even realize you didn't get a great deal of description. I didn't realize until my son started reading this book and asked me if Clarke was the blond girl in the TV show. At that point I realized I didn't know what Clarke looked like. I had an image of her in my head based solely on her personality portrayal. It takes quite a skill to do something like that, have the reader create a character visually without any help from the author, and still successfully create characters that the reader has an attachment to. I have read many books that lacked description of their characters and cannot remember one story where the author successfully managed to create an attachment to that character.

This is great for young readers. It's an easy read, action-packed. The pace is fast and geared to grab and hold a person's attention. I just eagerly starting the second book and I will be very excited to read the third!
Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received The 100 at no cost for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

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