Burning for Revenge

The most exciting book of the series yet--wow. Given the illegitimate nonsense Israel and the U.S. are visiting upon Iran at the moment, you'd think I'd stay away from any book about hostile take-overs of innocent countries, but it's absolutely riveting reading. It never seems beyond belief and events organically and improbably but possibly happen.

Burning for Revenge by John Marsden is the fifth book in his Tomorrow series, my current favorite YA adventure series. The small group of teenagers are continuing to battle against the invaders but their biggest hope is that they can be reunited with their families and find a place of safety. More by accident than with any deliberate planning they manage to infiltrate an important air base and deliver a colossal amount of damage. Once again they are being hunted and are on the run. They decided to lie low for awhile and choose Ellie’s grandmother’s place which although abandoned and derelict makes a great hide-out.

While all the relationships within the group are constantly evolving, Ellie and Lee seem to be growing apart. Lee starts show more to take himself out alone at night and Ellie fears that he is continuing to wage war and will bring the soldiers down on them. When she follows him and finds him meeting with a young woman, Ellie is devastated but she also sees that this young woman is setting Lee up to be captured. She manages to thwart the soldiers and she and Lee escape. This book ends with the group having to decide once again whether to stay in their country and continue their fight or allow a helicopter to come and lift them out. Of course, they decide to stay and fight.

Although there wasn’t anything new to this story, I still enjoyed spending time with these now familiar characters. There was a nice blend of character development and out-and-out action that kept the pages turning. There were a couple of incidents in this book that I suspect will come into play in the next book and so, the journey continues for these guerrilla fighters. show less

Burning For Revenge felt like the most action packed instalment in the Tomorrow series yet. It was a breeze to get through and the plot rarely felt like it was stagnating which has been a problem in some of the previous novels. After the losses the group experienced in the Tomorrow 4, the victories were much needed. I thought Marsden balanced the heroism of the characters with Kevin's emotional state. It felt realistic and it was nice to see not everyone adapting as well to the crazy events unfolding around them. While a degree of suspension of disbelief is required, and the series is relatively formulaic, I'm still along for the ride.

John Marsden's Tomorrow series is one of the best Australian young adult series ever written. It follows the experiences of a group of teenagers who go camping in a serene clearing called 'Hell' and return to find their homeland invaded, their beloved pets dead and their families held prisoner at the local showground. After the initial shock and fear, they decide that it wouldn't do just to sit tight and hope for the best - better to fight. With realistic action and the conflicting emotions that come from war (at one point Ellie wonders how many people it is OK to kill just to keep herself alive), this series will have you thinking about what you would do if you were in their shoes. The Tomorrow series is neither pro or anti war. It show more simply tells what happens and leaves the reader to judge. If you don't read this series you are missing out on something great. show less

I feel that this is the best book in the Tomorrow series so far. It has so much action and intensity, yet it doesn't fail to deliver on the emotional side either. I'm glad to see the author explore not only the emotional effects of war on our protagonists, but also on others who are not directly involved in the fighting. A very action packed and thought provoking novel. Loved it and can't wait to read book six!

These are very enjoyable reads about six teens in Australia who are camping when their country is invaded. Circumstances force them to become partisans. Marsden writes with good suspense, action and leaving you looking forward to the next volume. My two main complaints are: we never really find out who invaded Australia and the group never accumulates although they have numerous clashes with th enemy.

I had been burning for revenge for a long time, and now I was going to do some real burning, to get them back for all they'd done to us.

wow, this series just gets more intense and more amazing with each book. You get to the know the land, the characters and the events so well. I keep having to remind myself 'this didn't really happen, this didn't really happen'.