Series: The Hundred (bk. 1)
Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi
Subjects: survival, re-colonization, space colonies,
outer space
Setting: 300 years in the future, in a space colony
called the Arc, and on the East Cost of what was the United States.
POV/Tense: 3rd person POV, past tense.
Rotating between Clarke, Wells, Bellamy and Glass.
Age/Grade Level: Teen
Length: 323 pgs.
HC/PB: Hardcover
List Price: $17.99
Publisher: Hachette: Little, Brown
Summary/ product description: “In the future, humans
live in city-like spaceships orbiting far above Earth's toxic atmosphere. No
one knows when, or even if, the long-abandoned planet will be habitable again.
But faced with dwindling resources and a growing populace, government leaders
know they must reclaim their homeland... before it's too late.
Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents are being sent
on a high-stakes mission to recolonize Earth. After a brutal crash landing, the
teens arrive on a savagely beautiful planet they've only seen from space.
Confronting the dangers of this rugged new world, they struggle to form a
tentative community. But they're haunted by their past and uncertain about the
future. To survive, they must learn to trust - and even love - again.”
My Review: The 100 was pretty unique dystopia. It was
about to very different environments. For about 300 year, humanity has been
living in the space colony know as the ARC. It’s made of 3 sections: Phoenix,
Arcadia, and Walden. They used to be space shuttles, but were modified and
connected. The more rich/high-class people live on Phoenix, and the lowers live
on Walden. Arcadia is probably the middle class.
Lately, lots of teens have been convicted of crimes,
and now 100 of these delinquents are rounded up, put on a drop-ship and sent to
re-colonize Earth without having anytime to prepare. They didn’t know this
would happen, and their parents don’t know. The only ones who choose to go to
Earth were Bellamy and Wells. Bellamy wanted to protect his sister, and Wells
wanted to protect Clarke. Clarke (who’s female, just to clarify) and Wells
(who’s a guy) used to date. Once on Earth, they both a afraid and in awe of the
environment. Is the air poisonous to breath? How will they eat, sleep, stay
alive? They find the colors and nature to be so much more beautiful than in
pictures. Glass is still on the Arc, and
went off to be with her boyfriend Luke.
If you haven’t heard, The 100 is going to be a TV show.
It’s premiering March 19, 2014 on the CW. It’s a book perfect for TV. I feel
like the book itself was kind of short, but as a show they can better develop
the characters. It doesn’t look like there’s a character named Glass in the
cast according to IMBD. I’m sure they changed a million things about the book
in the show. They always seem to change
characters, and add and subtract characters. Wells is played by an
African-American. They never said how he looked in the book. Bellamy’s hair
looks odd.
I liked the book though, and I recommend reading it
before seeing the show premiere. Sure, there’s still more books to come, but don’t
let a show ruin the book for you. This book is action packed and full of
survival and even romance. There’s a lot of question of how the environment has
changed, and what kind of mutations happen down on Earth after the Cataclysm. Two
head deer, glowing butterflies, and what else?
I like that this book has rotating perspectives. I
think I like Clarke and Bellamy’s perspectives the best, but Glass’s POVs put
up back in the ARC and we get to find out what’s going on there. We also get to
read their flashbacks, and learn their history. The flashbacks are set in a
san-serif typefaces, and the present is in a serif typeface. So half the story
is the NOW and the other half is the THEN. It’s mostly NOW though. We gets to
see how the past got them to the present. It move the story along much better
than just hearing about what happened. We get to “see” what happened.
I recommend The 100 if you like the show, and if you
read and enjoyed any dystopian ever. It’s a bit like These Broken Stars, which
I just read. If you like space stories or survival stories, then checkout The
100.
Cover Art Review: I love the cover. The title contains
the images and wonderful photos of space that contrast with the white
background. It’s clean, bold and eye-catching.
No comments:
Post a Comment