The 100 by Kass Morgan (review)

Ever since a nuclear cataclysm rendered Earth inhabitable, the last of humanity have been orbiting the planet in a rapidly decaying space station with dwindling supplies. Desperate to determine if enough time has passed for a safe return, the space station’s leaders give one hundred convicted juvenile delinquents a choice: die for their crimes or take a chance at survival as part of a scouting team. When their dropship tears apart before impact and crash lands in the wilderness, though, the teens quickly realize that earning a pardon simply by surviving will be harder than they anticipated. They quickly scramble to build shelters and care for the injured, but they face setbacks as their medical supplies mysteriously disappear, a suspicious fire tears through their camp, and they confront the distinct possibility that Earth isn’t as deserted as they thought. Conveyed in four interwoven narratives, the story follows four young people (three on the ground and one in space) as they struggle with their past choices and attempt to forge a future for themselves. This novel, conceived as a companion piece for a television show, reads like a pilot: all set-up and no resolution. Short chapters play out like single-event scenes, while a significant portion of the text is dedicated to backstory in the form of flashbacks. The post-apocalyptic survival narrative emerges as little more than a thin cover for the story’s teen-drama heart, complete with love triangles, secret pregnancies, family dysfunction, and class-based rivalries. Still, the action here is absorbing, and the large cast provides readers with plenty of characters to love, despise, root for, and sigh over. Despite its limitations, this is ultimately entertaining, and it’s likely to be a hit with readers who want their Pretty Little Liars mixed with Lord of the Flies.