Review: The 100

The 100 by Kass Morgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am so happy that my friend Will Walton recommended this book for our Avid Bookshop Young Adult Literature book club, and that we voted for it, because I loved it and devoured it in just a few days, even though this is the busy time in the semester. At first, I thought it was going to be a fun, but campy teen romance novel with a sci-fi/Dystopia twist to it. There were definitely romantic love triangles to it, which is appropriate for the age group of the protagonists (late teens). But there was so much more to it than that! It still has me thinking about a lot of philosophical issues: How far should you go in breaking the rules if you're doing it to help someone else? How much would you sacrifice for someone you love? If human beings had to start over on a futuristic Earth or another planet, would we get it right, or would we just make the same mistakes over again? How and why do governments become so corrupt? How does social class play a part in our society and our destinies, and would the same trends occur if we colonized another world or a floating ship in space? Wow! I am sure I am reading this book differently as a person in my thirties than a teenager would, but I believe or at least hope that it would get thoughtful teenagers who are critical thinkers pondering some of the same issues, and maybe others I haven't thought of! I didn't think I would get sucked into another fandom right before starting my dissertation, but now I want to read the other two books in the series AND watch the TV show! At least the topic and the series relates to my dissertation ;). That's a story you can hear about another day! But I'm super excited about this series, especially since the female characters are tough and savvy and are willing to fight hard for what they want. I love this book and wish there had been more like it when I was growing up. I think they would have helped me. But I plan to recommend this book to the students I teach and to other kids with whom I interact. :)

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