The 100 Novel Review



3.5 out of 5 stars rounded up! This was a lot of fun!

The 100 is one of my favorite tv shows. I've seen it at least three or four times, and I just started a new rewatch because I was looking for some comfort and nostalgia. Honestly it's one of the best sci-fi shows out there. And I enjoyed the first season of the show much more than this book, but it was still fun seeing another take on these characters; like when your teacher in elementary school tells everyone to draw a monster or a tree, so you can see how everybody executes the same ideas differently.

The show and novel were both the idea of an editor at Alloy Entertainment, and each were developed separately, at the same time. It's the same general idea: 100 delinquents are sent to earth from a space station, and must survive the ground and learn its secrets, while back on their station, infrastructure breaks down and things become more and more desperate and menacing.

The novel has its own neat surprises though. I enjoy Luke and Glass who are clearly variants of Finn and Raven, respectively. Octavia is a drug addict in the book, a plot that went to Clarke's mother Abbey in season 6 of the show, and funny enough, in the show it's partially Octavia who helps snap her out of it (although everyone else helps, including Jackson, who doesn't exist in the book.)

The 'criminal delinquents' are much tamer in the book, while the show amps up the Lord of The Flies shit to, well, to 100.

That said, I enjoyed Wells having a much expanded role, the love triangle between Clarke, Wells, and Bellamy, (she only has a platonic relationship with them in the show) and the different vibes on the Ark, which here in the novel is just The Colony.

Easily the best part of the book is Kass Morgan's use of short chapters that end with a barb to keep you hooked. I really enjoyed the threads of tension and glimpses at the backstories of each character, especially Clarke. Glass's past and actions were the most interesting to me and I was always rushing to get to the Clarke and Glass chapters, even though I liked Bellamy and Well's narration enough as well.

I kind of can't wait to read the next one, but it will have to wait, since I have way too many books on the go. That said I'm definitely going to continue this series. I loved this and it felt like high-quality fanfiction. That cliffhanger will kill me until I read the second installment! 

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