Homecoming by Kass Morgan

Series: The 100 (bk. 3)

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: 340 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $12.00

Publisher: Hachette: Little, Brown

Summary/ product description: “Weeks after landing on Earth, the Hundred have managed to create a sense of order amidst their wild, chaotic surroundings. But their delicate balance comes crashing down with the arrival of new dropships from space.

These new arrivals are the lucky ones - back on the Colony, the oxygen is almost gone - but after making it safely to Earth, GLASS's luck seems to be running out. CLARKE leads a rescue party to the crash site, ready to treat the wounded, but she can't stop thinking about her parents who may still be alive. Meanwhile, WELLS struggles to maintain his authority despite the presence of the Vice Chancellor and his armed guards, and BELLAMY must decide whether to face or flee the crimes he thought he'd left behind.

It's time for the Hundred to come together and fight for the freedom they've found on Earth, or risk losing everything - and everyone - they love.”

My Review:  Homecoming is the action-packed finale to The 100 trilogy (at least it seems to be a finale). The series comes to a satisfying conclusion. The drop ships comes down bringing adult and kids from the Colony. Vice Chancellor Rhodes takes charge and doesn’t keep his promise of letting the 100 be free of their past crimes. Well’s father, the Chancellor is not with them since he was in a coma.

Many of the people from the drop ships are injured and Clarke does her best to treat their wounds. Bellamy is taken as prisoner and is supposed to be executed for almost murdering the Chancellor, who he now discovered is his actual father. In the last book Wells and Bellamy discovered they were half brothers, so that makes Octavia only his half-sister. So now he as technically 2 illegal siblings. Of course, they’re kept this a secret from the Vice Chancellor.

With Bellamy as a prisoner, the Colonist have difficulty hunting and doing other survival things. Wells tries to teach the basics of hunting, fire-making and building. Rhodes is reluctant to accept help from kids, especially criminals. Glass and Luke are planning on escaping the camp since Luke was supposed to be an executer and he does want to kill anyone. The Earthborns from Mount Weather help Clarke, Bellamy and Wells. The other violent Earthborns see the new colonists landing as an act of war.

This series was very fun and exciting are far as dystopians go. It’s go awesome survival stuff, romance, humor, interesting character and a cool setting. The combination of a forest setting and a space colony setting gave it variety. The story also had flashbacks in a san-serif font so you’d know if it took place in the past and prevented confusion.

I think I enjoy these books more than the TV shows. The TV show confuses me a lot and I don’t understand how they could have been on the Arc for 97 years only and already the Earthborns have a new language, odd animal mutations, and weird weather. In the book’s it’s only 300 years and the Earthborn speak English and are more like farmers. Also the character inconstancies on the show are weird. Wells was black and is dead on the show, and yet his father survived. Clarke’s mother was on the ship, not on Earth, in the show. It’s completely different.

The 100 (season 3) returns Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 9 eastern/8 central.

Cover Art Review: This cover is terrible. They look dirty and I kind of hate that it has characters from the show on it.

Day 21 by Kass Morgan

Series: The Hundred (bk. 2)

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: 311 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Hachette: Little, Brown

Summary/ product description: “No one has set foot on Earth in centuries -- until now.

It's been 21 days since the hundred landed on Earth. They're the only humans to set foot on the planet in centuries...or so they thought. Facing an unknown enemy, Wells attempts to keep the group together. Clarke strikes out for Mount Weather, in search of other Colonists, while Bellamy is determined to rescue his sister, no matter the cost. And back on the ship, Glass faces an unthinkable choice between the love of her life and life itself.

In this pulse-pounding sequel to Kass Morgan's The 100, secrets are revealed, beliefs are challenged, and relationships are tested. And the hundred will struggle to survive the only way they can -- together.

My Review:  Day 21 is the epic sequel to The 100. It’s full of action and survival and every bit as awesome as the CW TV show, though different. Many of the events that occurred in the book have not occurred on the show and can’t occur on the show. The books are exciting and fast paced where as the show drags some things out. In Day 21 the 100 just learned that there are other people on Earth still. They call them Earthborns (not Grounders). These people have been surviving underground and other surfaced decades ago. The 100 capture an Earthborn who’s a teenage girl. She claims to have not taken part in killing their friend, Asher.

Romance continues to develop between Clarke and Bellamy. I really prefer Bellamy in the book because he’s seems so much nicer, even if cocky. He’s got good, pure intentions. He just wants to protect and save Octavia and help the other by hunting for food. He’s got a bit of a temper, but he’s not manipulative like he seemed on the show. Clarke is a pretty confident character with her own issues. She’s keeping a secret from Bellamy. Wells develops a new relationship. Glass is still in the colony and dealing with the issues up there. The story also contains flashbacks. We get to see the characters’ pasts. There are also some interesting twist and secrets that we discover.

I can go on and on about the differences between the show and the books. Clarke’s mother on the show was still on the ship when she left, but in the book Clarke’s parents were “floated” already. Glass is not in the show at all. Wells is African-American on the show. Octavia is older on the show. There is no “Finn” character in the book like there is on the TV show. Compared to the changes from the Vampires books to TV show, the changes on the 100 are very minor. In my opinion, Finn and Clarke’s mom are the most plot wrecking changes. Kass Morgan has written a great dystopian series and it just had to be picked up before she even finished writing it. I love the books and it’s best to keep the storylines separate.

I recommend this series not only to those who like the TV show, or the Hunger Games, but if you liked books like: The Young World by Chris Weitz, All These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman, or Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi.

Cover Art Review: They decided to make the cover like the TV show. The falling people look too much like people falling on 9-11. I like the landscape though.

Here’s my review for the first book, The 100: http://breathlessbookreviews.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-100-by-kass-morgan.html

The 100 is on Wednesday nights a 8:00PM CST (9 eastern) on the CW (WGN Channel 9 for people in the Chicagoland area) 

The 100 by Kass Morgan

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: 3^rd 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.

http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-100

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.