Title: The 100 SocietyAuthor: Carla SpradberyPublication Date: 4th September 2014Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~
For sixth-form student Grace Becker, The 100 Society is more than just a game; it's an obsession. Having convinced her five friends at Clifton Academy to see it through to the end, Grace will stop at nothing to carry out the rules of the game: tagging 100 locations around the city. With each step closer to the 100-mark they get, the higher the stakes become. But when the group catches the attention of a menacing stalker - the Reaper - he seems intent on exposing their illegal game, tormenting Grace with anonymous threats and branding their dormitory doors with his ominous tag.
As the once tight-knit group slowly unravels, torn apart by doubt and the death of a student, they no longer know who to trust.
With time running out, Grace must unmask the Reaper before he destroys everything she cares about for ever...
The 100 Society is an average read for me, I neither really
enjoyed it or hated it. And these types for me, are the hardest to review
because I didn't not like it, it was okay, but it didn't wow me. The 100
Society is appropriately named after a graffiti artist that left his tag in a
100 placed in various placed ranging from easy to tag and downright insane and
dangerous to tag. I've only ever read anything to do with Graffiti once before,
so it's still pretty unique to me and I enjoyed that side of things, though
besides the opening chapter, there wasn't much tagging going on after that- not
from our main characters anyway.
The 100 Society starts off with the tagging on a bridge, and we're introduced to our main character, Grace, and our co-characters, Trick, Pete, and Faith, and then Ed and Cassie. It's written in third person, but resides it's view on Grace. Grace is a hard character to pin, because while again, I didn't hate or like her, I couldn't find her voice and I could understand some of the other characters better than hers. Like, Trick, who's your typical sarcastic 'bad boy' that secretly has a heart of gold, I did like Trick a lot better than the others, he was actually my favourite because I kind of have a soft spot for characters like him. Usually I root for the best friend, but not this time, Pete was kind of an ass. Which, for those who have read it already, you know why.
Usually I end up liking the characters more than the plot
itself, but with The 100 Society, I liked the plot a lot way more than I liked
the characters, I'm also a sucker for mystery/murder/thrillers, which is what drew
me to it in the first place. Grace and her tagging 'team' are down to the last
lot of tags that's on the 100 Society list, they upload the proof to their
website, that get's hacked and leaves a grim reaper on the page that soon
disappears, but he grim reaper starts showing up everywhere else and soon starts
tagging over Graces tag with their own. Things start heating up when a serious
accident happens to one of the team and then they start getting strange
messages, and then things start getting dangerous. Plot wise, it was good,
albeit a little cliché in some places, but I still enjoyed putting the pieces together
and figuring out what was going on and who was doing what. It wasn't as blasé
on the threat front as so many I come across, The 100 Society wasn't afraid to
have the consequences from the danger. There was actual threat behind the
threats, and I appreciated that.
The one thing I really loved about it though, was the Art
room scenes, and Art altogether. The last 3 years of High School, I was
probably in the Art Studio more than anywhere else, I'd be in there at dinner
times, after school for hours. It was pretty much my safe haven (hence the
first part of my blog name), the one place that I loved being in (even more
than the library) and it was one of my favourite places because it didn't feel
like school. So the Art scenes made
me feel a little nostalgic, since I haven't been in that room for five years now.
The 100 Society is a good mystery that although predictable,
isn't to be messed with. It's intense and makes good on the threat intent.
Rating: 3.5/5
