Book Review - Rebellion

Title: Rebellion

Author: Kass Morgan

Series: The 100 (Book 4)

Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks

Release Date: 15 Dec. 2016

ISBN: 978-1473648883

Synopsis

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 Review

So, I have been making my way through this series and feeling a little bit more disheartened with every book, the whole plot just seemed to be getting more contrite. I have never seen the TV show, so all of my opinions are about the book alone.

After reading book 3, I had mixed emotions, the story is still fast paced and the characters still likeable enough but there were quite a few things that irked me within the storyline. I actually thought the third book ended fairly solidly and could have been left as a trilogy, but i had the books in a box set and knew there was a fourth, so I was intrigued to see what could be added in to make another story,

I have to admit that I read the blurb of this one and immediately thought 'oh for goodness sake, help me'. But i wanted to give it a chance and see if the author could pull it off. The whole cult narrative is so overdone, i didn't have much hope, but we shall see.

***This review contains spoilers***

The 100 have overcome dangerous landings on earth, healed many injuries, fought off ferocious Earthborns and overcome Vice Chancellor Rhodes and his maniacal schemes, so what should they do next - oh yeah, have a party!

This book starts with them all preparing to have a great feast, Bellamy of course senses something wrong, but everyone ignores him. They elected him as a Chancellor on the new democratic council and supposedly put their trust in him, but as soon as he mentions danger, they basically say he is crazy. And what happens - they get attacked again!!!

Out of the four main narrators, Wells and Glass get taken by the attackers as hostages whilst Bellamy and Clarke get left behind to stage a rescue mission.

The Cult they get taken by celebrate the earth and have apparently been traveling across the world, infiltrating settlements and camps, killing people, stealing supply and kidnapping people - but yet no one has ever heard of them before. Their camp is only 2-3 days walk away from our 100's base - yet no sign or signal from them before this attack. Seems a little bit too convenient for them to just pop up now!

Well and Glass are taken along with a number of others from the camp, but they are put into rooms with each other (separating boys and girls of course), but there is nothing to stop them from talking or planning to escape to escape, on top of that - they are only in the camp for a couple of days before they are trusted enough to be given responsibility and even guns! Is it just me or did you think brainwashing usually took longer than that?!

Bellamy and Clarke are once again having thier ups and downs, playing the whole 'he/she doesn't trust me' thing that is getting really tiresome now. We also have 'Paul' introduced - a man who used to be a guard on the ship and now thinks he knows best and is gods gift. As far as I can tell, he is only there to be an annoyance and cause a rift between Bellamy and Clarke, as he continually flirts with Clarke.

The book itself is still fast paced and has plenty of action to keep the plot moving, but I just found a lot of it to be very unbelievable. I found myself getting frustrated with the characters and rolling my eyes at the ridiculous events and actions they were forced through. I was also hoping for Clarke's parents to play more of a part, as their return was really hyped up, but as far as I can tell, they are just more background players. You don't learn about anything they did in those few years they were wondering on earth or how they survived. They just fade into the background.

The ending is all neatly wrapped up, so hopefully it will be left there, as I really don't see anywhere else this could now go.

Overall, I feel quite disappointed with this book and I was hoping for more. Overall I think that book 1 is very good and enjoyable, but it slowly goes downhill after that. I just expected something that would wow me.

My Rating