The books, which are called The 100, Day 21 and Homecoming, follow the four teenagers (and POV characters) Clarke, Wells, Bellamy and Glass. At the beginning of the series, all of them are on the colony, a spaceship whose inhabitants are the last living humans who managed to escape the nuclear war centuries ago. But supplies, most of all oxygen are running out, so the government decides to send one hundred teenage criminals down to earth to see wether the earth is survivable again. Among these delinquents is Clarke, Well's first love, so he commits a crime in order to accompany her, as well as Glass, who manages to escape back onto the colony last-minute. Bellamy however wants to get onto the transport ship to protect his little sister Octavia, whose relationship had to be a secret all their lives because of the one child rule on the colony. Once they arrive on earth and realize earth in fact is survivable again, they have to fight for not just their survival, but also the survival of mankind. While the unfamiliar environment holds a lot of dangers, the teenagers need to build a new society whilst they still have to deal with secrets from their pasts and unexpected relationships are developing. Glass hopes she got away from all these risks with her escape, but soon realizes, her life is in as much danger as it would be on earth. Everyone of them has to deal with the decisions they made or they will haunt them forever.
"You couldn't expect anyone else to share your suffering. You had to carry your pain alone."
I just realized I wanted to put too much information in this summary, but I hope it still made kind of sense to you. Anyway, I really enjoyed this series, and especially amazing was following those four really different characters and their storylines. At the beginning they all were in the more or less same situation, but during the series thanks to character development and a lot of events they differ more and more from one another. While you learn more about each person through flashbacks and memories, which are done soo good, you can see where they are all connected with each other. Apart from that, the books aren't really special, but definitely a great read if you're into sci-fi or dystopian books.
Now you may ask me wether I prefer the show or the books, I honestly can't give you an anwser. The storylines and characters are nearly completely different, so you'll have a hard time comparing those two. The show made a lot of changes, but I'm glad they did since the book just wouldn't work as a tv show, because it's focus is more on relationships and there's just not enough action and death in there. But reading the book really made me wish they would've included Glass' storyline in the first season. In my opinion it would've fit quite well and added definitely something interesting to the story. Anyway, the great thing about those two versions is you're actually able to experience two very different stories about the similar characters and the world they live in. And if you don't think that's awesome, I don't know what's wrong with you.
Rating:
The 100: 3/5 ✹
Day 21: 3.5/5 ✹
Homecoming: 3.5/5 ✹
Wow. This just became waaay too long. But, my point is, if you enjoyed the show (which you definitely did because it's AMAZING), you should check out the books, and the other way round. I'm quite sure most of you will like the show a lot more, but please give the books a chance, they'll be a nice "addition" to the series and will help get you over the looooong hiatus.
One last thing: Why the f*ck would whoever designed the covers (don't get me wrong, I actually like them a lot, especially the one for Day 21) put Finn on two of them, if he doesn't even exist in the books?
Thanks for reading all of this, I hope you're having a great day!
Leah
