94. The 100

The 100 (The 100#1) Kass Morgan. 2013. 323 pages. [Source: Library] [3 stars, YA dystopia, YA fiction, YA romance]

First sentence: The door slid open and Clarke knew it was time to die.

My thoughts (preview): I picked this one up to reread it after binge-watching the television show The 100. I watched ALL the seasons. It had its ups and downs. It had its wild moments. (Though nothing like Riverdale, which I gave up on after three or four seasons). There were things I loved. There were things I didn't love. But what I appreciated MOST of all, were the character arcs. The characters that are sent down to earth, are NOT the same by any stretch of the imagination by the end of the series. 

Premise/plot: 100 teenage prisoners--all nearing their eighteenth birthdays--are sent to Earth to recolonize it after a hundred plus years after nuclear war. Will it be safe? Who knows! They are prisoners who would be executed upon reaching their eighteenth birthday anyway. That's what the powers that be reason anyway. The space colony is beginning to falter and sacrifices must be made. 

Clarke, Bellamy, and Wells provide perspective from earth. Glass provides perspective from the space ship. Each has a back story of how they became prisoners. (The other main character from earth, though we don't have her perspective, is Octavia). 

My thoughts: I am curious about the timing between the book series and the television series. The two share a premise but are 99% different. Clarke, Bellamy, Wells, and Octavia exist mostly in name only. Is that fair to say? I don't care if it isn't. Clarke and Wells--they keep that Clarke is seriously angry at Wells who is the son of the Chancellor. Bellamy and Octavia--they keep the brother-sister relationship being super protective. But everything else is gone...gone with the wind. 

For example, in the book Clarke's parents are BOTH dead. Both were executed. The powers that be are definitely bordering on evil. In the show, Clarke's father was executed trying to be a hero and warn everyone of imminent danger. Clarke's mother is alive and remains the main perspective from the orbiting space colony. She is our perspective into the powers that be. There is a large cast of characters on board ship and on earth. (In the book, there might be two or three other characters mentioned on earth--out of the one hundred. And two or three other characters mentioned on ship--out of thousands.) 

Glass and her boyfriend Luke do not exist on the television show. Their story is interesting perhaps because it did not make the cut. Glass is ARRESTED because she gets pregnant. The father that she named (there is a twist) is EXECUTED for getting her pregnant. Apparently, population control is so strong that it becomes illegal for anyone to have any child without permission.

 If I had recently read the book before starting the series, I might have cheered when differences occurred. Wells is SUPER, SUPER, SUPER, SUPER, SUPER, SUPER incredibly creepy and a huge jerk. I probably would have been angry that they turned Bellamy into season-one Bellamy.

 

© 2024 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews