Tomorrow When the War Began

If there's one Australian children's fiction book or series that has left a big impression on a recent generation of readers it would definitely have to be John Marsden's successful Tomorrow When the War Began series, which is presumably soon to be given a new lease of life with the upcoming release of a film version.

Taking place in an unspecified country town, seven teenagers - fresh out of high school - go on a camping trip to a remote area of the bush they call 'Hell'. On their return to civilisation they find that Australia has been invaded and that they must keep their wits about them if they're to remain free - the town and their families having been taken hostage by the invaders.

I'm a sucker for survival/apocalypse stories. There's something about the atmosphere that says 'anything could happen'... no character feels safe from an unexpected death or exit and you're never 100% sure how people will react in these kinds of situations. Marsden gives us a wide range of characters in our seven survivors and it makes for interesting reading as they must decide what to do, how to go about it, how to deal with conflicting opinions within their group, and how they will survive without giving themselves up to the mysterious invaders.

We're never told who has invaded Australia but I think it's fairly likely it's Indonesia... I don't want to stir anyone up, the book (well, at least not the first book in the series) certainly doesn't give anything away in regards to their identity, but if it's to be realistic I think that's our best bet. The invaders are almost a mcguffin device though (at least in this book), most of the drama comes from within the group of survivors and how they manage to keep from being killed or captured. It's quite realistically done, it doesn't really stretch suspension of disbelief too far, and it still manages to be fairly exciting and action-packed. My only quarrel is that no explanation is given as to why a country town would be under seige from invaders - Australia is a big country, surely the coasts would be taken first and surely the country towns would have some warning of what was happening as a result? I doubt any country would have the resources to take every single town in Australia at the same time. However, I've only read the first book in this series and perhaps answers to these questions are provided further on.

The thing that most impressed me with this book is that Marsden never forgets that his main characters are teenagers straight out of school... their capabilities are completely in touch with their age and he writes surprisingly well and realistically for them, he doesn't underestimate his audience and he doesn't have his characters do anything that would seem out-of-keeping with their age group. Everything is just right.

So if you're looking for something to read that's exciting and Australian-made then this is it. And if you know any teenagers who want to read something that doesn't talk down to them, this book is perfect for them. The series runs for seven books in total, and is followed by a seperate trilogy featuring the main character.