Day 21 by Kass Morgan
Genre: Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Romance
Published by: Little, Brown Books
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★
Series: The 100 (#1)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

‘Day 21’, like ‘The 100’, had a lot going for it. Sarah, the super-fan if you remember, was of the opinion that the two books should have been combined into one. On that note, I agree with her. As I read the books so quickly one after the other, like with the ‘Shatter Me’ series by Tahereh Mafi, I found it hard to separate what happened in each book. Neither stands out to me as a showstopper, more of a signature bake. (Excuse my profound love for The Great British Bake-Off)

So the ending of ‘The 100’ set us up for a wild ride in ‘Day 21’. Unfortunately it felt like the ride was closed for repairs. The concept of other humans, on an Earth that was strongly believed to have been uninhabited, was not played up to its full potential. Sure, the humans were a threat, but we all saw that coming. OK, they didn’t have to kill someone to prove that they were dangerous but I certainly expected the other humans to play less of a background role.

Instead, we were focusing on the cyclic romances of the now 95 or so human delinquents. Excellent?

For this book, the 95 have kidnapped one of the human born. Sasha. I’d say it’s pretty convenient that she’s a girl so that Wells, our heartbroken leader, can have a love interest now that Clarke has up and left him for the allure of Bellamy. I saw their romantic involvement coming a mile off, though that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. When you’re in a kingdom of isolation, it’s better to have a soul mate.

However, the kidnapping works both ways. Octavia was also kidnapped by the Earthborns, although not many were mourning her loss after the scandal surrounding her within ‘The 100’. Of course, Bellamy gets his bravado on and has to be the hero. Clarke follows. Together they try and find Bellamy’s lost sister as well as work on trusting one another in their relationship.

When will they learn its better just to tell the truth straight away? It would lead to a lot less break-ups and inevitable make-ups.

Meanwhile, on a spaceship far, far away, Glass is encountering a lot of problems, you know, like not being able to breathe. She chooses to stay with Luke, which was cute, but then has to do something risky to get them both back to the safe side of the ship…the part with the high levels of oxygen in it. It turns out that lack of oxygen means the ship is failing (whose fault is that, eh chancellor’s son?!) and the spaceship colony is being shipped down to Earth. There’s a bit of a Titanic situation, in that there’s not enough escape pods for everyone. Glass said she’d never let go of Luke, but we all know what happens to Leo…I mean Luke.

It’s another cycle of I-love-you-now-I-don’t-love-you-oh-wait-I-love-you-again. Not great.

Now, there’s another big reveal at the end of this book to do with the connection between the characters. If you read too much into the flashbacks, then you will figure this out in about a minute. I wasn’t at all surprised by what was revealed and, therefore, it didn’t deliver the shock factor that was promised.

Overall, I’d give ‘Day 21’ 3 stars. I enjoyed it more than ‘The 100’ because at least each character’s plot line varied slightly. Maybe it’s because I read them one after the other that I became more involved in the second book? That said, if this series continues, then I would be very interested to see if it gets better and where Kass Morgan takes the 95 delinquents next.