Tomorrow, When The War Began (1993)

I loved this novel! It was fast-paced, gripping, and frighteningly realistic. I can not wait to read book two of the Tomorrow Series! ( )

I remember, when I first read this book when it came out, that I found it a little mechanical and unconvincing though, of course, it was as popular with YA readers as ‘The Hunger Games’ has been more recently. In it I think Marsden has used the same sort of techniques too often. To create suspense, for example, he keeps having Ellie make some comment which indicates that there’s about to be a drama. So at one point we have ‘But Tuesday started cooler and proved to be cooer in most ways. It was an intriguing day; a day I won’t forget’ and then a little later “It’s funny, when I look back on that trip, I wonder why I didn’t get any premonition. We were all too tired I suppose, and we felt the worst was over . . .”

I don’t think YA fiction needs to stretch one’s credulity in order to engage the reader but the continual combination of teen romance and excursions to take on the enemy just don’t quite gel with me. Having Ellie and Fi discuss their love lives when they’re about to risk their lives doesn’t seem credible whereas the sort of difficulties the children have Westall’s “The Machine-Gunners” are quite believable and gripping.

I did go on, years ago, to read “The Dead of the Night’ and maybe even “The Third Day, the Frost” but I don’t think I can bring myself to trudge down this path again. Yes, this is a successful series and the bush setting, camping, discovery of the hermit’s hut and way the teenagers set themselves up have their appeal, and no doubt to adolescents the idea of coping where adults have failed adds to the draw of the book. Perhaps most children’s books are liked by their young readers because of the way children are given a power that few of them have in real life . . . ( )

I read the whole series on vacation this month. I can only describe it as basically the movie Red Dawn set in Australia. It was really well done and I can see why it is so popular for the youth of Australia. The series has a brutal honesty to it and I longed to see some kind of triumphant ending but knew all along it would never be the case. Kind of along the lines of Frodo coming home at last to a Shire in trouble. Good read. ( )

Seventeen-year-old Ellie Linton wants one final adventure with her friends before the school holidays are over. Packed in Ellie's parents' land rover they drive to the famously isolated rock pool Eden dubbed 'Hell' by the locals. Returning to their home town of Wirrawee, the seven teenagers realize that something is seriously wrong. Power to the houses has been cut, pets and livestock have been left dead or dying, and most alarmingly of all, everyone's family has vanished. When the hostile armed forces discover that the teenagers are lying low in the vicinity, Ellie and her friends must band together to escape, outwit and strike back against the mysterious enemy that has seized control of their town and imprisoned their friends and loved ones... Great action read which led me to read the next book.... ( )

When a group of friends set off into the back country of Australia they could never have dreamed of what they returned home to. Their homeland had been invaded and now they must make some serious choices. Fight for their families who have been taken hostage, or stay hidden and try and survive. ( )