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The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century: A Printable List

By The New York Times Books Staff Aug. 26, 2024

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The New York Times Book Review I've I want THE 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY read to it read it 1 My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante 26 26 Atonement, by lan McEwan 2 The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson 27 Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 3 Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel 28 Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell 4 The Known World, by Edward P. Jones 29 The Last Samurai, by Helen DeWitt 5 The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen 30 Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward 6 2666, by Roberto Bolaño 31 White Teeth, by Zadie Smith 7 The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead 32 The Line of Beauty, by Alan Hollinghurst 8 Austerlitz, by W.G. Sebald 33 Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward 9 Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro 34 Citizen, by Claudia Rankine 10 Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson 35 Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel 11 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz 36 Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates 12 The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion 37 The Years, by Annie Ernaux 13 The Road, by Cormac McCarthy 38 The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño 14 Outline, by Rachel Cusk 39 A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan 15 Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee 40 H Is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald 16 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon 41 Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan 17 The Sellout, by Paul Beatty 42 A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Marlon James 18 Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders 43 Postwar, by Tony Judt 19 Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe 44 The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin 20 Erasure, by Percival Everrett 45 The Argonauts, by Maggie Nelson 21 Evicted, by Matthew Desmond 46 The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt 22 22 Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo 47 A Mercy, by Toni Morrison 23 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, by Alice Munro 48 Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi 24 The Overstory, by Richard Powers 49 The Vegetarian, by Han Kang 25 25 Random Family, by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 50 Trust, by Hernan Diaz I've I want read to it read it

The New York Times Book Review I've I want THE 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY read to it read it 51 Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson 52 52 Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson 53 Runaway, by Alice Munro 76 77 An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones 78 Septology, by Jon Fosse Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin 54 Tenth of December, by George Saunders 55 The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright 56 The Flamethrowers, by Rachel Kushner 57 Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich ཤྲཱ རྒྱ སྐྱ A Manual for Cleaning Women, by Lucia Berlin The Story of the Lost Child, by Elena Ferrante Pulphead, by John Jeremiah Sullivan. Hurricane Season, by Fernanda Melchor 58 Stay True, by Hua Hsu 83 When We Cease to Understand the World, by Benjamín Labatut 59 Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides 84 The Emperor of All Maladies, by Siddhartha Mukherjee 60 Heavy, by Kiese Laymon 85 Pastoralia, by George Saunders 61 Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver 86 Frederick Douglass, by David W. Blight 62 10:04, by Ben Lerner 87 Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters 63 Veronica, by Mary Gaitskill 88 The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis 64 The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai 89 The Return, by Hisham Matar 65 The Plot Against America, by Philip Roth 90 The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen 66 We the Animals, by Justin Torres 91 The Human Stain, by Philip Roth 67 Far From the Tree, by Andrew Solomon 92 The Days of Abandonment, by Elena Ferrante 68 The Friend, by Sigrid Nunez 93 Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel 69 59 The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander 94 On Beauty, by Zadie Smith 10 70 All Aunt Hagar's Children, by Edward P. Jones 95 Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel 71 The Copenhagen Trilogy, by Tove Ditlevsen 96 Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, by Saidiya Hartman 72 22 Secondhand Time, by Svetlana Alexievich 97 Men We Reaped, by Jesmyn Ward 73 The Passage of Power, by Robert A. Caro 98 Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett 74 Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout 99 How to Be Both, by Ali Smith 75 15 Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid 100 Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson I've I want read to it read it

Book review: Urban Aotearoa: The Future for Our Cities

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Faculty union pushes back at directive on textbook reviews

Saying it opposes “any form of academic censorship,” the United Faculty of Florida on Monday objected to a directive issued this month by university system Chancellor Ray Rodrigues about reviewing textbooks and other materials for “antisemitic material” or “anti-Israeli” bias.

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A New England-set love story traverses a lifetime in debut novel

• Maddie Browning

Evelyn and Joseph have loved each other for a lifetime. The perfectly adorable couple met in the quaint, seaside Stonybrook, Connecticut as children, and now they are in their 70s with kids of their own. But all great love stories eventually run out of time. Evelyn receives a tragic diagnosis, and Joseph doesn’t want to live in a world without her, so they decide that in a year, they will end their lives.

Author Amy Neff’s debut novel “ The Days I Loved You Most ” (published July 30) starts at the beginning of that year and retells their journey from 1941 into the early 2000s, reflecting on the challenges they overcame, the love they shared and the time they have left to hold their children and each other close. Neff will discuss the book with Pushcart Prize-nominee and Boston-based editor Sofia T. Romero at Brookline Booksmith on Aug. 27.

The 32-year-old author currently lives in Connecticut with her husband and two sons, but she attended undergrad at Northeastern — that’s why Evelyn goes away to school in Boston in the book. After writing and facing rejections for 10 years, Neff said she signed with an agent and sold the book to HarperCollins in four days. “The Days I Loved You Most” has now sold in over 20 countries worldwide.

I spoke with the author — who grew up in a town in Connecticut similar to Stonybrook — on a Zoom call about the journey to getting published, her connection to Boston and developing a literary love story traversing 60 years.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Maddie Browning: What was the process like querying and getting published?

Amy Neff: I faced so many rejections, over 100 rejections on this book, and a little bit of it was timing. I was querying predominantly from fall 2019 through 2022, and as we now know, that was over the pandemic. This book deals with some serious themes around death and illness and end of life, so I was querying these agents and getting these beautiful rejection letters that were saying things like, “We love your writing, we love the story, we love the characters, but there's not a market for this book right now.” … So [it] actually ended up being 10 drafts over 10 years of me writing this book.

What relationships did you draw from in developing Evelyn and Joseph’s devotion to each other?

I always had really beautiful examples of love in my own life growing up. My grandparents had a beautiful love story for over 50 years. They met when my grandma was 15 and [my grandpa] was 17, much like Joseph and Evelyn, and there's so many cute stories of them when they were little or when they were young and in love. My grandfather saw her across the room at a skating rink where he worked, and he picked her out of the crowd and said, “I'm going to marry that tomato” — you know, Italian immigrant. And they just knew right away. Even when they got to be older, he would take long walks and pick her flowers and bring them home for her to put a new bouquet on her table.

Tell me about the town that inspired Bernard Beach in Stonybrook. Is there any connection to “The Babysitters Club”?

No, so it's so funny, I didn't realize that that was what it was called until I was so far into drafting that I was so connected to this … It's based really off this town where I spent my summers and where my family has spent summers for generations … My kids are now the sixth generation of our family on the same strip of shoreline, so it's a really special place … I wanted to explore what it's like to belong, not only to a person in a relationship, but to a place, and the complications of having such deep roots.

[Neff declined to state the town name on the record for privacy reasons.]

Why did you decide to set the story during WWII?

Part of the reason I started in World War II and then ended in the early 2000s is I really didn't want to have technology. In a book, for me, that really pulls me out of the story sometimes, and I wanted to create this feeling of a really timeless love story.

Did you have any influence over the cover design? 

I'm so happy with the cover … I was presented three different paintings, and I got to choose the painting that I liked best … and we actually added the people … and when I got that final design with Joseph and Evelyn as they are now, I was so emotional about it, because it just looked like them, and it felt like them. My older son, who's five now, the book came and he saw it, and he goes “That's you and Dada,” so, of course, I just started crying again.

What are you looking forward to with your event at Brookline Booksmith?

I am so excited to do a Boston event … The first book I wrote is not “The Days I Loved You Most.” I have a book we call in the biz a “drawer book.” It's a book that you write, and it sort of teaches you to write a book, and then you never let anyone see it. I wrote it when I was at Northeastern. I tackled National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo. It's a challenge where people take on an entire full-length draft of a novel in one month's time … I wrote it all over Boston … It's all very full circle.

What makes a strong romantic literary relationship that spans decades?

It has to be believable. It has to be real. Where I have a harder time with a relationship is when it's too perfect or it's just all the grand gestures and not the little moments. I think love is made in the little ordinary moments in every ordinary day.

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From the The 100 series , Vol. 1

by Kass Morgan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2013

Perhaps the television incarnation will have some life.

One hundred teen convicts may be the only hope of the human race.

Three hundred years after the Cataclysm made Earth uninhabitable, the remnant of humanity lives in an aging space station. Strict population-control laws help conserve the dwindling resources, and adults convicted of crimes are summarily executed. Criminal teens held in Confinement are given a retrial at 18, and some go free. Fearing the colony has few years left, the Chancellor decides to send 100 of these teens to Earth with monitoring bracelets to see if the planet’s surface is survivable. The story concentrates on four of them. Wells commits a crime in order to accompany his girlfriend; Bellamy breaks into the dropship to go with his sister; in hopes of reuniting with her boyfriend, Glass escapes the dropship to return to her privileged mother. And Clarke, the object of Wells’ affection, struggles with demons and hormones. Will they survive? Morgan’s debut, which has already been optioned for a CW series, has a promising premise as long as readers don’t apply too many brain cells. (Why convicts? Why not give them communication devices? Isn’t there birth control in the future?) However, it slowly devolves into a thrill-free teen romance. Lengthy flashbacks flatten the action in nearly every chapter. The characters do little to distinguish themselves from their run-of-the-mill dystopian brethren. Steer teens in search of science fiction to Beth Revis, Robison Wells and Veronica Roth.

Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-316-23447-4

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT DYSTOPIAN FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION

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New York Times Bestseller

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

by John Green ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 10, 2012

Green seamlessly bridges the gap between the present and the existential, and readers will need more than one box of tissues...

He’s in remission from the osteosarcoma that took one of his legs. She’s fighting the brown fluid in her lungs caused by tumors. Both know that their time is limited.

Sparks fly when Hazel Grace Lancaster spies Augustus “Gus” Waters checking her out across the room in a group-therapy session for teens living with cancer. He’s a gorgeous, confident, intelligent amputee who always loses video games because he tries to save everyone. She’s smart, snarky and 16; she goes to community college and jokingly calls Peter Van Houten, the author of her favorite book,  An Imperial Affliction , her only friend besides her parents. He asks her over, and they swap novels. He agrees to read the Van Houten and she agrees to read his—based on his favorite bloodbath-filled video game. The two become connected at the hip, and what follows is a smartly crafted intellectual explosion of a romance. From their trip to Amsterdam to meet the reclusive Van Houten to their hilariously flirty repartee, readers will swoon on nearly every page. Green’s signature style shines: His carefully structured dialogue and razor-sharp characters brim with genuine intellect, humor and desire. He takes on Big Questions that might feel heavy-handed in the words of any other author: What do oblivion and living mean? Then he deftly parries them with humor: “My nostalgia is so extreme that I am capable of missing a swing my butt never actually touched.” Dog-earing of pages will no doubt ensue.

Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-525-47881-2

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES

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Hindi-Language The Fault In Our Stars Film Coming

SEEN & HEARD

ANNA K AWAY

From the anna k series , vol. 2.

by Jenny Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 27, 2021

Entertaining.

A tale of love and loss that spans the globe.

Instead of having a carefree summer, biracial (Korean/White) Anna is sent away from the familiarity of New York, her friends, the past school year’s scandal—and the memories of her dead boyfriend, Alexia Vronsky. While struggling with grief, her shattered self-image, and an uncertain future, Anna attempts to reclaim her summer in Seoul, where she knows only her father and grandmother. Beatrice, Alexia’s cousin, juggles her clingy girlfriend and falling for a California surfer even as she represses her grief. Meanwhile, Anna’s brother, Steven, plans for an amazing summer party, although Lolly, his girlfriend, is away at theater camp. Steven’s best friend, Dustin, and Kimmie, Lolly’s younger sister, are equally nervous about their first sexual experience together. This sequel to Anna K (2020) contains fewer mentions of luxury brands, and the characters exhibit an increased awareness of the impacts of wealth and socio-economic status. The novel also touches on issues of addiction, sexism, cultural differences, fame, relationships, love, and mental health; in particular, the portrayals of living with grief and redefining the self after a loved one dies shine. Despite some awkward time skips, the humor, pop-culture references, and characters’ distinct voices strengthen the story. Fans of the first novel will enjoy this follow-up, which is also accessible to readers new to Anna and her world. Some major characters are White; Dustin is Black and Jewish, and there is diversity in the supporting cast.

Pub Date: April 27, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-250-23646-3

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Review Posted Online: March 24, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ROMANCE

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by Jenny Lee

by Jenny Lee ; illustrated by Kelly Light

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Ann's Reading Corner

The 100 (the 100 #1) | book review.

I have a rule when I watch a movie or show. I always read the book first. It is a law isn’t it? When I started watching  The 100 , I didn’t know about the book adaptation until I was almost done with the first season. Since I have finished all the recent episodes, I need to keep Bellamy and Clarke alive in my heart. If you haven’t watched the first season of the show or read the book, you are okay because all the spoilers are contained. (No pun intended)

Title:   The 100

Author:   Kass Morgan

Publisher:  Little, Brown and Company

Released: September 3, 2013

Pages:  323 (Hardback)

No one has set foot on Earth in centuries — until now. Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth’s radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents — considered expendable by society — are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life…or it could be a suicide mission. CLARKE was arrested for treason, though she’s haunted by the memory of what she really did. WELLS, the chancellor’s son, came to Earth for the girl he loves — but will she ever forgive him? Reckless BELLAMY fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And GLASS managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth. Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind’s last hope.

About the Author:   Kass Morgan studied literature at Brown and Oxford, and now resides in Brooklyn, where she lives in constant fear of her Ikea bookcase collapsing and burying her under a mound of science fiction and Victorian novels.

MY REVIEW: 

Clarke Griffin was confined for something her parents did before the Council decided to float them. Bellamy Blake was a guard who would do anything in his power to protect the person he protects and loves the most, his sister. Wells Jaha got himself confined for the girl he loved the most despite his dad being the head. Glass Sorenson was confined for breaking one of the biggest laws on the Colony. All these prisoners, plus 96 more have been sent down almost 100 years after a nuclear war to test if the ground is safe. Will these prisoners be able to get the Colony down to Earth before who knows what happens occurs.

This book was nothing like the show and I sort of enjoyed it. The show follows the same premise of the book but the characters are different, the plot, and the characters in general. It was like I was reading the screenplay after watching the show but I was still on the edge of my seat because I didn’t know if something was going to happen or not. And plus, I really like Bellamy a hundred times more than the show and I love me Bellamy. And #Bellarke but that really isn’t a spoiler for anything. Not much of a spoiler at least. 

Kass Morgan has a great writing style that is really different and unique that I really enjoyed. She writes through present time and she goes back to the past to describe some of the backstory but it is really easy to know when something was now or then. She uses these two different fonts and different colors that makes the whole premise easy to follow. If you have read Marie Lu’s  Legend  trilogy, it is set up sort of like that. But her writing is so light and fun that you will want to know what is happening next and who all you can or can not trust. 

One other really interesting thing that I actually enjoyed in Kass Morgan’s novel that I don’t always love is different perspectives. It was written in third person, which isn’t my favorite but she writes so intriguing. You follow the story between Bellamy Blake, Clarke Griffin, Glass Sorenson, and Wells Jaha and you get to see how all of their story lines intertwine together and make one big story that is so interesting and so powerful. Plus, it really makes you think about what you would do if you were in their shoes because there is a lot of stuff that happens to these people. 

This book is just so unique and so fascinating that you should all go and get this book in your hands. And the show but that’s a different post that is already somewhere up here. How many times do you get to go and read a book that involves nuclear war, space, and prisoners. The concept is just so original and apparently she knew someone who dreamed this whole thing. And the book was so thought out and planned that you really don’t feel like you are reading the book. You feel like you are watching something on TV or it is really happening to you. You get sucked into this world that you really don’t want to leave. 

I really didn’t have that many problems with the story but some of the stories seemed a little stretched out and Glass was just annoying. It might just be me that didn’t like Glass but I hated her. I also am not the biggest Wells supporter. In reality, I don’t like Glass and Wells for the same reason but in honor of keeping this spoiler free, I am not going to be telling you that. Some of the events that happened in the plot just seemed like they were going on forever and ever and they sort of repeated themselves. But I really liked getting to know different people’s perspective on what was happening because that is great. I also wish that Octavia had her own section because some of the stuff that happens would be interesting to read in her thoughts. 

Overall, I would have to go and give the book a 4.5 out of 5. Other than some of my problems with the characters, I really loved this book. I loved everything that happened and I think it might have to be my favorite (or one of) book of all time. The book also leaves off with a lot of cliff hangers so I really want to dive into the next book and learn what happens next. Just a quick warning though: don’t plan on reading a certain number or pages or minutes. You will read the whole entire book in one sitting, or at least want to. 

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Did you read the books before you watched the show? Did you like the show or the book better? Who do you ship and why? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! 

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Home » All Posts » The 100 by Kass Morgan: Book Review

The 100 by Kass Morgan: Book Review

My Rating: 3/5

The 100 by Kass Morgan wasn’t terrible. I enjoyed reading the science fiction book in general; it was simple, quick, and the premise is great.

There are four point-of-view characters in The 100 which I liked however they often sounded quite like each other which made it jarring to read at times – Bellamy was the best written character, when it comes to unique voice, by far.

The story in The 100 itself wasn’t that interesting. I was expecting there to be adventure with the hundred roaming the woods, finding new plants and animals – more of a survival story. But the story felt shallow.

This book felt more like an introduction to the characters, not a story on survival which I was expecting. Maybe it’s my fault for assuming the ideal plotline, but after the reveal at the end of this first book, I am hoping to see more of what I came for in the second one.

Overall, The 100 was not terrible, but certainly not great either.

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Owner and Editor of The Fantasy Review. Loves all fantasy and science fiction books, graphic novels, TV and Films. Having completed a BA and MA in English Literature and Creative writing, they would like to go on to do a PhD. Favourite authors are Trudi Canavan, Steven Erikson, George R. R. Martin and Brandon Sanderson.

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What happened in The 100 by Kass Morgan - Recaptains

The 100 by Kass Morgan

Title: The 100

Author: Kass Morgan

Series: The Hundred #1

- The 100 (January 2013) - Day 21 (September 2014) - Homecoming (February 2015)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth's radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents -- considered expendable by society -- are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life...or it could be a suicide mission. CLARKE was arrested for treason, though she's haunted by the memory of what she really did. WELLS, the chancellor's son, came to Earth for the girl he loves -- but will she ever forgive him? Reckless BELLAMY fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And GLASS managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth. Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind's last hope.

what happened in The 100?

• Ch 1: Clarke’s medical internship advisor tells her she’s going to Earth and puts a bracelet on her to track her vitals. (That actually was a fact which I wish they’d included in the show because Clarke does so much more patching up in the show, but unless I missed something, she has no actual training. “My mom is a doctor” doesn’t mean she knows how to do surgery or the symptoms for internal bleeding.)
• Ch 2: Wells gets himself arrested for setting fire to the tree and recounts how he became friends with Clarke in the “pre-Cataclysm library” where they keep all the real books. A virus wiped out their digital archive so I guess no one reads much on the space station.
• Ch 3: Bellamy knocks out a guard and steals his uniform, but can’t get on the dropship. He ends up rushing Chancellor Jaha and demanding to be put on the dropship or else he shoots.
• Ch 4: In the resulting scuffle, the gun goes off accidentally and Jaha is wounded. Glass escapes from the dropship during the confusion goes to find her ex-boyfriend Luke. Luke is now dating Camille and didn’t even know Glass had been confined, just that she broke up with him and never contacted him again.
• Ch 6: Clarke’s bestie from space jail, Thalia, is on the dropship. They land on Earth, but the landing is rough and there are injuries. Thalia is badly hurt and bleeding. In a flashback, Clarke finds her parents lab full of sick and dying children, and befriends one named Lilly. She realizes they’re experimenting on them.
• Ch 7: Wells and a jerk named Graham butt heads. Graham is like the Murphy of the book. The kids think Jaha sent Wells there as a spy and don’t like him “bossing them around” with his practical suggestions of going to look for water. Clarke gives Wells the cold-shoulder.
• Ch 8: Bellamy flashes back to buying rations for his mother as a 6-year-old. He returns to find her “sick” – ie in labor. Present day Octavia has a sprained ankle from the crash and Clarke has patched her up. Bellarke share a moment and it’s adorable.
• Ch 8: Glass stays over at Luke’s and he takes her to an old workshop to cut off her prison bracelet. Glass goes home to her mother, who tells her that Jaha is on life support and Rhodes “can be convinced” to pardon her and leaves to talk to him. (Translation for the adult reader: she slept with him in order to ensure that they don’t kill her daughter. Glass is oblivious to this, which annoyed me because it was SO OBVIOUS GLASS.) Glass is supposed to be an example of how space jail can straighten out bad behavior and proof that the justice system works, which people are doubting because they’ve been killing all the teens when they come up for trial.
• Ch 9: Clarke checks on Thalia and she’s getting an infection. They haven’t found the medicine chest yet and think it must have gotten lost in the wreckage in the landing. Clarke and Wells argue. Clarke had told him about what was going on in her parents’ lab and sworn him to secrecy so they don’t get executed. Wells was trying to make the experiments stop and told Jaha about them to help Clarke. Instead, it got her parents executed and she’s ticked. In a flashback, Clarke confronts her parents. They reveal that Vice-Chancellor Rhodes is forcing them to study the effects of radiation on human test subjects, and he’s threatened to kill Clarke if they refuse. (Also, she and Wells officially dated on the space station, unlike the friendship and unrequited love thing they had on the show.)
• Ch 10: Graham has taken over the supplies and is abusing his power in camp, naturally. Bellamy finds a bow and arrow and decides to go all woodsy. He apparently studied on the space station and can identity tracks. Graham makes a disgusting comment about Bellamy and Octavia and Bellamy tries to beat him up, but Graham is stronger and Wells has to rescue him. (It’s okay, y’all, TV Bellamy would have destroyed him.) In a flashback, Bellamy reveals that they hid Octavia in the closet during inspections.)
• Ch 11: Glass goes shopping with her horrible friends and finds the locket that Luke gave her before she got thrown into space jail. Luke happens across her and sees what she’s looking at. She won’t tell him why she got confined.
• Ch 12: Bellamy fetches Octavia to go hunting with him and invites Clarke to go search wreckage with him the next afternoon. Thalia defends Wells and tells Clarke she needs to forgive him and be happy.
• Ch 13: Bellamy returns with a two-headed deer. Wells has a flashback thinking about his mom dying on the space station and sitting with Clarke. Octavia giggles at Wells. They see glowing butterflies and Wells determines to make Clarke fall in love with him again.
• Ch 14: Bellamy wants to take Octavia and leave camp, away from the rules and the other people and the possibility of getting killed when the adults come to ground. He goes swimming in the river shirtless and Clarke finds him. There’s adorable flirting. Bellamy reveals that he studied a lot about Earth and survival skills so that he’d know how to keep Octavia safe.
• Ch 15: Bellarke have adorable woodsy-bonding time. Bellamy gallantly points out that he and Wells are the only ones who came to Earth by choice and maybe whatever unforgivable thing he did could be forgiven after all. They find the medicine chest and joyfully make out in celebration.
• Ch 16: Luke has solved the mystery. In a flash back, Glass reveals that she’d gotten pregnant and didn’t tell Luke to spare him from space jail. The nurse told her the baby died. Luke breaks up with Camille and he and Glass kiss again because love.
• Ch 17: Octavia flirts yet more with Wells, and I guess if we’re not going to have Lincoln, I’d be okay with this. In flashback, Wells remembers Clarke telling him that the unregistered children whose parents violated the population law are being experimented on. She makes him promise not to tell but she’s upset and crying. Book Octavia is only 14 so probably we won’t get Lincoln. They see Bellarke kissing and Wells has a sad.
• Ch 18: Clarke gives Thalia some medicine and puts the chest away until she can find a safe place for it. Octavia asks about the medicine chest and when Clarke wakes up the next morning, O and the medicine are gone. Clarke asks Bellamy where she is and then accuses (with very little proof) Octavia of taking it. Bellamy calls her a snooty ***** and storms off. Clarke runs away and cries. In FB, Lilly asks Clarke to mercy-kill her.
• Ch 19: Cranky Bellamy finds Graham interrogating his tearful sister. Wells prevents him from rescuing her because he wants answers. The compromise is to keep Octavia in the infirmary tent with Clarke. In FB, Bellamy’s mom is going crazy. She says to herself “you can’t have both” and then tells him that he can’t have a mother AND a sister.
• Ch 20: Glass’ mom doesn’t want her to be with Luke because he’s from one of the poor stations (Walden) and also because he knocked her up. In FB, Luke’s roommate Carter grabs Glass and accuses her of just slumming it with Luke to be dangerous, because Carter is a douche. Luke comes home just in time but Glass doesn’t say anything. In order to protect Luke, Glass breaks up with him and says she was just having fun, it was never real, blah blah lies blah blah. He doesn’t believe her but she leaves.
• Ch 21: Thalia is getting worse and Clarke goes to look for medicinal plants despite not really knowing anything about them. Wells tries to follow. Clarke enters a building filled with skeletons and the floor gives out. She thinks of Wells as she falls.
• Ch 22: Wells grabs her just in time. She latches onto him.
• Ch 23: In FB, Bellamy finds his mother trying to strangle Octavia and rescues her. In the real, he finds her hair ribbon tied around a tree branch and finds all the meds stashed. He confronts her and she reveals she didn’t get confined for stealing food for bullied foster kids like he thought. She developed a pill addiction in the system and can’t sleep without them. She tells him she just needs to detox and Bellamy makes her promise to tell Clarke. It starts to thunder and rain and the kids freak out which LOLOLOLOL space babies.
• Ch 24: Luke is on a maintenance spacewalk. He tells Glass there was an oxygen leak. In FB, Glass gets a note from her bestie Wells asking where she’s been lately and guards burst in to arrest her for being illegally pregnant.
• Ch 25: Clarke and Wells are sitting together and Bellamy is jealous. Octavia confesses her theft to the group and the teens want to kill her because harsh justice is all they have ever known. Wells recommends banishment for them both. METHINKS ULTERIOR MOTIVES ARE A FACTOR. Bellamy apologizes to wells for shooting Jaha. They shake.
• Ch 26: Thalia gets better and tells Clarke to go after Wells and forgive.
• Ch 27: Wells gives Clarke a flower. He kisses her and she kisses him back (BOO HISS). In FB, Wells sees her parents’ trial. Rhodes lies about the human experimentation and the Council votes to kill her parents. Clarke freaks out in the trial and Rhodes mentions that since she scanned into the lab multiple times, she’s complicit. That’s why Clarke got thrown into space jail.
• Ch 28: Glass slips down to the comet viewing party on Walden station to meet Luke. He gives her the locket, effectively proposing and she accepts.
• Ch 29: Bellamy remembers there’s a comet passing and goes off into the woods to find a place to watch it. When it’s gone, he goes back to camp and finds it on fire. Octavia is gone. In FB, Bellamy comes home and his mother has tried to kill herself with a knife. Octavia is hiding in the closet unharmed and they listen to their mom’s dying breaths.

how did it end

• Ch 30: Wells won’t let Clarke run into the burning infirmary tent to save Thalia. Clarke, grief-stricken, storms away from him with angry words. In FB, before the trial, Clarke mercy-kills Lilly with a vial of drugs that stops her heart.
• Ch 31: The partition between Walden and Phoenix locks dramatically between Luke and Glass. Glass’ mom says the space station is in trouble – it wasn’t meant to last this long and they have to preserve oxygen for the wealthy people on Phoenix station. The Council will let Walden and Arcadia stations suffocate.
• Ch 32: In FB, Wells argues with Jaha about Clarke and Rhodes. He eavesdrops on a convo between Jaha and Rhodes saying the dropships are ready. Rhodes wants to send them to Earth to see if it’s safe because the teens are expendable. Jaha wants to wait and see if they’re pardoned at their 18th birthday trials. Rhodes scoffs that no one is pardoned anymore because they don’t have the resources – confirming the corruption. Wells decides to get himself arrested so he can go to Earth with Clarke to protect her.
• Ch 33: Bellamy still can’t find Octavia and Clarke is sad because of Thalia. They hug. Clarke found O’s ribbon and thinks she may have left camp before the fire started. Bellamy flirts just a little bit. Clarke flat out says that she and Wells are done (YAY BELLARKE).
• Ch 34: Glass sneaks through an air duct to Walden, which seems like it might be a problem with the whole “seal off the other stations so the oxygen doesn’t get out” deal if the AIR DUCTS aren’t locked up. She tells Luke she’d rather die on Walden with him than live without him. He is oddly fine with this plan and argues with her for exactly one sentence. In FB, Jaha interrogates Glass about the baby’s father because he’s complicit in the illegal pregnancy. She names Carter to protect Luke. Camille shows up to ruin everything and tell that secret because Camille sucks.
• Ch 35: Bellarke see signs of a struggle in the forest and determine that Octavia may have been abducted. They find an orchard of evenly spaced, fruit-bearing apple trees and start to wonder if maybe everyone on Earth isn’t dead after all.
• Ch 36: Wells is orchestrating the construction of a wooden shelter instead of tents. (They’ll both still BURN, but okay.) In FB, Wells reveals that he compromised the airlock on the ship hoping to speed up the mass evacuation to Earth. In present day, a shadowy line of people shoots a boy in the camp and the kids realize that Earth isn’t dead after all. DUN DUN DUUUUN.

differences to the show

This is a full plot summary of what happened in The 100 by Kass Morgan. Check out our  recap list  for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can  request a recap  from us!

Other recaps for this series:

• Day 21 (The Hundred #2)

[…] Homecoming isn’t available for holds yet but when it is, I’m on it. (See my recaps at Recaptains! Day 21 will be posted […]

[…] the books are vastly different from the TV show and nowhere near as good. The Recaptions have a good break down on how it differs. The first season of the show kind of follows the book a bit, which is interesting because IMO […]

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BOOK REVIEW: The 100 by Kass Morgan

Little, Brown Books September 2013, $16.99 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell

The premise had so much potential. I was picturing a cross between Earth 2 and Lord of the Flies. This book is so not that. Not even close.  Basically, about three-hundred years before the novel starts, people evacuated Earth because of giant nuclear issue of some sort. Something that left enough radiation to make it unsafe for people to live there. It’s not explained properly.   100 juvenile delinquents are sent to Earth as human guinea pigs, to see if the radiation has dissipated enough and if it’s safe enough for the rest of the colony to join them. (Though, why  they’re still circling Earth, three-hundred years later, is beyond me. It’s not explained properly.)

There are so many things wrong with this novel which could have been fixed with a bit of effort, but I feel like the author thought they might have gotten in the way of the story…. Oh, sorry, I mean the  romance.

Each of the four narrators is constantly beating themselves up about what horrible people they are, worse than anyone else in their group, and after 150 pages, I really started to hate them for it. Get over it, guys, you have surviving  to do!

Speaking of which…

Everything came way too easily to them: 

– Bellamy had read about hunting, (had he read  about using a bow, too?) when he was on the ship, so he becomes their hunter, and brings back food after his first hunting expedition, and is a master  bowman. He also studied everything he could about Earth when he found out his sister was being sent there… But he found out his sister was being sent there THE DAY it was set to happen.

– When they decided to build a wooden structure using the trunks of trees, they started on it immediately, Wells suddenly knowing the best way to make the logs slot into each other and hold toge ther. They didn’t have to sit down and plan it out or anything.

– The freaking fire. There was no mention of them having found an incendiary device of some sort, and they’ve spent their entire lives on a spaceship, but they get a fire going without any hassle. 

A lot of things didn’t make much sense:

– On the ship, people gather scraps of Earth made material – three-hundred year old Earth cloth – in order to stitch together gowns and the like. They have the facilities on the ships to make Scrubs and other new clothes, but there’s something about a ratty, old, oil stained cloth that shows off your status. Yeah…

– There was no conflict. Not real conflict.  One-hundred delinquents are sent to Earth, and there are NO disagreements between them? (There are a couple of arguments prompted by things, but they seem to resolve very anti-climatically. Nothing gets out of hand.) Even if the colony has been super strict and locking people up for nonsense reasons, chances are SOME of the kids locked up WERE actually really messed up. Even a group of normal kids, suddenly out of their element and at risk of going hungry(that is to say, they know their protein packs are GOING to run out, but then deer-hunter Bellamy gets them animals, so they don’t actually find themselves close to going hungry at all) there would be SOME arguments, SOME craziness. 

– They’re also running out of oxygen on the space station, after three-hundred years, with no mention of oxygen generators, and something happens to “the last tree”, yet they have apples. And “the last tree” isn’t an apple tree. It’s almost as though the author wants us to believe that this one tree is responsible for the air, because it’s never explained properly .

I just get the feeling that Kass Morgan took the easy way out. Every single time. 

Maybe if there had been a little more description about the ship, the planet, and the events that lead to this situation, I might have found it more believable. As it sits now it seems like Miss Morgan just couldn’t be bothered working out the science in her science-fiction story.

My advice is to stick to the show, which has its own problems but is infinitely better than the book.

I’ll be reading the second book, if only to see if there are improvements now that the author knows the events of the show.

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The 100: Book One (The Hundred series 1) Kindle Edition

The Hunger Games meets Lost in this spectacular new series. Now a major TV series on E4. No one has set foot on Earth in centuries - until now. Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth's radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents - considered expendable by society - are being sent on a dangerous mission: to re-colonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life...or it could be a suicide mission. CLARKE was arrested for treason, though she's haunted by the memory of what she really did. WELLS, the chancellor's son, came to Earth for the girl he loves - but will she ever forgive him Reckless BELLAMY fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only siblings in the universe. And GLASS managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth. Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind's last hope.

• Reading age 12 - 16 years
• Book 1 of 4 The 100
• Print length 337 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Hodderscape
• Publication date August 29, 2013
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• ISBN-13 978-1444766882
• See all details

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• First 3 $17.47
• All 4 $22.73

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Editorial Reviews

From booklist.

Dark and riveting...A mash-up of Lord of the Flies , Across the Universe , and The Hunger Games.

It's easy to be drawn in by the Lord of the Flies -style tension that builds as the teens struggle to set up a new society on a battered Earth, and by the smoldering romances that hang in the balance.

About the Author

Kass Morgan received a BA from Brown, where she studied history and literature, and a master's degree from Oxford, where she learned how to queue and walk on cobblestones in high heels. She currently works as an editor and lives in Brooklyn, where she continues to wear impractical shoes.

Justin Torres grew up in upstate New York. His work has appeared in Granta , Tin House , and Glimmer Train . A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he is a recipient of the United States Artist Fellowship in Literature and is now a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford. He has worked as a farmhand, a dog-walker, a creative-writing teacher, and a bookseller.

Phoebe Strole is an actress and an Earphones Award-winning narrator who was a finalist in 2014 for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. She graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in drama. She has appeared on Broadway in Spring Awakening and in various films and television series, including Hamlet 2 , 30 Rock , Glee , and Rescue Me.

Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00BJ5AE24
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodderscape; 0 edition (August 29, 2013)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 29, 2013
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 1955 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 337 pages
• #2,353 in Coming of Age Fiction (Kindle Store)
• #3,718 in Dystopian Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
• #4,002 in Children's eBooks (Kindle Store)

About the author

Kass morgan.

Kass Morgan studied literature at Brown and Oxford, and now resides in Brooklyn, where she lives in constant fear of her Ikea bookcase collapsing and burying her under a mound of science fiction and Victorian novels. Kass is currently working on the sequel to The 100, which she’ll finish as soon as she finds a coffee shop that allows laptops on the weekend.

Bio and photo from Goodreads.

Customer reviews

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• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 55% 25% 14% 3% 2% 2%

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Customers say

Customers find the book interesting enough to keep their attention. They also say it's an easy, fast-paced read with multiple POVs. Opinions are mixed on the pacing, writing style, and characters. Some find the characters wonderful and real, while others say the development is lacking. Readers also mention the plot is engaging and excellent, while other say it could have used more development.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book easy to read, with great premise and execution. They also appreciate the political intrigue and grittiness of a post-apocalyptic work. Overall, readers say the book pulls together towards the end.

"...It isn't the best of the genre, but it was really good and combined a lot of elements into one amazing premise...." Read more

"...Other than the REALLY annoying wording it's a really good book and I can't wait to start the third book!" Read more

"...This book is neither terrible or good . It was interesting. It had enough to keep me reading until the end...." Read more

"Oooh. This is where 3.5 stars would be critical. The book was okay good . I love books with multiple POV and this one had four...." Read more

Customers find the book interesting enough to keep their attention, with a fantastic premise. They also appreciate the use of flashbacks to give readers the whole story. Customers also say the book provides an interesting look at human nature.

"...of their mother explains their relationship much more fully & adds a lot of depth to both characters...." Read more

"...Like I said, even though this was clearly a beginning novel, it was so engrossing and there was so much happening and so many dynamics...." Read more

"...Don't get me wrong, the premise is fantastic , but how do you know how people are going to react to it until some have read it?..." Read more

"...This book is neither terrible or good. It was interesting . It had enough to keep me reading until the end...." Read more

Customers find the plot engaging, relatable, and excellent. They also appreciate the interesting underlying themes of gentrification, class warfare, and government over reach. However, some readers feel the story could have used more development and feels disjointed.

"...The 100 had plenty of drama and romance on top of the action packed plot, though book 1 was mostly informative and I knew it was setting me up for..." Read more

"...This book had an amazing premise , but didn't live up to all the hype and my expectations. It just didn't have anything that I really cared about...." Read more

"...It was more rushed and not as detailed as the flashbacks were ...." Read more

"...Still a VERY good story line , plot, and overall story. I really like that each chapter is from a different character's point of view...." Read more

Customers are mixed about the writing style. Some find it good and simple, while others say the author does a good job with writing from different perspectives. They also say the storyline is very emotionally gripping. However, some customers feel the writing seems amateurish, with little common sense or logic applied. They find the dialogue stiff and awkward, and mention that they get bored and put the book down automatically.

"...Wish the show included the Glass storyline as I think it is very emotionally gripping & sad/painful while being hopeful at the same time...." Read more

"...It was easy to follow the POV's with ease, but it was just too annoying ...." Read more

"...me, but the pace of the novel was so good and the writing sucked me in so immediately , I wasn't all that mad when it was over...." Read more

"...It is a good and simple read . I enjoyed it and it only took me a couple of days to get through it." Read more

Customers are mixed about the characters. Some find them wonderful and real, while others say that the development is lacking.

"...The character development is so much better ." Read more

"...The characters didn't seem to have any personality ...." Read more

"...The characters came to life and I wanted more.. more of what happens next, but also more backstory! I definitely recommend The 100...." Read more

"...Also 95 other delinquent teens had little to no character development so when mentioned you either forgot about them and/or didn't care due to them..." Read more

Customers are mixed about the pacing. Some find the book fast paced and fun to read, while others say it can seem a bit slow at times.

"...Normally, this infuriates me, but the pace of the novel was so good and the writing sucked me in so immediately, I wasn't all that mad when it was..." Read more

"...But it wasn't, it was the total opposite. The 100 was really slow , but still interesting enough to hold my attention and keep me reading..." Read more

"...The book is a very short and fast read but difficult to start. The Hundred reads more like a script. The dialogue is stiff and awkward...." Read more

"...-The action is really slow . Yawn, yawn, yawn. Almost NOTHING happens on the ground...." Read more

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The 100: book 1.

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Incredible.

This title has:

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• Too much violence
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• Too much swearing

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• Educational value
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Incredible Story

Not bad i would recommend for mostly 14 and up, the best book you'll ever read, outstanding book, best book ever, gripping but much different than the tv series, what to read next.

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