All I can say is, "What?" I hardly know where to begin. Did I miss something? For such a promising start of a series, and an interesting premise, what happened? This book introduced yet another group on Earth who is led by Soren and call themselves "The Protectors." The Protectors come into camp, steal all their weapons, and take Glass, Wells, and Octavia. They then travel two days to their fortress, which is the home for a group of people who have been brainwashed by Soren into thinking Earth itself is their god. Oh, and apparently, one of the other Drop Ships from the Colony crash-landed near them, so some of the people from the Colony are there too. Glass becomes quickly brainwashed by Soren (ridiculous) and sees her as a warm & cozy "mother figure". Oh, wait. Until she remembers her own mother, who was brutally murdered trying to leave the Colony and who died trying to save Glass.
And don't get me started on Bellamy & Clarke again. They love each other; no, they hate each other; wait....let's get married. Honestly. Obviously people are going to have a difference in opinion in crisis situations but these two are so over-the-top dramatic is drives me crazy. These two leave camp to find Wells, Octavia & Glass, but Bellamy wants to go in guns-abazin' once they reach Soren's compound while Clarke wants to figure out a plan first. But instead of talking it out, Clarke ends up securing, basically imprisoning, Bellamy so he can't follow through with his war-like mentality. She wants to engage in "peace talks" with Soren. They are both crazy. And why did the author add in yet another group for the original "100" to battle instead of clearing up the other issues in books 1-3? More people die in this book too, but since I found myself less and less attached to these characters, I found myself thinking, "oh well." I'm STILL upset that Finnick died in Mockingjay Part 2!! THAT is character building!
This was an add-on book that should not have been written. Morgan should have left it as a trilogy. OR, she should have addressed the questions raised in books 1-3:
1) What happened to the other Drop Ships from the Colony? Again, I thought there were originally 7. Even if no one knew exactly what happened to the missing ones, they should have been mentioned by those that were on the last one! (ie Glass)
2) Why were Clarke's parents even located if we aren't even allowed to know what happened to them when they left the Colony a year previously? Why introduce them as living characters if we never find out more about them?
3) The sudden personality change in Graham, Rhodes, the doctor (can't remember his name) who despised Clarke on the Colony, and some of the other power-hungry control freaks is completely unrealistic! All of a sudden, everyone treats Wells as their leader. One big happy family now, huh?
4) How was the original spaceship built hundreds of years ago, and how did the original colonists escape to it when the President of the USA couldn't even make it to the undergroud bunker built especially for him?
This was just too much. Kass Morgan needs a better story board when she is writing. She needs to take lessons from JK Rowling, Suzanne Collins, Veronica Roth, etc to learn how to develop her characters and devise a well-thought-out plot. You can't just keep throwing new groups of people in randomly and expect the reader to care if you haven't explored the characters you already have.
Wendy's Rating: **
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