The Dead of Night

"Night started to fall, then it fell, till it was lying all over the ground."

This is the second in the Tomorrow series - following on from Tomorrow, When the War Began. Ellie and her friends, now a depleted number, have returned to their bush camp-out following their successful guerilla attack on the bridge. On an exploratory trip out of their camp, they come across another guerilla camp, run on rather different lines. After disaster strikes, their hearts are hardened and they undertake further attacks on Wirrawee.

I rather enjoyed the first in this series - I didn't find it very profound but the post-invasion world was an interesting setting for what is essentially a novel about teenagers' interactions under stress. The Dead of the show more Night is considerably darker - Ellie and her friends are coming to terms with what it means to be a soldier, to have to kill in order to survive. Ellie's peace-time conscience is getting the better of her and she finds it a relief to be ordered around in the other camp, only permitted to do housework and not be a soldier.

Plausibly, by this stage, the members of the group are all pretty fed up with their situation and one another and there are plenty of squabbles. Interestingly, the group dynamic has changed after they all read Ellie's record in the first volume (the story is seen through Ellie's record of what the group go through, she is their chosen record-keeper and is brutally honest about their combative deeds as well as the budding relationships) - she writes for a while about the power of the written word and how her honesty (or perspective) has altered her relationship with both Homer and Fi.

There isn't much character development as we return to the same characters, but it's interesting to see Ellie and co deal with new situations, particularly the conflict that is arising within each person and the group as their deeds become more brutal. Their disappointment with the adults in the other camp is profound - they cannot believe how much the adults have fallen for the pointless propaganda of their leader.

I won't be bothering to seek out the rest of this series, but if they were right here in front of me, I would read them - the characters are fun and complex, and their adventures are high-octane enough to be suspenseful and credible. show less

"War is our scourge; yet war has made us wise, and, fighting for our freedom, we are free."

another book in the series. These poor kids. The ways they've changed - which is only normal, they should be changing, because of what they've been through - but they are no longer kids.....they are becoming so much more grown up.

Ugh, and Major Harvey. :(

The story is just as gripping as the first book, but there were two areas of illogic that bothered me. The smaller one is the medical condition of Ellie's friend, Corrie. Corrie was shot in the back and brought to the local hospital. She remains unconscious, but without real medical care.
The larger illogic is the Harvey's Heroes camp. For being there at least a week, the teens learned almost nothing about the other enlistees and it's history. And when Harvey appears again, as a high ranking enemy officer, there is much disconnect.

But this group manages to pull several awesome missions together using whatever materials they have to hand. Another testament to Outback self-reliance.

The Dead of Night by John Marsden is the second in his Tomorrow Series and it’s taken me far too long to return to this series. I read the first one a couple of years ago and was quite taken with it’s realistically depicted story of invasion and guerrilla warfare as seen through the eyes of a teenager as her country, obviously Australia, is invaded.

In this outing, the little group has dwindled to six. They are still taking refuge in the remote bush area called Hell with occasional trips to the outskirts of their town to pick up supplies and information. Things are slowly changing as the enemy is gaining a strong foothold in the country and on one trip for supplies they are surprised to see colonists are being brought in and given show more homes and land to cultivate. Still defiant and wanting to stay free, they undertake a couple of expeditions to thwart the enemy and also one to check the next inhabited valley over to see what the conditions are like there.

These stories are full of action, yet to me, still seems authentic. Ellie and her friends are first and foremost trying to survive and make sense out of what is happening. There are moral choices and facing up to great loss, as they realize that their freedom will come with a terrible cost. The group dynamics are interesting as natural leaders emerge and each member’s strengths and weaknesses are exposed. I look forward to the next book and seeing what this group next decides to do. show less

READ IN DUTCH

I've read the first four books so far (as I haven't been able to find the last three books in my library yet), and for me, this series was a great surprise! I had been willing to read the Tomorrow series for years, but somehow I never really got to the point where I would buy and eventually read them. Till last year! And I may say that I thought it to be the best series I've read that year! This second book, I thought it to be thrilling, and I love the fact that (even though the things that happen are terrible) the story is original and full of suspense! I would recommend this book to a lot of people, but please read the first book first!

Everything gets more intense for the young friends caught in a war zone. The questions of what to do become less intense, as the kids feel that have no choice but to fight. I appreciated Marsden showing multiple sides of his characters; they are definitely flawed, and ultimately children stuck in an adult world.