Tomorrow, When the War Began (The Tomorrow, #1)

by John Marsden

[nannah]

Uffda, apparently I'm choosing books to read lately that surprise me. This book went from mediocre to fantastic within a matter of chapters.

Book content warnings:
slut shaming (one part, mostly)
ableist language

Tomorrow, When the War Began is a book about seven high school teenagers in Wirrawee, Australia, and told from Ellie's PoV. It's supposed to be told in diary style, but it doesn't always seem that way (only a couple times do I remember she's actually writing this down from their camp several weeks later; otherwise it seems like what she knows/feels in the moment is impossible writing it from a later time, if that makes sense).

Basically, these teens decide to go on a camping trip ("going bush") to Hell, a deep hollow in the Australian Mountains, where they spend nearly a week lazing around and enjoying each other's company. But during this time, their country is invaded (and it isn't clear by whom), and when they return, they return to empty homes, dead pets, and armed patrols. Instead of just hiding out till whatever's happening blows over, they decide to fight back.

In the beginning, I was so unimpressed with the dialogue that I almost screamed and put the book down. I'm glad I didn't, though, because the dialogue did improve, even if sometimes I did roll my eyes at the exchanges. "OK, yeah." "Yeah, OK." etc.

Once the characters came back from their little camping trip, the book improved, and the book became tense and hard to put down. I've read actual books labeled "horror" that weren't as frightening as this. (Those dogs . . . I swear, I hate dog deaths in fiction but here . . . so much worse. So much worse.)

Though I really enjoyed the middle & latter part of the book, I really . . . really could've done without that awful love triangle. It just was so unnecessary and ridiculous. And took up so much time that could've been spent on other things? But this series is seven books long; there's gotta be something to fill scene space.

I'm being mean. I did enjoy this book a ton (re: 4 stars), but there were things I didn't enjoy that much, and things that could've been improved. And I'm just not one for first books that don't really have an actual ending.