The 100 series: The 100 & The 100: Day 21 by Kass Morgan
Received From: Publicist
Release Date: The 100: September 3, 2013; The 100: Day 21: September 16, 2014
Genres: Adventure, SCI-FI, Post-Apocalypse
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: The 100:
The 100 series by Kass Morgan has a very intriguing premise. The idea of sending kids back to an ailing Earth promised adventure, and the comparison between this series and classics that feature survival stories had me really interested. While I somewhat enjoyed this series, I was a bit bothered by a few things and felt let down, since I had to wait for the second book in order to get a more adventurous story about surviving on Earth.
It’s slightly difficult reviewing these two books because they are part of an unfinished series, but in a way, they can be seen as two different storylines. While the first book is a sort of guide to the characters and why they’re on Earth as once captured prisoners, the second book eases you into the real issues on Earth (which are hinted at the end of the first book.)
I understand Morgan’s need to introduce us to the characters since there are four (FOUR, yes, that’s not a typo) main arcs to follow throughout the series. I don’t know if I would have preferred for her to drop all of the information in a creative way at the beginning of the first novel, but the fact that she introduces these characters’ pasts through flashbacks in nearly every chapter for the first book grew very tiresome. I wanted to see the story of these kids on Earth, not their memories. If anything, the flashbacks would have worked as their own separate prequel novella, since it was like a disjointed form of storytelling throughout the book. Also, the flashbacks gave away pretty obvious stuff, which could have been better shown if they were presented as surprise endings for each respective chapter.
Also, I think that the narrative would have been a lot strong if it hadn’t been divided into four people, or at least, four characters who sounded very similar. If these characters were vastly different, then maybe it would have been better. By vastly different, I don’t characters with different socio-economic statuses, but different in how their narrative voices are represented. They all sounded kind of the same.
Those were my issues with the first book, which read more like a information dump than an actual Sci-Fi novel. The second book, however, is much better, though a bit predictable.
In the second book, the same protagonists from the previous novel reappear with greater issues on Earth. I can’t say much without ruining the book for those of you who’ve yet to read the first book in the series, but let’s just say that it is much better than the first book.
While it’s cool to meet some of the remaining ninety-odd kids that we didn’t meet in the first book, it still felt a bit disconnected. So many kids, yet somehow we only meet a dozen or so (maybe even less?). I’m not expecting to meet every kid, but not mentioning more than a dozen or so kids makes it hard to believe that there are so many of them. Also, let’s keep in mind that several huts are mentioned and the number of kids huddled in them and around them does not sound like that many kids to begin with.
For example: Come on, ONE deer for ninety-ish starving kids? Good luck. Don’t even get me started when some guy brings in a raccoon for breakfast.
While the pacing is better in the second installment, it’s rather slow, disjointed, and awkward in the first novel. I often had to put down what I was doing and force myself to read the first book. It just lacked that grabbing power that the second one had.
I really wish I could have liked these two books more, especially the first one since it’s where we get to meet some of the characters and see the situation they’re in. I wanted to like the characters and their self-sacrificing efforts to save the ones they love. But honestly, this series so far is just meh for me.
Would I read the next installment? Probably, but only because, like I said in this review, the second book is better (there has to be a formula for this, so the third book has to be even better, right?).
By the way, I loved this one comment that is made in the second book that basically describes humanity. One of the characters states that a bunch of people from different countries/nations were rounded up when the world was reaching a radioactive end, so as to leave Earth. But then one of the new characters in book two asks, quite simply, why then, with such diversity, does everyone on their ship speak only in English?
I loved that quip.
Would I recommend this series? Probably. There are people out there who love a good and easy read about a post-apocalyptic novel with a few SCI-FI touches. If you like characters who love to reminisce on the good ole days on a ship in space, then this series might be for you!
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Author Bio
Kass Morgan, New York Times bestselling author of The 100 and its sequel Day 21, received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s from Oxford University. She currently works as an editor and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
For more information please visit http://alloyentertainment.com/ and follow the author on Twitter.
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Happy reading!
