I’m gonna be honest, I bought this book a few years back simply because I knew the title and it was on sale. It has been staring at me from my shelf since then, and when I saw the audiobook available on my library app it seemed like it was finally time to read it. It’s definitely a short book and I can see the potential in it that makes the TV show so great, but if I am critiquing this book in a completely objective way, I would say this is one to skip. 

     Before reading this book, I had only seen the first episode of the show, and that is still true to this day. So I did have some background knowledge about what the book was going to be about, but not much. That being said, I don’t know how much difference it makes that I’ve seen the first episode because from what I can remember, the show is almost nothing like the book. I’m not criticizing that in the slightest, as I think the show actually improved on the book, but it just goes to show how little effect the show had on my reading experience. 

     This book just feels like a lot of nothing. Yeah, there’s a beginning and a middle, and another middle, and more middle, and still more middle, and ended with more middle. The story got set up and everyone came down to Earth, and then it just kind of keeps going. This book was written with the explicit point of setting up a second book, and that makes me so incredibly angry. What’s more is that probably 45% of this book is told in flashbacks, which seems to defeat the whole purpose of having the teenagers come to Earth so early on in the book. I get some backstory for setting up plot points or character development, but this book takes it a little bit too far, and that is one of the biggest reasons why its rating is so low for me. 

     I did enjoy the parts when the characters were actually on Earth, and if I liked this book even slightly more I would be interested in reading the rest of the series to see what happens to them in the future, but I think I am more interested in watching the TV show. Aside from that, I do think the characters were really interesting to read about. The fact that they are all prisoners brings a certain edge and tension to the situation that did elevate this book past a 1-star rating.

     This book should have been extended and then split into two books, or maybe the whole series should just be restructured and reformatted altogether. This book is a classic example of a fantastic premise with poor execution, and I would highly suggest simply watching the show instead; you’ll be more entertained that way. 2/5 stars to The 100 by Kass Morgan.