AUTHOR: John Marsden GENRE: YA Dystopian PAGES: 286 RELEASED: 1993 SERIES: Tomorrow #1 SYNOPSIS: Ellie and her friends leave home one quiet morning, wave goodbye to their parents, and head up into the hills to camp out for a while; seven teenagers filling in time during school holidays. The world is about to change forever. Their lives will never be the same again. Would you fight? Would you give up everything? Would you sacrifice even life itself? Tomorrow, When The War Began asks the biggest questions you will ever have to answer. What would you do it if you woke up one morning to find your home had been invaded?
It's the school holidays and friends Ellie and Corrie decide a camping trip with friends is the perfect way to spend the long weekend instead of going to the Wirrawee Show. Joining them is Homer, Robyn, Fiona, Lee and Kevin, as they make they're way into 'Hell', a secluded and almost untouched area of bush in the hills. It's an amazing weekend and they all decide to do it again, same place, same time the following year. The camping high is soon gone when they return home to find their houses empty - parents gone, animals dead, power cut. As they carefully explore Wirrawee, they come to discover that their little rural town has been invaded by a foreign army and their families held hostage at the showgrounds. Their lives will never be the same as they figure out how to survive in this new world while also trying to fight back and reclaim what is theirs. This book is one of the best Aussie novels, ever. This was actually a reread (and re-listen) for me, but it was still just as good as the first time I read the book nine years ago. John Marsden has created such a great story that really makes you think about what you would do if you were forced into the same situation - what would happen if you woke up to find your community invaded by a foreign army? Would you just go with the flow and hope everything worked out, or would you want to fight back and do your bit to try and win back what was taken from you? One of the things I love most about this book is its Australian setting. As someone who's born and raised in a small rural community, I instantly connected with the setting of Wirrawee (a fictional town), and although I don't live anywhere near hills and mountains, it was so easy to imagine the rural area that John created. What I liked most was that John never felt the need to cram the book with a million Australian-isms to really hit-home that this book is Australian - it's naturally Australian without having to force it's location and culture onto the reader. The characters are also all fantastic. Their personalities and dynamic are all very relatable and you'll no doubt recognise them in people you know IRL. Their friendships and relationships feel so natural, and you can see instantly the history between them all. They're a group of friends that you'd love to go camping with, and even though I wouldn't want to be in their exact situation, I know that if I was part of their group during this story, I'd be in very good company. Overall, this book is amazing and I highly recommend EVERYONE read it. If you're an Aussie who somehow missed out on reading this in school (shame on your teachers for not making this required reading!), then you seriously need to go out and pick up the book immediately. It's the start of a fantastic Australian series that is a must-read. Plus, it spawned a pretty good film that you really should watch - once you've finished the book that is! |
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