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alexblackreads 's review for:
Tomorrow, When the War Began
by John Marsden
Reread July 2023
I'm going in for a full read of this series, which required rereading this even though I kind of hated it the first time. The characters are shallow, the story isn't great. I'm very much not a fan. But it seems like this is the worst of the series (at least so far), so don't let this book turn you off too much.
***
I'd been looking forward to reading this book for a long time after watching the movie because it felt like one of those movies that would be far surpassed by the source material. I was rather disappointed. The book was written in journal style by Ellie, the main character, in what felt like a very stream of conscious style. I found the first chapter incredibly off-putting just by the number of times she said things like 'anyway' and 'well getting back to the point now'. It drew me out of the story.
Most of the action seemed to be taking place off screen. Even when it was on screen, the characters would often regroup after and talk about what had just transpired for pages and pages. I want to read that as it happens, not when they're talking about it. At times it seemed like Ellie was the wrong character to choose as the narrator and perhaps one of the others would have witnessed and experienced more.
There also seemed to be more exposition that was necessary in setting up the characters and more time spent pairing them off into romantic relationships than I was interested in.
Still, the premise is really interesting and I look forward to reading the other books in the series. This one wasn't for me, but I can see how it would be enjoyable. I would like to see more of Marsden's ideas and perhaps the later books in the series will get more into the meat of the plot now that the premise and characters have been introduced.
I'm going in for a full read of this series, which required rereading this even though I kind of hated it the first time. The characters are shallow, the story isn't great. I'm very much not a fan. But it seems like this is the worst of the series (at least so far), so don't let this book turn you off too much.
***
I'd been looking forward to reading this book for a long time after watching the movie because it felt like one of those movies that would be far surpassed by the source material. I was rather disappointed. The book was written in journal style by Ellie, the main character, in what felt like a very stream of conscious style. I found the first chapter incredibly off-putting just by the number of times she said things like 'anyway' and 'well getting back to the point now'. It drew me out of the story.
Most of the action seemed to be taking place off screen. Even when it was on screen, the characters would often regroup after and talk about what had just transpired for pages and pages. I want to read that as it happens, not when they're talking about it. At times it seemed like Ellie was the wrong character to choose as the narrator and perhaps one of the others would have witnessed and experienced more.
There also seemed to be more exposition that was necessary in setting up the characters and more time spent pairing them off into romantic relationships than I was interested in.
Still, the premise is really interesting and I look forward to reading the other books in the series. This one wasn't for me, but I can see how it would be enjoyable. I would like to see more of Marsden's ideas and perhaps the later books in the series will get more into the meat of the plot now that the premise and characters have been introduced.