The most annoying thing about these books is that they actually do have heaps of potential
unfortunately, most of that potential is lost under a whole lot of meaningless STUFF which doesn't drive the story. God, it annoys me that these books good be really good and instead their okay at best.
→ CHARACTERS Okay. So there books have a host of characters, the main three being Clarke, Bellamy and Wells. All three of these characters are interesting enough - but they just don't really go that extra mile, you know? Thats what the whole books like. By the third book, you'd expect the characters to be more fleshed out and complex, but honestly there's been no character development and they don't feel anymore real to me. In fact, alot of these characters don't feel real. They're tropey - except maybe Wells who's probably the most developed. Unfortunately Kass Morgan seems to think characters falling in love / romance = character development and that's all that is needed. Not true.
Lets start with Clarke. From all three books we know what? She's smart, she loves learning, she's a medic, she's strong, holds her own in hard situations. That's it. The thing is, aside from her medical capabilities, we're told she's all these things but we're never shown it. The characters are always banging on about how she is these things, but she never actually displays these qualities.
Bellamy. He's got strong morals and a clear sense of right/wrong. He is a protector and has grown up caring for his little sister. He has issues with authority and he's kind of that typical qupiing guy who's always assuring people he's 'so hot' and 'funny' and 'the best'. I mean, I don't hate Bellamy's character, far from it. I love how he is genuinely practical and resourceful. But he was all those things from the beginning of the book - I don't feel he's developed, he hasn't changed at all and he just feels two-dimensional. He's hard to relate to because really, he has no flaws. His 'flaws' are that he is a thief or he can be brash, but these flaws are presented as flaws to his society, but as a reader they're not flaws to us. (Like, sure he steals but he's giving the food to orphan kids we can't fault him for that) It's like hating Robin Hood.
Wells. He's kind of got a big mantle to take up with his dad being Chancellor and all. Unfortunately not everyone in the Hundred digs him because he's mini-chancellor and they all hate the chancellor for confining them/nearly executing them/sending them to Earth to die instead. I call it fair. Wells is a more interesting character because at least he does have a flaw. His selfishness in releasing the air lock (saving Clarke but dooming the entirety of humanity at the same time) is interesting and it's probably that that makes him most interesting to me. He just suffers from the same thing as Bellamy, no development !! He hasn't changed, he's not had to make hard choices as a leader, he's not had to deal with the repercussions of his actions. (Also he 'falls in love with' a girl he's known for like 10 days BYE ) Urgh. Potential, so much wasted potential.
→ PLOT There isn't much plot. Alot of the story is filled in with pointless romance and it's such a shame. This is where, in my opinion, the book falls so short of the show. Instead of facing The 100 with the multitude of challenges the world offers, Kass Morgan instead just fills the book with 'fights' that last a chapter. The rest is just fluff. In an unknown world, where they must fight from forces they've never encountered to survive, most of the characters are worried about when they're next going to see their beau or belle. Most of this was just 'he kissed me, I kissed him, we snuggled' and any encounter with the actual, dangerous outside world is so short lived and over so fast it doesn't even feel like a threat. The "huge" ending battle of the book lasted just three short chapters.
→ "FAKE" ACTION GIRL Time to talk about the females of the book. All of them, we're told, are so strong and brave. The thing is, we're told this but we're never SHOWN it. Bellamy constantly describes Clarke as being "fragile" when she speaks. He'll be like, "she'd never sounded so fragile" "she'd never sounded so scared" In fact, in one chapter he said she'd never been more fragile, then his next chapter she'd never been so vulnerable. IN conclusion: she spends alot of time sounding vulnerable/scared/fragile. He then says something like "but he knew Clarke was actually so strong/brave/capable" And I'm just ?? Where ?? He tells us this but we're never shown in. Clarke never stands up and actually does something brave or strong. Okay, she does save everyone with her medical training, but even while doing that she's crying or struggling and I just URGH. She doesn't lead, she doesn't stand up for anything - she just stands behind the boys and cries but don't worry!! She's really strong !! The same thing with Glass. She's supposed to be 'strong' but at every opportunity she'd hiding behind Luke and crying. Granted, she does drag him all the way back to camp which was impressive - but even doing that she's a mess. And both her and Clarke's 'strong' moments all revolve around their men. Like, okay better be strong to save this boy. Never for themselves, never just because they are? I just wish we'd had female characters who stood up and actually DID something. I mean, in this book we had the PERFECT opportunity for Clarke to go on a dangerous journey to find her parents and it never happened. She sat in a bunker and they came to her. Blergh.
→ ROMANCE There's so much of it. SO MUCH. It's so unnecessary. Every interaction between a male and a female involves kissing/"I love you so much"-ing and laying heads on chests and just !! YOU'S ARE SUPPOSED TO BE TRYING TO SURVIVE IN AN UNKNOWN LAND WITH NO RESOURCES WHERE BOTH PEOPLE AND ANIMALS ARE TRYING TO KILL YOU AND ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS GETTING LAID !!!!! I can't not get past characters (Sasha/Wells, Bellamy/Clarke) Telling eachother they love eachother sooo much they'd die for eachother after knowing them for 10ish days. How the hell do they even have time to get into relationships so fast ?? like damn. The romance is the killer of this story, so much time is dedicated to the love life of the characters very little else happens. It's so frustrating!! And it's not even that I'm AGAINST romance in these books, it's just that it's all there is, and here are teenagers fighting for their life but all they're talking about is how they couldn't possibly survive without their significant other.
I really feel like there books still can go so many better places. These books could have gone deep into the effect moving to an unknown planet has, how people react, how they survive, the hard choices they need to make and the challenged they face. We gets bits of that but it's so covered in by pointless romance and long-winded conversations about nothing we forget it's there.
Then again, I read this 330+ page book in a few hours, so it wasn't all bad. They aren't terrible books, you are entertained by them. And they're written in 3rd person point of view which is a: getting rarer and rarer in dystopian book and b: my favourite way to read so that helps.
I did enjoy this book, I think I'm just frustrated it could be more. There's a reason the tv show is widely more liked then the books and it's because the show goes all the places the book doesn't quite get to. -- It's a goddamn shame. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with these, it feels like I've given the books chances to please me and prove me wrong but it's not happened yet. I kind of just care about finding out of Kendall is alive. Sigh.
Also, can we just talk about the cover? Why is Finn on it when he's not even in the books?