Tomorrow, When The War Began (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
Like many, many others I was captivated by Suzanne Collins's THE HUNGER GAMES. It hooked me with its pulse pounding action, nightmarish vision of the future, and most of all its strong, capable female lead and wouldn't let me go. I finished it in one sitting. Unlike many others I was less impressed with the sequels. Thankfully the books I wanted to read exist. After a very average first instalment John Marsden's TOMORROW SERIES is the series that THE HUNGER GAMES promised to be.The school holidays are nearly over. Sixteen year old Ellie and her friends decided to have one final adventure before the new term begins. After a week camping in a secluded valley they return home to find their animals dead and their families missing. While they were away their country, Australia, has been invaded. Almost everyone they know has been taken prisoner. Some have been killed. Ellie and her friends decide to fight back.The first book in the series, TOMORROW, WHEN THE WAR BEGAN, does a serviceable but not spectacular job at introducing the characters and setting up the premise. There's not a lot of action or suspense. The characters spend a lot time working out how to set up their base camp and generally planning things. Several of the kids fall in love and this leads to a couple of groan-worthy moments.The second book in the series THE DEAD OF THE NIGHT is a much stronger entry. A short section involving a character that can only be described as Dolores Umbridge's male counterpart doesn't work but everything else is excellent. Like TOMORROW, WHEN THE WAR BEGAN there is less action than you might expect but what there it is several magnitudes more violent. It's a darker, more dramatic and more compelling book. By book three, THE THIRD DAY, THE FROST, John Marsden has mastered the art of pacing. The action scenes are longer and more intense. The series hits its stride.Unlike Suzanne Collins, Marsden never forgets that the thoughts and reactions of the characters caught up in the action can be more exciting than any explosion. This is why the scenes of Katniss hiding in trees and dealing with thirst, starvation and exhaustion in THE HUNGER GAMES are more thrilling than the outlandish weapons, booby traps and genetically engineered monstrosities offered up in CATCHING FIRE and MOCKINGJAY. And like the Suzanne Collins who wrote THE HUNGER GAMES Marsden knows how to construct an emotional roller-coaster. Terror becomes elation which turns to revulsion. Hot anger becomes cold acceptance which gives way to panic. Every feeling is vividly conveyed in the lively and introspective voice of the series' narrator Ellie.And what a character Ellie is! Fiercely independent, resourceful, stubborn and proud, unsure of herself, her place in the world and her future. A young woman who lives life on her own terms and who will take a stand against anyone who tries to stop her. Unlike Collins's Girl on Fire Marsden's Ellie only burns brighter as her series progresses.Ellie's indecision over which boy to choose soon ceases. Her group of friends witness enemy atrocities first hand. They start losing members. Those that remain start taking lives close up with knives to the heart and shotgun blasts to the head. The reality of their situation hits home. The relationship that Ellie does end up having is a believably on an off affair. The Katniss Everdeen who survives 74th the Hunger Games can't think of anything better to do than angst over which love interest to pick while her friends and allies plan revolution.First person narratives usually work when they're about their narrators, not the events that surround them. John Marsden remembers this, Suzanne Collins does not. THE HUNGER GAMES (the book, not the series) is primarily about Katniss. At its core it's a fish out of water story. In CATCHING FIRE and MOCKINGJAY Katniss becomes part of a much larger tale, the story of a revolution, and her narration of it leaves a lot to be desired. Despite spending most of her time interacting with key players in the revolution Katniss is never able paint a clear picture of what is transpiring. Characters regularly withhold information from her. Significant sections of the plot are carried out by other characters off-page. Katniss develops into a character that is often too depressed or self-absorbed to notice and/or engage with what is going on around her.The TOMORROW SERIES is Ellie's story from start to finish. The books are a coming of age narrative where adolescence is rendered as a literal battlefield. The invasion exists to create rites of passage for Ellie to undergo. Her narration describes her changing outlook on life, the universe and everything. This is the main reason why the series resonated so much with me. For all its apparent scale, for all its gunfights, car chases, explosions and epic treks across war torn landscapes, the TOMORROW SERIES is an intimate story about growing up.I was captivated by John Marsden's TOMORROW SERIES. It hooked me with its pulse pounding action, fantastically realised settings (I could go on about how rich and atmospheric Marsden's descriptions of country towns and the Australian landscape are but this review is long enough already) and most of all the compelling inner life of its strong, capable female lead and wouldn't let me go. The series takes a bit of time to find its feet but give it a chance. Action/Adventure stories - YA or otherwise - don't come much better.
I originally read this series when I was in school. Nearly 20 years after it was first published there was a film version, which for the record, a lot of people hated.Except me.I freaking loved it.Maybe because I was living overseas at the time and I was pretty excited about an Aussie action film based on one of my favourite childhood books.Maybe because it was quite a good adaptation that identified and then improved upon the characteristics of the main characters. Maybe it was because there was less romance (and NO angsting over two guys at once!). Maybe it was because Robyn was cast as this tiny ultra-religious girl who ended up being a BAMF. Maybe it was because they changed the ending to include everyone, so the climax was spectacular. Maybe it was because a few of the interesting things that happen in the novel actually happen off-page, and in a film medium it’s easier to portray.Maybe because it was a really good, faithful adaptation. I wouldn’t say the film was better than the book, but it’s just as good once you take into account that they’re different mediums and they work in different ways. Don’t be a hater.There’s so much to work with. The group of teenagers who go camping over the Australia Day long weekend (Commemoration Day, in this version, but it’s definitely Australia Day because it’s just after Christmas and before school goes back so like, yay summer and everything) return home to find their country has been invaded by an unidentified army who wants to partake in all of her natural resources and most importantly, room, and decide to start fighting back using guerrilla tactics mostly based off their bush skills.And it works, because most of the kids are rural and know how to drive, shoot, hunt, trap, repair, and basically survive in the bush. They’re almost adults, and being kids with big farming responsibilities already help them adjust quickly to no parental supervision.And yes, you might find some comparisons, whether fortunate or detrimental, to The Hunger Games because it’s a life-or-death situation and the main characters are teenagers who have to deal with killing other people to survive, but they’re vastly different novels. One’s about killing for entertainment and glory. The other is about actual survival in a war zone.The descriptions of the Australian bush are really good. I mean, I read this during the summertime so I was keenly aware of how hot it can get and how lovely it can be in the shade or dipping your toes into a creek. But the descriptions are clearly a love letter to a beautiful country and it really helps the setting, which obviously plays a huge part in the story, to come to life.And the character growth in the novel is phenomenal, because gentle, sheltered Fi finds her courage, and the local teenage delinquent Homer actually shows he’s a natural leader in a crisis and big macho man Kevin displays horrible moments of panic and cowardice. But they’re all still kids, and they’re not trained for war, and they fuck up and learn from their mistakes.I would definitely recommend this to any Young Adult book reader. In fact, I’m having a giveaway right now to celebrate Australia Day and the anniversary of the fictional invasion. Why don’t you enter and take the chance to win this wonderful novel?
What do You think about Tomorrow, When The War Began (2006)?
*Updated since watching the movie Red Dawn4.5 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.
—Hira
Looks like I'm in the minority here.Tomorrow, When the War Began is a written account of Ellie and her friends, who after going off on a camping trip for a few days, return to discover that their family and everyone else in their town is missing, and soldiers are patrolling and looting. I'm starting to think survivalist stories aren't for me.First reading (and hating) Gone Home, and then this one. This time my dislike rested with the dreaded 'r' word. Romance. Even worse - Teenage Romance.In the midst of death we are in life We were in the middle of a desperate struggle to stay alive, but here was I still thinking about boys and love.If you haven't guessed by now, I'm not a huge fan of romance. If I can connect with the characters, I don't mind it/will tolerate it and in the rarest of rare cases I like it. In this case I was uninterested in any of the characters and disliked the romance.And what about the dreaded "triangle"? Ellie is torn between two boys. One who puts tremendous pressure on her to kiss him. The other she insists is "like a brother". Not sure if you know what that means. You are physically attracted to your "brother"?This book was 50% teenagers touching in the woods, 20% action and 30% sneaking around and 100% not for me.
—Kaora
Opening Line: “It’s only half an hour since someone-Robyn I think- said we should write everything down, and it’s only twenty-nine minutes since I was chosen, and for those twenty-nine minutes I’ve had everyone crowded around me gazing at the blank pages and yelling ideas and advice.”This was very good and had I read it when I was a teenager I know I would have 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.When The War Began 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
—Buggy
