Kass Morgan Books In Order

Publication Order of Light Years Books

Publication Order of The 100 Books

Publication Order of The Ravens Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Kass Morgan is an American author that writes young adult science fiction novels. Morgan is best known for ‘The 100’, a book series that became a popular live-action television show.

+Biography

Kass Morgan was born in 1984 in New York. She has a Bachelor’s Degree from Brown University and a Master’s from Oxford. The author has always loved classic literature and she named many of her characters from The 100 series after authors and characters from classic science fiction stories.

Morgan actually made her debut in the Publishing landscape with the 100 novels. The books have since taken on a life of their own, not only finding success on the small screen but also cementing Kass Morgan’s place among the great Young Adult authors of the age.

+Literary Career

Kass Morgan read a lot as a child. Her love for science fiction burgeoned at a relatively early age. The author remembers being in sixth grade and having a crush on a handsome boy.

Kass remembers the boy in question getting up and giving a presentation of his book report on ‘Ender’s Game’. The experience was life-changing. Morgan had never given science fiction much thought before this moment despite being a pretty avid reader.

The boy delivered a smart and intriguing presentation that made ‘Ender’s Game’ sound so cool. And it wasn’t long before Morgan stormed the library and visited the sci-fi section for the first time in her life.

After years spent reading about fairies and horses, Kass Morgan’s eyes were opened to a world filled with spaceships and outlandish concepts about science and the future. Morgan read Ender’s Game and it hooked her on science fiction.

Even after she went to college and got her degrees in English and literature, the author never gave up on her love for science fiction. Though, she also held a passion for Regency Era romance and books in that genre were typically mixed in with her collection of science fiction.

With her Oxford and Brown University education in tow, Morgan eventually moved to New York. She landed a job as an editor and the exposure she had to other people’s fictional creations sparked in her a desire to write.

Despite her addiction to reading, Morgan had never truly committed to the idea of writing her own fiction until the editing job showed her just how truly rewarding it was to pour one’s heart and soul into the creation of a fictional world with fictional characters undertaking a grand adventure.

Even before Morgan undertook the task of writing ‘The 100’, she knew she wanted to focus her efforts on the dystopian sub-genre of science fiction. Morgan had read numerous novels that detailed the end of the world.

Her favorite authors had explored all the ways in which the earth could be destroyed. Morgan was drawn to the Dystopian genre of fiction because it allowed her to tell stories set in a time of rebuilding.

Some of her favorite science fiction novels took place in eras where the earth had been obliterated and the heroes were tasked with setting everything right.

‘The 100’ deals with this same concept. It should be noted that the book series was not Morgan’s original idea. Alloy Entertainment is a creative think tank, a firm that generates ideas and hires the talent necessary to flesh them out.

Before they engaged Kass Morgan, Alloy had already produced two notable hits in the form of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and ‘Gossip Girl’. Alloy sought out Morgan and pitched to her the idea of a story in which one hundred kids are deployed from a space station and deposited on earth for the purposes of re-colonizing it after an apocalyptic event.

Alloy asked Morgan if she was interested in writing such a book. Morgan couldn’t say ‘YES’ fast enough. Interestingly enough, by the time Alloy reached out to Morgan to write the series, they had already elicited interest from The CW who wanted to turn ‘The 100’ into a television show.

Both the book and the television show, or at least the pilot episode, where developed at roughly the same time. The approach initially worried Morgan. She thought that her book would suffer if people thought it was just a novelization of the television series.

Even though both the book series and the television show are called ‘The 100’ and even though they share a concept, the two entities diverge in almost all aspects. Even as Alloy negotiated the deal with The CW for a potential ‘The 100’ television show, they told Morgan that she had complete freedom to write her story as she wished.

The CW producers of ‘The 100’ were also allowed to take whatever creative liberties they wanted with their adaptation. And because the two entities were, in truth, quite different from one another, Morgan wasn’t too keen on the idea of potential readers choosing to discard her story simply because they thought it was just a novelization of a television show they had already watched.

Morgan’s fears were allayed when her first book in the series succeeded in being published several months before the CW pilot episode of ‘The 100 aired. Morgan was able to secure a significant following for her books before the television show premiered.

The two entities, the show, and the book series have since garnered their own unique followings. Most fans of the books are also fans of the show but the reverse is not true. It is generally accepted that Kass Morgan’s book series is its own entity, telling a story distinct from the television adaptation.

+The 100

A devastating nuclear war left the earth in ruins and forced humanity to evacuate to spaceships above the planet’s surface.

Several centuries have passed. A hundred juvenile delinquents—kids that society no longer wants—are sent to the planet to re-colonize it.

Clarke is one such delinquent, having been arrested for treason. Wells is only there because of the girl he loves, this despite being the Chancellor’s Son.

Bellamy wasn’t a delinquent. But he wouldn’t let his sister go alone. So he fought his way onto the transport pod.

Together, these three will face the savagery that has consumed the earth’s surface.

+Day 21

One hundred juvenile delinquents were booted off a space station and launched to the earth’s surface to re-colonize the planet. It has been 21 days. The crew is facing an unknown enemy. Wells is supposed to keep everyone together but he keeps failing.

Clarke eventually decides to strike out on her own with the intention of finding those other colonists with whom they share the planet.