Book Review: The 100: Rebellion/series wrap up

Introduction

“Despite everything they’d faced since landing on Earth, right now it seemed as though the entire planet was finally saying what Bellamy was murmuring to her right now. “Welcome home.””

The Colonists and the Earthborns are celebrating their first holiday together when, to everyone’s horror, they’re attacked by a group of strangers whose unusual battle cries fill the air. The newcomers kill scores of people, seize prisoners, and pillage crucial supplies. When hotheaded Bellamy and his analytical girlfriend Clarke discover that Wells, Octavia and Glass have been captured, they vow to get them back at all costs. But as they go after their new enemies, Bellamy and Clarke find themselves increasingly at odds, unable to agree on a plan to save their friends.

Meanwhile, Wells, Octavia, and Glass are being slowly brainwashed by their captors, religious fanatics with one goal: to grow their ranks and “heal” the war-ravaged planet… by eliminating everyone else on it.

But centuries of radiation exposure have taken their toll, forcing the cult to take drastic steps to survive. And unless the rescue party arrives soon, the teen captives will face a fate more terrifying than anything they could imagine. In this thrilling fourth installment, the hundred fight to protect the people they love on the dangerous planet they always dreamed of calling home.

My Thoughts

Alright, this is it. We’re saying goodbye to Kass Morgan.

I thought that this was finally going to be the book that makes me quit. It started off a little weird and introduced a whole cult storyline, but it went by really fast once the plot got going. I’ve noticed that, in each book, the characters must come to term with something worse.

The series didn’t completely satisfy my 21-year-old heart but it definitely would’ve had a better impact on me if I was a little younger. Would I recommend this series to a friend? Not at all. Did I enjoy this journey? Of course. If the books weren’t such an easy read, I probably wouldn’t have stuck with it.

Finally, romance isn’t the main focus! Plot has never been this series’ strong point but I feel that this book really made a point to focus on the characters and their relationships rather than giving too much attention to the plot. This was a very quick read and, yet again, not much happened plot-wise.

The bulk of the novel was spent listening to characters come up with plans to break away from the cult or break into the cult’s fortress – as well as some really awkward arguments between Clarke and Bellamy. The actual “rebellion” of the novel went by really quickly, I probably would’ve named this book something else. I expected much more of a battle.

I don’t have a favorite part of this book in particular, but I loved the cult. They call themselves the “Protectors”, and they were absolutely insane. At first I thought “meh, okay, they believe in nature guiding them, I can respect that” but they quickly just kept getting worse and worse. They went from essentially wiping out entire camps of whatever is left of humanity, to supporting this weird mating ritual, to their leader standing on a pile of bones before the ritual, it was all insane!

I’m not sure of the timeline between Morgan writing these book and the show’s storyline but I would’ve munched preferred Morgan’s concept of a cult over the show’s ALIE/city of light plot.

The stakes in this book felt much higher than any of the others. For most of the series, I felt like Morgan made a lot of cliche choices but there was a death in this book that absolutely shocked me and made me realize that these kids have matured in such a short amount of time because of these horrible circumstances.

Morgan used a huge deus ex machina to solve the biggest issue of the plot but I’ll let it slide because of the irony of the earth opening up and leading Bellamy into a room where the protectors – people who believed the earth genuinely spoke to them and gave them signs to massacre people – kept their weapons.

Lastly, I will finally admit that the series gave me the bellarke content that the show refused to give. I’m very happy with the book’s ending, because all along I had been hoping the show would at least give me a crumb of happiness for my two favorite characters.

I think the book wrapped up the series as nicely and neatly as possible.

Rating

Overall, I give the book five stars. Let me say: these books aren’t the pinnacle of literature and I would never even compare them to my previous five star read, The Song of Achilles, but I really enjoyed this one! It was a great way to say goodbye to the series. Here’s to completing my first series of 2021 and moving on to something new!