Darkness Be My Friend by John Marsden

Darkness Be My Friend by John Marsden

Genre: YA Fiction
Series: #4 in the Tomorrow series
Publication Date: 1996
Pages: 269
Challenges: Support Your Local Library #43
Source: Library



The Short Version:
Australia has been invaded and a group of teenagers continue their battle to stay alive and cause trouble for the invaders.

Why I Read It:
This has been an interesting series so far and it had been a while since I read the last one so it was time to continue the story.

The Book
Since this is the fourth book in the series it’s difficult to not give away events from previous books. If you haven’t read through book 3 in this series, you should skip on down to the My Thoughts section now.

Ellie and her friends are still at it. Their families are prisoners of the invading army and even though the kids had been rescued and evacuated to New Zealand, the war at home continues. When they are asked (with little alternative) to return to Australia and the war (only this time with members of the New Zealand army) they find themselves back in Hell.

Their former safe haven in the bush (known as Hell) is still safe, but their mission is to get the New Zealand troops into town so that they can attempt to disable the air base at Wirrawee. Ellie and her friends have a secondary motivation in that their families are still being held prisoner there.

My Thoughts:
This series is an amazing portrayal of a group of teenagers who have their world torn away from them and are forced to grow up and make decisions and take actions that kids this age just should not have to deal with. When their world was torn apart they became renegades waging their own battles against the invading forces.

Ellie is a wonderful narrator. She tells their story with brutal honesty about events as well as the feelings she and her friends deal with. With only a handful of people she truly trusts and facing death or capture nearly every day, Ellie and her friends have had to mature as this series progresses. They face their insecurities at the same time they face the realities of war and survival.

This series is not one that you should read out of order. Start at the beginning and follow the story through. The action and emotions are both well written and while there is violence (it’s a war after all) it really doesn’t get overly gruesome. It’s hard to read this series and not stop to think what I would have done in a similar situation at 16 or 17.


Rating 4/5