Tag: The 100

T5W: Most Frustrating Characters

Published on by Heart Full Of Books2 Comments

This week, we discuss the characters that make us want to jump inside books and shake their shoulders! There are quite a few (unfortunately) so let’s get to it!

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1. Tris Prior

Tris, overall, is an excellent character. She’s strong, she’s determined and she’s practically capable of anything. But, there’s one thing she’s not capable of: communication! Actually talking things out with Tobias is her downfall. They’re so willing to sacrifice themselves for each other, which is endearing, but frustrating when they won’t tell each other what’s going on!

2. Prince Kai

It seemed like the lovely prince was the only one out of the loop in The Lunar Chronicles. Scarlet knew about Cinder. Cress knew about Cinder, Levana knew about Cinder…everyone on Earth and the moon knew her identity. Having to read Kai’s chapters in the books was frustrating because I just wanted to dive into the council room and catch him up on all the action. Thank goodness he’s part of the team at the end of ‘Cress’, otherwise I don’t know how I would have coped.

3. Sydney Sage

Don’t get me wrong I love Sydney! She’s intelligent and sticks to her morals no matter what other people tell her. She’s also really good at evaluating right from wrong, but how she handles the Adrian situation had me ripping my hair out! I know you come from a background that pretty much hates vampires, but you shouldn’t care about that if you love one! Sometimes she just needed to listen to her heart instead of her head.

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4. America Singer

Girl’s got two really sweet guys wanting to be her boyfriend/husband/prince. She spends most of the books in regretful turmoil over each, and struggles to come to a conclusion until the final book. America needed to accept her fate much sooner, and to stop comparing herself to the other contestants for Maxon’s heart! He was looking at her all along!

5. Wells Jaha/ Ruby / Juliette

All three of these characters are classified as juvenile delinquents. All three of these characters share the same weakness: they’ll classify themselves as monsters. Whether it’s because they’re keeping a secret or hiding their powers, Wells from ‘The 100’, Ruby from ‘The Darkest Minds’ and Juliette from ‘Shatter Me’ all have what I like to call ‘The Monster Complex’. If they only realised the potential they held, I would be much less frustrated with them. Embrace the power, guys. Please.

(Mild Spoiler) Review: Homecoming by Kass Morgan

Published on by Heart Full Of Books1 Comment

23264825Homecoming by Kass Morgan
Genre: Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Romance
Published by: Little, Brown Books
Pages: 340
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★
Series: The 100 (#1) | Day 21 (#2)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

Homecoming is the final book in The 100 trilogy – or at least, I assume it’s a trilogy. I was interested to see how this series wrapped up, but I wasn’t very invested in any of the characters’ stories to really care about what happened to them. The relationships that these characters have are basically all built on lies, but thank goodness, because everyone is just so forgiving. *rolls eyes* This book wrapped up everyone’s story lines in a cute pink bow, but what I really want to know if what happens next! I guess I’ll just have to watch the TV show and see what changes are made.

Continue reading “(Mild Spoiler) Review: Homecoming by Kass Morgan” →

Review: Day 21 by Kass Morgan

Published on by Heart Full Of Books3 Comments

Day 21

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.

(Mild Spoiler) Review: The 100 by Kass Morgan

Published on by Heart Full Of Books3 Comments

The 100

The 100 by Kass Morgan
Genre: Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Romance
Published by: Little, Brown Books
Pages: 323
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Sequel: Day 21 (#2)
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

‘The 100’ is probably the first legitimate science fiction I’ve read. Of course, all the dystopian novels I’ve completed could also be categorized as sci-fi, but this story takes place in space. My very first space opera. (I wonder if there’s a card for that?)

This was the first book in a series about a colony of humans that had been evacuated from Earth to live in the safety of a spaceship. Because I’ve read ‘Cress’ by Marissa Meyer, I could guess something would go wrong with the ship. I wasn’t disappointed. Therefore, one hundred juvenile delinquents (because ninety-eight just doesn’t have the same ring to it) are sent to Earth nearly a century later to see if Earth had become inhabitable.

Written in third person and following the storylines of four characters, who are very well linked together, ‘The 100’ has a lot to offer. There’s always something going on, even if it is only for a sentence at the end of the chapter. My general opinion was that each story line could have been told in a much shorter timespan, or with lots more detail.

Let me set the scene.

So, Clarke was in love with Wells, and Wells committed a felony just to go to Earth with her, but it turns out Clarke isn’t in love with Wells anymore, she likes Bellamy. Bellamy likes Clarke too, but he has to protect his sister Octavia. Later he doesn’t like Clarke, and then he does again, then Clarke likes Wells, and then settles for Bellamy…. meanwhile aboard ship, Glass, Wells’ best friend, loves Luke but Luke doesn’t love her, he loves Camille, but then he actually loves Glass and Glass still loves him.

Is anyone else thinking these characters are completely unable to make up their minds?

When it came to the romantic relationships between the characters, the same cookie-cutter pattern was followed: one person in the couple is unhappy because they are hiding a HUGE secret that could tear their relationship apart. When the secret finally comes out, as it inevitably will, the relationship fails because of mistrust and dishonesty. I can read about this once, but not on eight separate occasions.

I’d definitely say that the romantic relationships drove the plot more than I thought they would. I know ‘The 100’ has been made into a popular TV show, though haven’t seen an episode. My friend, Sarah (‘The 100’ super-fan) says that the show focuses more on the survival element of the book because that’s actually quite interesting. Just under 100 teenagers, (about ninety three after a few deaths to prove the scene was important) with no experience of Earth, trying to survive without many resources? That sounds killer! I can see why it didn’t chose repetitive romance to draw in the viewers.

So you know what I said about no survival experience? Well, it turns out Bellamy is a dead shot with a bow and arrow, without any earlier practice and having only read about hunting in books. If only Tudor History was that easy to master!

The book ends in quite a cliffhanger, but let’s see if you can guess it! A colony of humans think they’re the only people alive and that Earth is uninhabited. They stress this fact quite a bit. What are they completely not expecting to find on Earth? Other humans.

What do they find on Earth? You guessed it. Other humans.

I severely hope this conflict is played up to it’s full potential in the second book. (More on that later!)

Overall, I’d give ‘The 100’ 2.5 stars. It didn’t impress me as much as I wanted it too because I was expecting something more like the TV show and what that offered. However, Kass Morgan has left the story relatively open ended so it could get better. Fingers crossed.