Tomorrow When the War Began (Tomorrow, #1)

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Tomorrow When the War Began (Tomorrow #1)

4.1 of 5 stars 4.10 · rating details · 15,458 ratings · 1,351 reviews

When Ellie and her friends return from a camping trip in the Australian bush, they find things hideously wrong — their families are gone. Gradually they begin to comprehend that their country has been invaded and everyone in their town has been taken prisoner. As the reality of the situation hits them, they must make a decision — run and hide, give themselves up and be wit...more

Paperback, 284 pages

Published March 1st 2011 by Quercus (first published March 27th 1995)

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Mar 29, 2012 Regina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Regina by: Damali

Shelves: ya, post-apocalyptic, only-listeneed-to, listened-to-audio-only, have-in-audio, audio-also-listened-to, favorite-series, favorites, will-continue-series

3.5 stars but I am marking it 4 because, well I do love this book.

This is such a fun start to a series. I feel weird writing "fun" when the story deals with a foreign invasion of one's country and home grown gorilla groups responding to the invasion. But .... it is fun. Tomorrow is told from the point of view of a high school girl Ellie, she is one of 8 kids hiding out in the wild and unpopulated area outside of their hometown. The theme is somewhat similar to Red Dawn if Red Dawn had been done...more

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Nov 17, 2011 Hira rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who like action packed books

Shelves: aussie-nz, ya, action, ongoing-series, dystopia, favorites-2011

*Updated since watching the movie Red Dawn

4.5 stars

Tomorrow, When the War Began starts off with a group of teenagers going to camp out at a place they call Hell. By the time they get back, their country has been invaded and they're the only people left in their town, as their families and friends have been taken prisoner. Now they're faced with a decision - they can flee or surrender. Or they fight.

I was pleasantly surprised with this book, i picked it up because i wanted to watch the movie, si...more *Updated since watching the movie Red Dawn

4.5 stars

Tomorrow, When the War Began starts off with a group of teenagers going to camp out at a place they call Hell. By the time they get back, their country has been invaded and they're the only people left in their town, as their families and friends have been taken prisoner. Now they're faced with a decision - they can flee or surrender. Or they fight.

I was pleasantly surprised with this book, i picked it up because i wanted to watch the movie, since books are almost always better than the movie. I also had little idea of what the story was about. Reasons this book was awesome:

1. All the action in this. If you love action packed books like i do, this is a must read. Car chasing, dousing with petroleum and setting on fire...the works.

2. Hell. I might just go to hell for saying that but if it's the Hell in this book, i so don't mind. Satan's steps (if that's the right name, it's been a while since i read this) and Hell sounded so interesting and beautiful (in a way), that i just wanted to teleport there while i was reading about their stay there.

“Why did people call it Hell?" I wondered. [...] No place was Hell, no place could be Hell. It's the people calling it Hell, that's the only thing that made it so. People just sticking names n places, so that no one could see those places properly anymore. [...] No, Hell wasn't anything to do with place, Hell was all to do with people. Maybe Hell was people.”

3. The protagonist, Ellie, was neither whiny nor lovesick. That's how I'd like strong heroines to be. There's not that much focus on the romance, as they keep it on the war aspect, and I really liked that.

4. The characters stories were all interesting enough, I was especially interested in Homer, he seemed intriguing.

I'll leave it till here for now, need to read the next books in the series to refresh my mind! I hope they're as good!

*So, I recently watched Red Dawn, and while I have to admit that the premise is pretty similar, the way the story is told and what happens are fairly different. You have much more details in this, and you can like both Red Dawn and Tomorrow when the war began for each their own special qualities. Red Dawn felt much more sad, and there was a whole lot of action in it, and as it's a movie you can get through it much more quickly than these books. I like these books better though, because I like detail and you get insight to each of the characters individually.(less)

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Jan 31, 2012 Noelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Noelle by: Maggie

Shelves: yay-for-ya, reviewed

3.5 stars
Whenever I hear a random, not easily explainable boom, there is a small part of me that wonders if that noise I am brushing off as a transformer going out or random firework is actually something much more sinister. What if it is in fact not a benign blast but the first act of war? There I’ll be, wandering around in my safe oblivious bubble with electricity, plumbing, shelter and easily obtainable food and that boom was the moment my normal world changed forever.

That is what happens to...more 3.5 stars
Whenever I hear a random, not easily explainable boom, there is a small part of me that wonders if that noise I am brushing off as a transformer going out or random firework is actually something much more sinister. What if it is in fact not a benign blast but the first act of war? There I’ll be, wandering around in my safe oblivious bubble with electricity, plumbing, shelter and easily obtainable food and that boom was the moment my normal world changed forever.

That is what happens to Ellie and her friends after a run of the mill camping trip. They return to discover their country has been invaded, their families held prisoner by the invading forces and that they are now the de facto resistance.

I really appreciated how Marsden described the difficulty the teens had fully fathoming their dangerous new situation.

“I still couldn’t comprehend that this might be a matter of life and death, that this was the most serious thing I’d ever been involved in. Of course I knew it; I just couldn’t keep remembering it every single second. My mind wasn’t that well disciplined.”

It’d really be hard to wrap your head around it, going from teenage worries and cares to guerilla warfare--especially with no authority figures around to take charge. Figuring out what is even going on would be hard enough, let alone survival tactics such as food and protection and eventually fighting back. A course of action, no matter how small would become a risky, life-threatening venture. Ellie and the different members of the group come to terms with the consequences of their war time actions and decisions in different manners which were all very interesting to see.

The book is written as a group history taken down by Ellie to preserve a record of what happened. At times I thought Marsden had backed himself into a corner by choosing such a specific format. It worked really well at times, like when Ellie offered up a cut and dry relation of strategy and events or when Ellie was offering her insight into the situation but there were other times I yearned for more personal information about the other characters. Although the group had 8 members, I ended the book knowing only a few well enough to care what happened to them. (And by care I mean freak out about them. Something big would happen and it'd be more like “Oh, crap” vs. “OMG NOOO WHYYY??” you know what I mean?) Overall I was intrigued by all of the characters but ended the novel feeling held at a distance from most of them. I have a feeling that will be remedied in the six following books.

The format also made me skeptical when Ellie would share certain personal feelings (such as debate the merits of competing crushes) in the history. I wanted to read that stuff of course, but I couldn’t help but be semi-mortified that she was sharing it in such a public forum. (However, I have just started book 2 and this is addressed so bravo!) The format also made the love stuff (there’s love stuff) leap-frog all of the fun crush-building moments straight to “Oh, by the way, I’m in love with so and so now.” I know they are all life and death and there’s no time for semantics but I was left feeling a little disappointed. I wanted to be more invested in those kinds of developments.

But back to the good stuff. Primarily this is a book about survival and I loved the ins and outs of the group’s every day life as the resistance. Ellie and Homer's excellent strategizing, along with their ability to think on their feet kept me glued to the book to see what would happen next. It also made me realize how fast I'd be captured or killed if I were in their place. I don't keep matches handy or even know how to drive a stick shift for crying out loud! I might have to start carrying a can opener in my purse. Maybe I should learn a survival skill for each book in this series. Does anyone know where one can sign up for bulldozer driving lessons?

I rated this 3.5 stars because I thought this book was good with moments of great. Overall this was a fast, engaging read with a dynamic interesting heroine. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. On to the next one!
(less)

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Oct 16, 2008 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone - it's a must read!

Shelves: apocalyptic-or-post-apocalyptic, ya, favourite, re-read

Ellie and her friends Corrie, Robyn, Lee, Kevin, Homer and Fi live in and around a small rural town in an undisclosed part of Australia. They decide to go camping, to “go feral” and spend a weekend over the Christmas holidays up the bush instead of at the showgrounds with the townsfolk. Some of them, like Ellie and Corrie, are close, but not all, so over the weekend they get to know each other a lot better. Ellie and Homer are both from farms and Ellie’s family’s property is the closest to the t...more Ellie and her friends Corrie, Robyn, Lee, Kevin, Homer and Fi live in and around a small rural town in an undisclosed part of Australia. They decide to go camping, to “go feral” and spend a weekend over the Christmas holidays up the bush instead of at the showgrounds with the townsfolk. Some of them, like Ellie and Corrie, are close, but not all, so over the weekend they get to know each other a lot better. Ellie and Homer are both from farms and Ellie’s family’s property is the closest to the trail; on coming home hers is the first place they reach, only to find that the dogs are dead. Not only that, but her parents aren’t home, the place is eerily quiet and the power’s off. There’s nothing but static on the radio.

Homer’s farm is the same. With the regular rural life so frighteningly disrupted, they’re quick to realise something is very wrong and they could be in danger. They learn that everyone in the town and from the farms have been locked up at the showgrounds, or rounded up and sent there. The big houses in town have been taken over by the invading enemy – an enemy that is faceless and nameless throughout this series, thus adding to the tension and avoiding fear-mongering at the same time. Ellie and their friends hide wherever they can, eating whatever’s left over in people’s kitchens that’s safe to eat, and trying to locate their families. They find another friend, Chris, in hiding and he joins them, filling them in on what happened.

This is the first book in the Tomorrow series and follows Ellie, who narrates, and the others as they try to survive, stay one step ahead of the enemy, and inflict what damage they can. Together they pool their resources – their knowledge, and create deadly bombs out of lawnmowers, sabotage the enemies ships by putting sugar in the fuel and other such things. Deaths occur, and the death of one of Ellie’s friends at the end of a later book is a scene I’ve never been able to forget. The first enemy soldier Ellie kills face-to-face nearly undoes her. It’s not surprising that when, after seven books, the war finally ends and they all try to pick up their lives again, nothing is the same, they aren’t the same, and a spin-off trilogy called the Ellie Chronicles adds a whole new level of tragedy to her life.

I didn’t read this series until year 11 but it’s popular with all ages. It’s exciting, it’s empowering, and it brings to light the knowledge and resources teenagers possess that they’re not even aware of, that are put into a whole new perspective in the face of an invasion (for example). It shows that you know more and you’re capable of more than you thought you did. There's a real theme in YA lit of teenagers surviving on their own, using their own resources and growing up too fast in the face of threat, violence and adversity - I love these kinds of books! It shows the strength of friendships, honesty, perseverance and fortitude, and while the premise may be fictional, the reality of what some children and teens must live through in some parts of the world, and the qualities they have that go unrecognised, unappreciated and unrewarded, make this book and the entire Tomorrow series relevant and familiar.

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Feb 14, 2013 Damali rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Red Dawn fans

Shelves: dystopian-pa-zombies-survivalist

This story was written in the early 1990s, so that explains the lack of internet, cell phones, and iPods. A group of kids in a very small rural Aussie down "go bush" for five days, and when they return, their town has been invadad. They have the choices of turning themselves in, or fighting. I'm continuously shocked at how much teenagers are allowed to do on their own nowadays.

I just saw the movie and it exceeded all of my expectations!

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Feb 10, 2012 Skyla rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Aussie lovers and Speculative fiction lovers

Recommended to Skyla by: The Australians

Shelves: aussie-fiction, awesomeness, best-buddies, books-i-own, cool-author, cover-matches-book, creepy, dark-subject-matter, dystopia, need-sequel-asap, real-life-issues, reunited, ya, what-if, invading-army

“Tomorrow, When the War Began” is one of those books that I’ve heard people talk about but never really thought too much about…that is until about two weeks ago on Goodreads some of the Aussies mentioned it and I just couldn’t get it off my mind. I became obsessed with getting my hands on them and luckily my Dad’s boss has friends who own a used bookstores so I was able to get a hold of three of them (I also ordered the rest of the “Tomorrow” series and the “Ellie” series from various online sou...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Buggy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: end-of-days, ya, shelf-12, survival, fiction, war, virtual-vacation

This was very good, and had I read it a (few?) years ago when I was a teenager I know that I would have absolutely loved it. Back in the day this would have been comparable to The Outsiders or the movie Red Dawn *sigh* young Patrick Swayze. I’ve actually heard this compared to Red Dawn quite a bit but other than a couple of major plot points it’s a very different story.

I loved that this takes place in rural Australia (including all the Aussie slang) and the Australian bush almost becomes a char...more This was very good, and had I read it a (few?) years ago when I was a teenager I know that I would have absolutely loved it. Back in the day this would have been comparable to The Outsiders or the movie Red Dawn *sigh* young Patrick Swayze. I’ve actually heard this compared to Red Dawn quite a bit but other than a couple of major plot points it’s a very different story.

I loved that this takes place in rural Australia (including all the Aussie slang) and the Australian bush almost becomes a character of its own here. I loved the magic of the teens ascending “Satan’s steps” and finding “Hell” Their own private world in all its secluded beauty, far away from civilization, parents and rules. The excitement of their camping trip and the discovery of this hidden place along with the mystery of the hermit were my favourite parts. These are the things I would have loved as a teen reader- well that and all the sneaking around evading the bad guys, driving heavy equipment and blowing shit up -the action scenes are really quite awesome. There’s a bit of awkward romance here but for the most part this is just one great action adventure, I just wish I’d read it 20 (yeah, okay 25) years ago.

TWTWB is the first book from the “Tomorrow” series and the author obviously knew from the onset that this was going to be a series because the ending is left wide open without any real conclusion, in fact the reader is left hanging. I just mention this because you might want to have book 2 (The Dead of Night) handy when you start.

This is written from Ellie’s POV and in the first chapter she explains why she and her friends felt it important to start writing everything down. For them it means that one day they might be remembered because their world has already changed forever. Then she takes us back to the beginning of their story.

It’s the Christmas holidays in an undisclosed rural area of Australia. Ellie and her six friends have decided to go camping for a week instead of attending the annual fair at the showgrounds in Wirrawee. Most of the group was raised on farms, which is important here because they are a tougher breed; able to use a rifle, drive trucks and motorcycles, move stock, deal with a snake bite etc. Anyways, after a lazy week in the bush our group return to Ellie’s family property, which is the closest and soon realize that something is terribly wrong. The first things they notice are the dead animals and that the power is out, the radio is only picking up static. Where are her parents?

Heading to the other teens homes they find more of the same, everyone is just gone. Could it have anything to do with the V-shaped lines of jets that flew overhead for what seemed like hours the other night? Gradually they come to learn that their country has been invaded and soldiers are holding everyone from the district POW style at the fairgrounds in town. Our group then faces a startling decision, they can flee to their oasis in the mountains or they can fight back.

The author cleverly never gives a nationality to the enemy. They are just nondescript soldiers, wearing unremarkable uniforms, speaking a foreign language. This I liked very much. Cheers.

307jb4(less)

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Feb 18, 2011 Catie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2011, ya, speculative-fiction

This is quite good - it's also quite obviously an introduction to a much larger story. There's a lot of introduction with much humor and some action, but most of the story is left unresolved and open. There are a whole group of complete and detailed characters here, with a strong female voice narrating. I will probably pick up the next one, because I am intrigued, if not absorbed quite yet.

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Apr 09, 2012 Jessi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: australia, hey-ya

More like 3.5 stars
I love survival tales and this is an exciting and different spin then I have been reading of late. No apocalypse, no zombies and no little children dying horrible deaths.

Ellie and her friends are in their last year of high school and decide over the break to go on a week camping/hiking trip deep into the outback. This was a great start, I love to read about camping but to be clear I do not camp. Gah! Its the worst, I am miserable the second the word tent is mentioned. Anyway...more

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Nov 11, 2007 Max rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: young adults

This book is about a girl named Ellie who goes with several of her friends out into a place called Hell in Australia. In the beginning Ellie ,a teen aged farm girl, wants to get a all her friends and camp out in a place called Hell. She calls all her friends and just about all of them talk there parents into going. The first night there gone Ellie are awaken to a loud noise and sees thousands of planes. When they get back from the trip they find huge fires and more. Some of the other main charac...more

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May 05, 2010 karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: distant-lands, teen-faves, why-yes-i-ya

aussie teens are no joke. if they ever decide to band up and take over new york, we should be very afraid. these kids know how to mobilize and all that outback tends to athleticize a body. our chubby doritos-eating teens do not stand a chance. but i would totally read that book.

i truly love teen survival tales, and this one scratched my itch, and there are SIX MORE BOOKS!! i mean, hells yeah! that is a lot of surviving! american survival stories tend to only go trilogy. oh, you hardy aussies, yo...more

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Sep 19, 2011 Debora rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: da_autori_e_caseeditrici, fisicamente_posseduto, read_2011, preferiti

Ecco che gli uomini tornano all'attacco! Dopo l'arrivo in Italia del fantastico Sandman Slim di Richard Kadrey, eccoci con John Marsdene, scrittore e sceneggiatore, con la sua serie “The Tomorrow” (di sette libri più una potenziale trilogia a seguire) che già sta per approdare nelle sale cinematografiche. Se non è la riscossa degli autori maschi nel settore young adult, non saprei proprio come chiamarlo!

“Il domani che verrà” rappresenta una bella e piacevole novità in ambito di young adult e, so...more Ecco che gli uomini tornano all'attacco! Dopo l'arrivo in Italia del fantastico Sandman Slim di Richard Kadrey, eccoci con John Marsdene, scrittore e sceneggiatore, con la sua serie “The Tomorrow” (di sette libri più una potenziale trilogia a seguire) che già sta per approdare nelle sale cinematografiche. Se non è la riscossa degli autori maschi nel settore young adult, non saprei proprio come chiamarlo!

“Il domani che verrà” rappresenta una bella e piacevole novità in ambito di young adult e, soprattutto, nonostante sia scritto da un uomo, non è indirizzato ad un pubblico esclusivamente maschile, come accade spesso con le loro colleghe. È un romanzo fresco, riflessivo, innovativo e adrenalinico che, benché si legga nel giro di un pomeriggio (e questo non è necessariamente un fattone negativo), ha comunque tutte le carte in tavola per appassionare giovani, adulti e di entrambi i sessi, soprattutto.

Come punto di forza possiamo ritrovare uno stile diretto, semplice ma ben strutturato che cattura subito l’attenzione del lettore e lo trascina, letteralmente!, per tutto l’arco delle 250 pagine del romanzo. Gli argomenti sono molti e le vicende numerose e quindi possiamo attribuire all’autore anche un ottimo “equilibrio” e “capacità di sintesi” che gli permette di non perdersi mai nei meandri di approfondimenti inutili o, viceversa, in frettolose e insipide descrizioni.

Altro elemento molto importante è il tema. Un’ipotetica Terza Guerra Mondiale e una terra che, fino ad ora, non è mai stata troppo sfruttata in ambito narrativo: l’Australia. Ci sono un gruppo di ragazzi che decidono, per una volta, di saltare la festa annuale cittadina e di recarsi a fare una bella gita all’Inferno, zona di montagna delle Alpi Australiane che ci vengono descritte con rara maestria. Veramente incantevoli!

Nell’occasione conosciamo tutti i personaggi principali. Ellie, Robyn, Kevin, Homar, Lee, Fi e Corrie sono amici da tempo ma sono anche molto diversi e, altro a favore, nonostante l’amicizia presentano comunque dei tratti “maturi” di reciproche compatibilità e incompatibilità che rendono il gruppo unito ma non falso e illusorio.

Una settimana di pura pace, nascosti nelle montagne Australiane e completamente immersi nel verde fino a quando, al loro ritorno, non scoprono che qualcuno ha approfittato della festa del paese ed ha fatto prigioniere le loro famiglie e occupato la loro città. Hanno perso tutto, le loro case sono state saccheggiate e la loro vita è completamente sconvolta.

A questo punto, possiamo dire che il romanzo ha un immediato picco, dal punto di vista narrativo ed emotivo e ci ritroviamo a soffrire con questi ragazzi che, improvvisamente, si ritrovano completamente soli a dove sfuggire dai colpi di fucile e dalle rappresaglie dei militari.

Quello che, però, fa un po’ storcere la bocca al lettore è che, in effetti, la reazione alla “Rambo” è decisamente troppo immediata. Benché l’adrenalina possa essere una scusante logica e accettabile, vedere che dei normalissimi ragazzi di 17 anni improvvisamente si mettono a tuffarsi qua e la per evitare colpi di fucile, sfuggono ai soldati, si appostano e si mimetizzano come professionisti è un tantino allucinante. Se non vogliamo contare Ellie che sembra in grado di guidare qualunque cosa e, credeteci, se vi diciamo “qualunque cosa”.

Superata la perplessità iniziale di fronte a questa piccola resistenza a dir poco spietata e organizzata non possiamo che finire per amare, letteralmente, questi ragazzi che, spinti dall’amore e dal patriottismo, decidono di rendere la vita impossibile agli invasori, a rischio della vita.

Altro aspetto che stride un po’ nel contesto è l’elemento “sentimentale”. A parte il rapporto fra Kevin e Corrie, il lettore troverà abbastanza strano che Ellie (narratore principale) alla fine di un evento tragico come quello di un invasione trovi il tempo (convivenza forzata a parte) di farsi continuamente mille problemi mentali nei confronti di Homar (suo migliore amico e infatuato di un’altra ragazza) e Lee (con il quale non è mai entrata realmente in confidenza e che ricambia la sua attrazione).

A parte questo, il romanzo presenta innegabili punti di forza, se escludiamo che, purtroppo!!!, è il primo di sette romanzi e si legge in un baleno. Non vediamo l’ora di poter aver fra le mani il seguito di questo romanzo, anche se il terribile sentore che ci vogliano sette anni per veder completata questa serie ci attanaglia l’anima.(less)

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Apr 19, 2009 Alexis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: my brother, readers of The Hunger Games

Recommended to Alexis by: Lucy

Shelves: teen-ya, post-apocalyptic, my-reviews

When Ellie, a high-school senior who lives on a ranch in rural Australia, gets the idea to invite all her friends to "go bush" and spend five days in the outback wilderness, they think it will be fun to get away from everything they know for a short while. But they never expected everything to change while they were gone.

After returning from a fun, successful trip, the group of seven kids - Ellie, Corrie, Kevin, Homer, Robyn, Lee, and Fi - discover that something really bad has happened. Their...more

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Oct 07, 2011 Benna rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It is a fun read but a bit too unrealistic, I mean a country such as Australia doesn't get invaded in five days. No matter how much planning is done-I should know, my Godfather is in the Army!!!

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Mar 16, 2012 Aleeeeeza rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-lit, 2011-read, book-movie-combo

*3.5 stars*

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May 06, 2013 Martin lyon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I think this book is a great book because it makes you think that you are in the middle of an actual war. I chose this book because it has a catchey heading and draws you in.It has a lot of action and makes you tense.In this book there are seven main characters but Ellie is the main character. I like it how John Marsden described Hell as a haunted place when actually it saves their lives.It has lots of drama and the most dramatic part for me was when Lee got shot and when Robyn had to save him....more

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Mar 23, 2012 Mish rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Mish by: Helen

Shelves: library-friends-books, australian-authors, audio, fiction, thriller, y-adult, dystopia

What an excellent first book to the series. This book is set in country Australia. It tells the story of Ellie and a group of her friends, who set out on a camping trip for a week. They return to find their homes deserted and some destroyed, animals dead due to starvation, as foreign military have invaded their town.

This story is filled with adventure and excitement, as the group of teenagers fight for their survival, and at the same time try to uncover what happened to their parents and town....more

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May 01, 2011 Alana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, adventure

I love a good survival story - and survival stories with added sabotage and guerilla warfare? Sign me up, please! Which is why I'm a bit mad at myself for having taken this long to cotton on to the fact that John Marsden's Tomorrow, When the War Began offers me all those things. Shooting, pilfering of heavy machinery, explosions - plus Australia and a hidden cache of historical documents of questionable relevance that lead to some soul-searching and serious smooching? WHY did I not read this bef...more I love a good survival story - and survival stories with added sabotage and guerilla warfare? Sign me up, please! Which is why I'm a bit mad at myself for having taken this long to cotton on to the fact that John Marsden's Tomorrow, When the War Began offers me all those things. Shooting, pilfering of heavy machinery, explosions - plus Australia and a hidden cache of historical documents of questionable relevance that lead to some soul-searching and serious smooching? WHY did I not read this before now? WHY?

Enough with the recriminations, though. Suffice it to say that once we got through the first fifty pages of the group camping and carefree and generally being hormone-filled, junk-food gorging lazypants (which, hey, I'm not judging! I'd be the same...it's just Not Terribly Interesting, when you know there's going to be An Invasion and you're just flipping pages going - WHY HASN'T ANYTHING EXPLODED YET? Or maybe that was just me...), this book takes off with a vengeance. There are some serious action scenes, but perhaps the best part about it is that Ellie and her friends are conflicted.

They're not sure whether to fight back, whether to surrender, whether to hide. They're scared and angry and they just want to know whether their families are ok, but they have no real way of finding out. They're quick-thinking and resourceful in ways they never thought possible when everything is on the line, and I love their transitions from thinking like school kids to thinking about tactics, strategies, supply lines, cover (and back again). Despite the shooting and the explosions, these kids are never action heroes. Things go wrong; they feel guilt and horror at some of the things they've done. They get on one another's nerves and pull each other through dangerous situations. It's a world of tough choices and makeshift family and little room for sentimentality. And I'm really interested in seeing what happens next.

The one thing I found a bit off-putting was Ellie's descriptions of her love triangle. While the triangle itself didn't actually bother me because it was a messy tangled whirl and therefore realistic rather than the typical two-hot-dudes-both-want-me-woe-is-me-nice-guy-or-bad-boy dilemma, the fact that Ellie was acting as a scribe for the group irritated me. I mean, you KNOW your friends are going to read it, this isn't your personal diary, OMG WHY ARE YOU WRITING ABOUT THIS?! Know your audience! Posterity is not interested in a tally of which of the boys you would rather shag at any given moment! Or maybe it is, because Posterity is a snoopy voyeuristic little snot, but your friends will not love you for discussing this in such an open fashion! They will all be Mad At You and you will have No One to Blame but Yourself! Don't say that I didn't warn you!(less)

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Aug 08, 2010 Meg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, utopia-dystopia

Enjoyable young-adult adventure story set in Australia which has just been invaded; a group of young adults hides out in the bush and wages guerrilla warfare. (I read the entire series, which flowed to me like a single story, so this is a composite review.) The action is fast-paced, while also including character development and also some ethical/ philosophical exploration about war, violence, etc. There was not as much focus on day-to-day survival as in some novels of this genre (for example, "...more Enjoyable young-adult adventure story set in Australia which has just been invaded; a group of young adults hides out in the bush and wages guerrilla warfare. (I read the entire series, which flowed to me like a single story, so this is a composite review.) The action is fast-paced, while also including character development and also some ethical/ philosophical exploration about war, violence, etc. There was not as much focus on day-to-day survival as in some novels of this genre (for example, "Life As We Knew It," in which entire chapters focus solely on how the protagonists manage to secure enough food to last another week).

I liked that the main character was a tough young woman who could drive trucks and blow things up, yet was able to express her emotional side as well, and seemed comfortable in both modes. I found this novel to be really feminist and appreciated how the narrator and other characters called out some male characters on their sexism, without rejecting them as people (i.e. sexism was seen as a social fact that came through in their behavior, not a personal failing).

My main initial criticism of this novel was the way the enemy is never identified. The story itself is very grounded in a specific place (Australia), whose topography, flora/ fauna, and culture are described in loving and precise detail. So it seems odd that we don't get any descriptions of the invaders at all. They sounded vaguely "Asian" to me, and I had the sense that a kind of unconscious racism was at work, but couldn't put my finger on it. My friends who lived in Australia tell me that Australia has immense anxiety about Asian immigrants taking over, so perhaps this is what I was sensing.

This point leads to another observation which may or may not be a criticism. The novel is set up around the use of military force and guerrilla violence. Although the characters mention that diplomacy could have prevented the war, and although they have some good discussion about how the war happened because of structural inequity, violence is pretty much the only option in their situation. I couldn't really argue with it in this particular scenario, but at times wished this were a book with more imaginative ideas about how groups of people solve conflicts.(less)

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Aug 02, 2010 Aaron Vincent rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dystocalypse

When someone considers Hell as their last refuge, you know something has gone terribly wrong.

Ellie and her friends took a few days vacation in Hell, a practically inaccessible camping site, only to return and find out that their country, Australia, is under invasion by an unknown enemy.

It has been weeks now that I've been watching the trailer for the film-adaptation of this book practically everyday. I have to admit that the big explosions, fighter planes, wild chases and girls going rambo conv...more When someone considers Hell as their last refuge, you know something has gone terribly wrong.

Ellie and her friends took a few days vacation in Hell, a practically inaccessible camping site, only to return and find out that their country, Australia, is under invasion by an unknown enemy.

It has been weeks now that I've been watching the trailer for the film-adaptation of this book practically everyday. I have to admit that the big explosions, fighter planes, wild chases and girls going rambo convinced me to read the book. Like what happened to me with the Michael Grant's GONE book, it took a great deal of effort to find a copy of this but it was worth it. It was not as violent as I expected it to be(please bear in mind that I have a really high standard for violence) but I am no way disappointed. Of all the dystopia novels I have read, this one is the most plausible to happen in reality. James Marsden writes a believable story of survival in face of great danger where everything, friendship, loyalty, and love, is at stake.

All of the characters, at the start of the story, seems to be a typical teenager. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to see yourself in one of them. But as they realize how much their country needs them, they begin to discover a side of them they never thought they had. You will root for them, cheer for them, and surely, they will make you feel proud. This may be embarrassing but I caught myself several times at the edge of tears because these characters are really awe-inspiring. Somehow, I feel guilty for my "Ellie and her friends" phrase at the beginning of this review. I think its really unfair for the rest of them to be just called as "Ellie's friends". Homer, Robyn, Corrie, Kevin, Lee, and Fi are every bit as strong as Ellie. You just can't set aside or ignore anyone of them.

Don't get me wrong though. Just like every fan of this series, I fell in love with Ellie Linton too. She reminds me so much of my dearest Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games. Both of them are forced to learn how to be tough for themselves and for everyone they care for. Both of them has shown admirable courage to defy anything that comes their way. As for Caitlin Stasey playing as Ellie Linton in the movie, her screen presence in the trailer is massive. It makes me wish that Lionsgate could find an actress as hot and as badass as Caitlin Stasey is.

If Koushun Takami in his novel Battle Royale brings out the monsters out of his young characters, James Marsden was able to bring out the warriors out of his characters. In this book, the war and invasion happened in Australia but it could easily have been your country. If this kind of adversities will happen to your land, will you be the monster? or will you be the warrior?

I dare say that this book is the type of young adult novel that is not only for young adults. It does not only possess a damn good story but also a good social commentary. In a way, it leaves a challenge not only for young people but for everyone.(less)

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Oct 28, 2009 C. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to C. by: Sweet Vally High and Goosebumps

Shelves: children-s-young-adults, own-or-access, to-be-re-read, war

Eight teenagers who go camping in the bush for a few days, only to return and find that Australia had been invaded by an unknown enemy. They then spend the next five books fighting a guerrilla war against the invaders. The story is narrated by Ellie, who is elected to keep a written record of what happens to them. However, her record quickly turns into something closer to being a diary.

I read this at a much earlier age than I was supposed to - at about eight or nine rather than fourteen or fifte...more Eight teenagers who go camping in the bush for a few days, only to return and find that Australia had been invaded by an unknown enemy. They then spend the next five books fighting a guerrilla war against the invaders. The story is narrated by Ellie, who is elected to keep a written record of what happens to them. However, her record quickly turns into something closer to being a diary.

I read this at a much earlier age than I was supposed to - at about eight or nine rather than fourteen or fifteen. As such, it is particularly notable to me because it was the first thing I ever read which contained an overt description of characters having sex. In a later volume (I no longer remember which), Lee and Ellie, between whom sexual tension has been simmering since the very beginning, finally get it on while squatting in an abandoned house in some heavily war-damaged rural Victorian town. In a move that is incredibly cliched, though I didn't realise it at the time, Lee pulls an ancient condom from his wallet that dates from a long-forgotten sex ed lesson several years previously. Sex proceeds awkwardly but magically, for it is their first time. The next morning they are embarrassed and forbear to tell the others, though naturally it all comes out eventually. It's very typical and quite unoriginal, but I remember being positively glued to the page, saucer-eyed, infinite vistas of previously-unimagined possibilities opening up within my mind. I was as naive and prudish as any child, and though I understood the mechanics of sex (or at least I think I did), the idea that anyone could write about it was mind-blowing.

Later on, it was also the birth of a long friendship resulting from a giggly moment with a fellow bookworm ("did you read the bit where... where they have sex?") and for that reason alone I have much to thank it for.

The author's bio claims that John Marsden is "the world's most successful author of teenage fiction." Personally I think that's probably not true, but as YA lit goes, this is pretty damn good. The concept is singularly brilliant: there is something about the thought of one's country being invaded that does something to one. Maybe people from any country feel like this, but there has never been a war on this soil (the bombing of Darwin in WWII doesn't count because that was from the air), and in general Australia is so peripheral to international affairs that the thought just never crosses our minds. It's odd: the thought of being invaded, of being raped and pillaged and bombed to bits and ground under the cruel yoke of occupation seems to have a sort of vicarious appeal - the shudder of dread is mixed with a shiver of excitement. The themes are just the right complexity for the age group; the ending is satisfyingly unhappy and confrontingly realistic, and although the moral and ethical discussions are naive, they are, I think, fairly accurate and convincing portrayals of how someone that age would think.

Unfortunately, it is kind of disgustingly YA. When I first read it, I loved it so much I saved my pocket money obsessively for a year or so until I could buy the boxed set, but then whenever I tried to read them again I hated them and cursed my innocent stupidity and the wasted $70 (it was a massive amount of money back then). The prose is irritating as hell at times, and reading about teenagers and their stupid emotions and stupid acne and stupid immaturity has never really appealed to me. Nonetheless, and rather surprisingly, I'm enjoying reading them again - it's a lot of fun. (less)

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Feb 13, 2008 Sisi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: own

I've lost track of how many times I've read this book. But I never get tired of reading it. Coming to the Tomorrow series rather late in the game (I'd hazard I was 16 when I first picked it up), I suspect if I had read it earlier it would have had more of an impact on myself. Even so, the book's impact is great. The writing is perfect, the premise of the book - that Australia has been invaded - is breathtaking, and the characters and their actions are unforgettable. I've been on a real teenage/Y...more

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Nov 24, 2008 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is indeed a surprising book.

I'd heard of Marsden's prolific & popular writing (teen-fic) in an article by the Australian Weekend Magazine several years ago; he is a former school teacher (if I remember correctly) and I can now attest that he writes compelling human drama supported by good characterisation.

Whilst this is a book primarily for a teen audience, I started it last night thinking I'd just read the first few chapters (as I have many things 'on the go' at present) and as earlier...more

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May 01, 2012 Georgia Maclean rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a book to read, what a book to have written! John Marsden is such good writter, great storys and great structer and words.
I just love the characters and the settings. Hahaha I live near a few of the real places :P
No faults at all, probaly wondering why its not 5 stars haha. Its good it just not life changing. But in some ways it is, im not that much younger then some of the characters and to think how they change you'd think it would atleast do something to me. But thats just me, I guess....more

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Feb 06, 2008 Sharon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, survival

What would it be like if you were off on a camping trip, and when you returned someone had invaded and taken over your home? In this novel, John Marsden paints a realistic portrait of teenagers trying to deal with war happening overnight. They do what they must to survive, comfort each other, and deal with their new lives trying to discover what has happened since an unspecified enemy has moved in. It makes for an interesting emotional drama; even if the situation seems farfetched, the reactions...more

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Jul 13, 2010 Nomes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: absolute-favourite-favourites, aussie-ya, i-own, books-that-linger, adored-as-a-teen, book-titles-that-rule-the-shelves, want-to-hang-out-with-the-gang, my-most-most-fave-girls, post-apocalyptic-dystopia, you-make-me-smile, kick-arsery-abounds

This is the first book in the series that caused a borrowing frenzy in the school library. Seven teenagers camping in the bush. Australia gets invaded. And the teens go militia :) First published in 1993, it's just as awesome today. And *drumroll* the movie is coming to the big screen this year! It's the biggest budgeted movie ever made in Australia. I hope it makes the whole world go crazy over these books!

This is my absolute favourite series ever and I cannot recommend it enough to adults and...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Maythavee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tomorrow, When The War Began seemed to have a promising start will an usual plotline of coming home from camping to find out that war has broken out. However, I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The characters were all different and are loyal to each other. They think and act like any teenagers would but there were just too many of them (seven at first, later on, eight). With the first narrative of Ellie, we don’t really get to know all of them in depth. The romance aspects were bad...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Clover (Fluttering Butterflies) added it · review of another edition

Review originally posted at Fluttering Butterflies

It feels like as I'm writing every single review for Dystopian August, I've begun with 'I've had this book on my shelves for ages unread' and it is no difference with Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. I had heard good things about the series on other book blogs I read, especially from Australian book bloggers, and was keen to start. In a stroke of fabulous luck, I managed to find the entire Tomorrow series in a local charity shop last...more Review originally posted at Fluttering Butterflies

It feels like as I'm writing every single review for Dystopian August, I've begun with 'I've had this book on my shelves for ages unread' and it is no difference with Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden. I had heard good things about the series on other book blogs I read, especially from Australian book bloggers, and was keen to start. In a stroke of fabulous luck, I managed to find the entire Tomorrow series in a local charity shop last year. However, the idea of beginning such a lengthy series kind of put me off, especially reading one that had been out a fair few years.

When the movie came out and the first book was repackaged with a movie tie-in cover, it did pique my interest again in reading the series but I still put off until very recently. I can't quite recall why. Now that I've read the first book, I'm both excited to continue the series as well as watch the film version!

Tomorrow, When the War Began is certainly not the book I expected it to be. In some ways it feels very much like the first book in the series with much of the novel exploring the cast of characters and setting the scene. But there is still quite a bit of action and some romance along the way.

Our narrator is Ellie, a teenage girl in Australia who organises this trip with her friends to go camping in the bush. They hike along to an area they call Hell, in which they've heard rumours of a man who holed up out there after being accused of murder. The beginning is very much a party atmosphere as these teenagers hang out and relax and goof about together. But when the week is over, they find that their town a very different place to when they left. Their families and their neighbours have all been taken hostage and their country invaded. This group of teenagers must make some really difficult choices, either to leave and remain safe or to find other ways in which to fight back against the town's captors.

The story is told after some of the events had already occurred and is written down by Ellie as she remembers it, so a lot of the plot is skewed in her favour. I found a lot of the character development to be interesting, seeing how some like Ellie and Milo adapted easily to a more survival mentality and how they became leaders in organising the others with supplies and means of safety. Reading of some of the more risky adventures of this gang of kids is quite exciting and following that, reading of the discomfort of killing another person or the difficulties to adjusting to these new circumstances is quite interesting.

I felt like the romantic element of the story a little hard to believe, especially as there is no build-up to it. Ellie just all of a sudden springs these statements upon us 'I started to have feelings for this person' and before we're able to adjust to THAT, she comes up with 'but now I also have feelings for this other person' OH. What? Thankfully the love interest isn't the main focus of the story and it isn't what propelled me to continue reading. Though of course, the problems and shifts in relationships will, I'm sure, will continue throughout the rest of the series.

This first book gave me enough information about the characters and the Australian invasion to keep me interested and curious about how events will play out during the rest of the series. Its popularity in Australia gives me hope that the rest of the books in the series will continue to build on the strengths of this first novel. I'm sure it won't take me as long to pick up the second book as it did to pick up this book! (less)

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Dec 30, 2008 Cornmaven rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hs-adult

This is a the first of a series. I am torn about whether boys would like it. The story is very interesting - a bunch of HS kids in Australia go camping in the bush for a week, then come back to find everyone in the town and rural areas missing, with all of the shops in town looted and smashed. They finally figure out that they have been invaded and the town is being held at the campgrounds, where they had gone for a county fair-type thing. The kids have to decide whether to go back to the bush a...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Emma Woudt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Enjoy or Hate	29	79	May 12, 2013 06:12am
Is it worth to read all the series of tomorrow when the war began?	13	83	Apr 02, 2013 05:06am
Read the Movie: Tomorrow When the War Began	3	17	Mar 04, 2013 12:22pm
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Movie or Book?	45	152	Jan 20, 2013 06:42pm
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invading army?	6	58	Dec 14, 2012 03:00pm

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About John Marsden

His first book, So Much To Tell You, was published in 1987. This was followed by Take My Word For It, a half-sequel written from the point of view of another character. His landmark Tomorrow series is recognized as the most popular book series for young adults ever written in Australia. The first book of this series, Tomorrow When The War Began, has been reprinted 26 times in Australia. The first...more

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