This review was originally written and posted in January 2017.

OKAY LOVELIES, HERE WE GO. A brand new book, Tomorrow, When the War Began. I first became aware of this book through the movie, which I watched years ago and generally enjoyed. I remember very little about that movie except “hm, I generally enjoyed that, cool.” It’s a book that was/is very popular in Australia, where it was published and where the story is set.

Since I know very little about Australia, I’m going to (try to) be a little less critical. If any lovely Aussie readers want to point out things I missed and/or correct me, have at it. I suspect I will be doing a lot of googling for this book, and we all know how reliable that can be.

The book opens with a glossary of slang phrases, because I purchased a copy that was reprinted in America, and I’m already happy because hot damn Australia has some awesome slang. Let’s do this.

Much like Animorphs, this book opens with our narrator writing about how she’s writing this book. It…well, it’s dated. This style was very popular for a very short while, and I can’t say I was ever a fan of it. I just don’t buy the perfect recall required for something like this. Novel writing and journaling are not the same. If someone could do it in a legit journaling style and keep it interesting for novel length, I think that would be a really cool project/attempt, but just slapping a conversational opening on the front of an otherwise normal novel doesn’t cut it. I like the kind of introspection that usually comes with this style, but then again, what’s to stop our first person narrator from just…introspecting? Nothing, if you ask me.

Our narrator, Ellie, starts things off by describing her current setting, then referencing all the characters we haven’t met yet, because in her ‘timeline’ of course she’s already been through the adventures. But…I don’t know these people, so I don’t care about her chitchat about them arguing over who has to write the story and whether or not someone named Chris is mad. I don’t know Chris. Get me invested, please.

The story gets started proper with Ellie and her friend Corrie deciding they want to go camping over the Christmas break, which is something they’ve done often and enjoy.

Sometimes another friend would come along, Robyn or Fi. Never boys. At that age you think boys have as much personality as coat hangers, and you don’t notice their looks.

Then you grow up.

Hehehe.

So, Ellie and Corrie are old enough to ‘notice their looks’ and decide it would be just boss to invite some boys along on their camping trip this time.

[Our parents] spent a lot of time not saying no, but trying to talk us into other things instead.

Hah, I like that one, too.

Much of this opening bit is just Ellie regalling us with a description of where they’re going (it’s super remote) and the plans made. It’s…quick to get through, at least, since it’s 95% just narration and summary.

I know them too well.

And yes, I’ve written that ‘o’ in ‘know’ carefully – I wouldn’t want it to be confused with an ‘e.’

This is a really poignant line and about the only thing I like so far from the whole “I’m writing this as I sit here” set up.

The rest of the chapter, not gonna lie, is super boring. It details each of the seven kids who are going on this trip asking permission to their parents, and then we get a paragraph long description of the kids jus to round out the infodump. To sum up:

Ellie – our narrator

Corrie – Ellie’s best friend

Robyn – good church girl with a competitive streak

Fi(ona) – pampered townie girl who gets excited easy

Lee – Quiet guy into art and music

Kevin – Egotistical, dating Corrie

Homer – Class clown who plays really juvenile pranks

The only hint at any of the larger plot in this opening (and yes, I’m including the very start where Ellie goes on about “I have to write down our experiences”) is one random scene where Ellie’s mom has the news on. Some angry guy is yelling about how the Prime Minister is a wimp who cut the defense budget too deeply.

But what kid is going to read that and pick it up as something interesting? I know what happens, and I’m barely interested in that nugget. Nothing about this opening chapter really sucks in the reader. The framing device is probably supposed to, but all it really succeeds in doing is obfuscating the start of the story, and then the start of the story is really dull minutia. And having them start with the camping trip is not an unworkable idea, but ditch the stalling (keep the conversational narrator, you don’t really need a framing device to just have a chill narrator) and inject a bit more uncertainty into the setting/parents. International conflicts don’t actually spring up out of nowhere, and having the parents clearly upset about something that the kids are largely ignoring could create some dissonance and set a much better emotional tone. Then the whole bit about them convincing their parents to let them go camping wouldn’t be dull minutia, it would be setting the scene and laying some emotional groundwork for what’s to come later.

But I will say this: the first chapter might be boring, but at least it’s short and fast. We’re not asked to stay with that infodumping for very long.

Chapter two actually starts the camping trip, and finally we seem to be getting into a smoother narrative. The kids all take an off-road truck up a mountainous, overgrown track to the top, then their plan is to climb down into this really remote valley called Hell, so named because…it sounds cool? There doesn’t seem anything particularly hellish about the place; it’s just almost impossible to get to. Oh well.

Fi has seriously overpacked, because she is Fi.

“Oh. Do you think I should take out the pillow, then?”

We formed a committee of six to reorganize Fi’s backpack for her. Fi was not a member

Ellie as a narrator is pretty dry, and I’m really enjoying that part of it.

The rest of the chapter and chapter three are just the kids hiking down into Hell. They have a hard time climbing down the first few sections of descent, then from there they find a man-made bridge over a creek and a dedicated path. They figure the bridge was made by a hermit rumored to have lived there. But other than that? Not much to report. A little dull, but easy to read and with a lot of movement so it goes quick enough.

I hope we get to the actual plot soon. Or at least more dialogue.