ALA Booklist

Dark and riveting, Morgan's entry in the very popular dystopian, postapocalyptic YA subgenre blends science fiction, romance, and characters' shadow sides with a mostly engrossing plotline. In a future lived on spaceships, long after the earth's destruction, teenage delinquents are usually sentenced to die for their transgressions. Then 100 of them, who are deemed disposable guinea pigs, are instead sent to the ravaged earth in order to see if it is habitable for humans. Clarke, Wells, Bellamy, and Glass are the four narrators, through whose voices the story line sometimes glides and sometimes bumps along. The differing perspectives shed much light on the otherwise lightly drawn world setting, but it can sometimes be hard to leave one character for the next. Regardless, Morgan's debut clips along at an easy pace because of its simple yet direct writing style. A mash-up of The Lord of the Flies, Across the Universe, and The Hunger Games this has already been tapped by the CW network for television production. It should appeal to fans of postapocalyptic novels seeking the next potentially big new thing.

Horn Book

One hundred incarcerated teenagers are sent back to Earth, centuries after a nuclear holocaust forced humanity to leave for a space station, to recolonize the planet. Four of the delinquents are the focus, but they are rather thin characters whose fuzzy internal motivations must serve to move the plot along. Still, this standard post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel will likely please genre fans.

Kirkus Reviews

One hundred teen convicts may be the only hope of the human race. Three hundred years after the Cataclysm made Earth uninhabitable, the remnant of humanity lives in an aging space station. Strict population-control laws help conserve the dwindling resources, and adults convicted of crimes are summarily executed. Criminal teens held in Confinement are given a retrial at 18, and some go free. Fearing the colony has few years left, the Chancellor decides to send 100 of these teens to Earth with monitoring bracelets to see if the planet's surface is survivable. The story concentrates on four of them. Wells commits a crime in order to accompany his girlfriend; Bellamy breaks into the dropship to go with his sister; in hopes of reuniting with her boyfriend, Glass escapes the dropship to return to her privileged mother. And Clarke, the object of Wells' affection, struggles with demons and hormones. Will they survive? Morgan's debut, which has already been optioned for a CW series, has a promising premise as long as readers don't apply too many brain cells. (Why convicts? Why not give them communication devices? Isn't there birth control in the future?) However, it slowly devolves into a thrill-free teen romance. Lengthy flashbacks flatten the action in nearly every chapter. The characters do little to distinguish themselves from their run-of-the-mill dystopian brethren. Steer teens in search of science fiction to Beth Revis, Robison Wells and Veronica Roth. Perhaps the television incarnation will have some life. (Dystopian adventure. 15 & up)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Morgan-s ambitious dystopian novel, set to become a TV series on the CW network, starts with 100 teenagers living in a tightly controlled society aboard an orbiting colony; all are facing their 18th birthdays and have been convicted of various offenses. As an alternative to retrial and probable execution, the teens are being sent back to Earth, abandoned centuries earlier when it became too toxic to inhabit. Third-person narration shifts among four teens-three who return to Earth, and one who escaped and remains on the station. The plotting is fast-paced, and the story volleys rapidly between multiple characters, action in the present, and flashbacks, which doesn-t always make for smooth reading. Morgan-s flair for the dramatic (-He tasted like joy, and joy tasted better on Earth-) can be forced, but it-s easy to be drawn in by the Lord of the Flies-style tension that builds as the teens struggle to set up a new society on a battered Earth, and by the smoldering romances that hang in the balance. A last-page cliffhanger sets up the sequel. Ages 15-up. Agent: Sara Shandler and Joelle Hobeika, Alloy Entertainment. (Sept.)

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-In this debut sci-fi action adventure, humans inhabit the Moon after migrating over a century ago to escape radiation poisoning on Earth. After evaluating the diminishing resources as well as the population explosion, the government decides that the time is ripe for recolonizing Earth-starting with a secret mission involving 100 teenage criminals shipped off to battle for survival. Morgan recounts the experience through a key group of Confined. Glass Sorenson is the only one to escape the ship before it blasts off; her narrative offers insight into both the wealthy and poor districts of the space colony, in addition to the terrors of living in a deteriorating atmosphere. Clarke Griffin, friend of Glass and medical student Confined as an accessory to her parents' crimes, is dispatched to Earth along with the 100 and followed there by her ex-boyfriend, Wells. Wells is the antihero, his character driven by radical love for Clarke, an obsession with keeping her safe (especially at the expense of those she cares about), and determination to establish a civilized colony. The novel's political message noticeably emulates the ancient debate over the ability to lead vs. the predetermined right to lead. The 100 is a mash-up of the hit TV reality show Survivor and traditional science fiction such Arthur C. Clarke's "Space Odyssey" series and H.G. Wells's An Experiment in Prophecy , down to the names. Overall, Morgan's weave of pop-culture elements and politics make for a gripping read. Jamie-Lee Schombs, Loyola School, New York City