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

by John Marsden

Book Overview

World War III becomes an unstoppable reality in the action-packed first installment of the Tomorrow series--an international bestseller in an eye-catching new paperback.When Ellie and her friends go... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439829100
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.6" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

Best Series Around!

Started reading the series about 10 years ago while in high school and fell in love! The suspense keeps you going. Pulling you back for more. Searched my public library and Half Priced Books and could never find any others but the first. They made a movie from the first book of the series and it stays very close to the original story line! Look it up on netflix.

Read it!

Any teen, any adult, any grandma must read this book!!! The whole series is absolutely amazing, I swear, I lost my life for 2 months reading these books. You probably don't need any filling in on details of what actually happens in the book, but I'll give you a brief introduction... A group of teenagers take a little holiday and come back to see their country has been invaded. Ever since I finished, (a good 2 months ago) all I have been thinking about it the books, I want to go to hell, I want to experience what they experienced myself... It's amazing what this book does to you. Marsden has made no mistake in this book, he gave amazing descriptions, that when I saw pictures of what he had wrote about it was just what I had envisioned. When I finished I felt as though I knew the characters personally (I don't know if this was just because of the length). Dude, what more can I say, these books are amazing, they mess with your mind, you don't know how many Tomorrow Series dreams I've had since finishing, lol. But yeah, if you walk past one of the books in your libary, or at a book store, GET IT! I can't say I was too hapy with the sequel, 'The Ellie Chronicles', bit of a waste of time, IMO, I think if the ******* (you know what I mean, if you have read the book) happened again, just for one book it would be good. I'm done... Now it's your turn, get it!!!

The start of a series that has the world reading

Ellie has a story that must be told about her and her six friends: Homer, Fiona, Lee, Robyn, Corrie and Kevin. They thought they were just going to spend a week in the bush, but all of that has changed. They emerge from the bush to find that Australia has been invaded, and that their whole town has been taken over. They are located in a pivotal place for the invading army, and the town is full of hostages and prisoners. Their best choice is to go bush again, to seek refuge in a place called Hell. I started reading this series when the fifth book was released and had an agonising wait for the sixth and seventh books to be released. This series is one of the best ones that I have ever come across written especially for teen readers - and John Marsden writes a gritty and realistic fiction that leaves you exhausted and satisfied at the same time. Ellie and her friends will win you over and make you hate them a dozen times over as their stories progress.This book will grab you and shake and make you wonder how safe you really are. In this case the country that was invaded was Australia, but it could just as easily have been New Zealand, or Hawaii, or Britain, or ... At times I cried, at times I cheered, and at other times I just read about their lives and was grateful it was not me living that life. You have got to read this series, even if it is just so that you can talk to your friends about it. The one word of warning is that you have to read the series in order or it will ruin parts of the story and be somewhat confuding.

Parents - take my word for it - this is legendary stuff.

I bought this for my daughter to encourage her interest in reading. We wound up fighting each other for turns at it. Within a week, with a few past-midnight "power reads" I hoed through every book in the series. The first three are superb, each better than the last. There are some niggles - the stories rely a touch too much on luck and coincidence, and there is some repetition of ideas. But the strengths are real ones. The plotting is superb - few writers in any genre can get you turning pages like Marsden can. The characters are psychologically and emotionally convincing. The heroism is fairly shared between the boys and the girls in the group. (The female narrator is a refreshing touch). Negative emotions, fear, fatigue, impatience, are not shied away from. The central device is an unexpected invasion of Australia by a foreign force which separates a group of teenagers from adult supervision, leaving them to rely on their own resources. It allows Marsden to explore real issues for teenagers about responsibility, courage, sexual attitudes - even spirituality. All are delivered without judgement or the author's baggage. The action is so exciting - real pulse-racing stuff - but from a parent's perspective it also carries an important theme: life may be difficult, threatening, even terrifying, but it is always worth living, and courage - in whatever its form - is a quality everyone can find and one that is always worth seeking out. I recommend this series to anyone, although the mild sexual references may make it more appropriate for post-pubescent readers.

Tomorrow When the War Began is the coolest book on Earth

This is a fascinating book. It has all the factors of the coolest book in the world! It's companions (Book 2 The Dead of Night, Book 3 The Killing Frost/The Third Day, The Frost, Book 4 Darkness be my friend, Book 5 Burning for revenge, Book 6 The Night is for Hunting and Book 7 The Other Side of Dawn.) all are really good though not all available to the poor readers in The USA! :( Just to tell you I am one of the unfortunates... anyway. Tomorrow when the War Began is compelling and action packed. READ THIS BOOK! You won't regret it!

So good I couldn't put it down!

I wasn't sure I'd like this book, but it turned out to be awesome! It was chilling because these characters, who seemed so real, were just ordinary teens who had comfortable lives until a terrible war separated them from their families and forced them to be heroes. I can't wait to read the rest of the series!