The 100: Rebellion
By Kass Morgan

Another series down!

I had a lot more issues with The 100: Rebellion than I had with the third book, The 100: Homecoming. Some of the complaints are the same, but there are a few shiny, new ones.

First up though, I liked the cult. The cult was cool. It finally allowed Glass to have some good character growth too, so bonus! She finally learns to think for herself.

The basis of the cult wasn’t bad: harmony with nature. After the Cataclysm that destroyed most of Earth, a religion that pops up among the few survivors revering the Earth above all else makes perfect sense. And I feel, over time, the true goal of the cultists was bastardized by each leader as they became more manipulative and controlling. I wanted a whole lot more backstory on the cultists than I got, but I do feel their story followed the usual line of how cults evolve and (eventually) deteriorate.

The ending really bothered me. It felt too tied up with a pretty bow. I’m glad the characters were happy and had hope for a future, but these people have basically nothing with a whole winter ahead and they’re talking like “things will be fine.” There’s a weird disconnect between what the author tells the reader versus what the characters say.

But really, my biggest beef is with the writing. The other books had this issue too, but it was glaring in The 100: Rebellion. Seeing the passive voice in almost every sentence drove me absolutely batty. There is a time and place for the passive voice, and “all the time, everywhere” is not the correct answer. Not only did the writing kill its own tension, but it killed character growth and personality as well.

I don’t want to get too much into the characters. They don’t change much. Bellamy seems to de-age emotionally speaking, which was annoying. The plot of The 100: Rebellion followed the original book’s, The 100, way too closely in terms of Bellamy and Octavia’s relationship. Octavia kidnapped. Bellamy panics. Bellamy blames/resents Clarke. Clarke sad. It got old three books ago.

Another character, Luke, I straight up forgot was even in the “rescue party” he had so little “screen time.” He was there for the gratuitous reunion and “I choose you, but I’m my own person now” with Glass at the end. That’s literally it. Which, there’s nothing objectively wrong with that if Luke wasn’t just a cardboard cutout for Glass to hug.

I enjoyed The 100, and The 100: Day 21 was pretty good. If the series had ended there, I’d have had a better relationship with it overall.

~ Anna
(Entry 33)