You’ve probably been there. You finish a binge-watch of a gritty, heart-wrenching sci-fi show and think, "I need more of this." So, you grab the book it’s based on, expecting the same adrenaline rush. But when you crack open Kass Morgan The 100, you might find yourself blinking in confusion.
Where is Raven Reyes? Why is Wells Jaha still breathing? And since when is the apocalypse... kinda romantic?
Honestly, the relationship between Kass Morgan’s novels and the CW television show is one of the weirdest "adaptations" in Hollywood history. They aren't just different; they’re separate timelines that barely wave at each other from across the street. If you're coming from the show, the books feel like a soft-focus dream. If you started with the books, the show probably felt like a punch to the gut.
Let's break down what actually happened with the woman who started it all and why her version of the Grounders is nothing like the warriors we saw on screen.
The Secret Origin of Kass Morgan The 100
Most people assume a book becomes a hit, and then a studio buys the rights. That’s the "Harry Potter" or "Hunger Games" route. But with Kass Morgan The 100, the process was basically running on 2x speed.
Mallory Kass (who writes under the pen name Kass Morgan) was actually working as an editor when the "book packagers" at Alloy Entertainment pitched her a premise: 100 juvenile delinquents sent to a radioactive Earth to see if it’s habitable.
She loved it. She started writing.
But here’s the kicker: the TV rights were sold to Jason Rothenberg and the CW before the first book was even on shelves. This is why the show feels so different. The writers of the TV pilot only had the "bones" of Morgan’s concept. While she was finishing the first book, they were already building a totally different world for the screen.
It’s a rare case where the source material and the adaptation were developed simultaneously but in total isolation. No wonder they ended up in different galaxies.
👉 See also: Why No Doubt It's My Life Still Hits Different Thirty Years Later
What Most People Get Wrong About the Characters
If you love the "Blake Siblings" dynamic, you’ll find it in the books, but it’s shifted. In the show, Bellamy is a hardened, protective older brother who literally shoots the Chancellor to get on that dropship. In the Kass Morgan The 100 novels, Bellamy is still protective, but the stakes feel a bit more "YA romance" and a bit less "political assassination."
And then there's the character of Glass.
Who? Exactly.
If you’ve only watched the show, you have no idea who Glass is. In the books, Glass Sorenson is one of the four main POV characters. She’s a girl who manages to escape the dropship at the last second and stays on the Ark (called "The Colony" in the books). Her entire storyline is about the class struggle and romance happening back in space while the other 99 are on the ground.
In the TV show, the producers basically scrapped her and used those minutes to focus on the adults like Abby Griffin and Marcus Kane. They also invented characters like Raven Reyes, Jasper Jordan, and Monty Green. None of them exist in Kass Morgan’s original pages.
The biggest shocker for show fans? Wells Jaha. On the CW, Wells is gone before you even get used to his face. In the books, he is a primary protagonist who sticks around, providing a moral compass that the show's version of the group sorely lacked.
The "Earthborns" vs. The Grounders
In the show, the Grounders are a tribal society with their own language (Trigedasleng), complex lore, and a "blood must have blood" mantra. They are terrifying.
In the Kass Morgan The 100 books, they are called "Earthborns."
They aren't quite the war-paint-wearing warriors of the CW. In fact, some of them live in a hidden colony under Mount Weather—but not the "blood-draining" Mount Weather you're thinking of. In the books, Mount Weather is actually a place of refuge where the Earthborns are relatively peaceful and even help the delinquents.
The conflict in the novels is much more internal. It’s about who gets to lead the 100 and how they’ll survive the "Protectors"—a different group of survivors. It’s less "all-out planetary war" and more "high-stakes camping trip with secrets."
Why the Tone Shift Matters
Kass Morgan’s writing leans heavily into the "Young Adult" romance genre. There’s a lot of pining. A lot of flashbacks to who kissed whom in the zero-gravity gym. It’s sort of Lost meets Gossip Girl.
The show, however, pivoted hard into "grimdark" sci-fi. By season 2, the TV version was asking questions about genocide, utilitarianism, and the soul-crushing cost of leadership.
Morgan’s books stay a bit lighter. They explore the trauma of being an "expendable" child in a dying society, but they don't necessarily want to make you cry for three days straight. If you want a version of this story where your favorite characters actually get a chance at happiness, the books are your safe haven.
The Reading Order for Kass Morgan’s Series
If you’re looking to dive into the source material, here is the factual order of the quadrilogy:
👉 See also: Gotye: What Really Happened to the Guy We Used to Know
- The 100 (2013) – The initial drop and the discovery that they aren't alone.
- Day 21 (2014) – Secrets about the radiation and the truth about the Colony start to leak.
- Homecoming (2015) – The rest of the spaceships land, and the power struggle gets real.
- Rebellion (2016) – A final showdown with a fanatical cult that tests the group's unity.
The Reality of the Legacy
By 2026, Kass Morgan The 100 stands as a fascinating case study in how a single spark can light two very different fires. Morgan’s books provided the "What If?" that captured the imagination of millions. She created Clarke Griffin—the bisexual icon of sci-fi—even if the book version of Clarke focuses a bit more on her parents' medical experiments and a bit less on pulling levers that end civilizations.
It’s okay to like one and not the other.
Many fans treat the books as a "parallel universe" where things went a little bit better for everyone. No City of Light. No Praimfaya destroying the world for a second time. Just 100 kids trying to find a home on a planet that forgot they existed.
Actionable Next Steps for Fans
- Compare the "Pilot" to Chapter 1: Read the first few chapters of the first book. You’ll see exactly where the show followed the script and the exact moment it veered off into its own thing.
- Check out Mallory Kass's other work: If you like her style, she also wrote The Ravens (with Danielle Paige) and the Light Years series. They have that same mix of high-concept sci-fi and character-driven drama.
- Look for the "Easter Eggs": Re-watch the show’s first season. You’ll notice small nods to the book's "Glass" storyline that were eventually abandoned or given to other characters like Raven.
The world of The 100 is big enough for both versions. Whether you want the gritty survivalism of the screen or the romantic mystery of the page, Kass Morgan's core idea—that humanity deserves a second chance—remains the heartbeat of it all.