It's nearly six months since our country was invaded. We've lived in a war zone since January, and now it's July. So short a time, so long a time . . . I'm an expert on fear now. I think I've felt every strong feeling there is: love, hate, jealousy, rage. But fear's the greatest of them all. Nothing reaches inside and grabs you by the guts the way fear does. Nothing else possesses you like that. It's a kind of illness, a fever, that takes you over. Ellie and her friends return from a camping trip to find their country at war. Learning together, they fight back - battling fear, rage, and the invading army that has stolen their land, seized their homes, taken their families, and destroyed their future. Continuing the story begun in Tomorrow When the War Began and The Dead of Night, John Marsden paints a shockingly realistic portrait of teenagers who take great risks to defend what is theirs.

**

From Publishers Weekly

The trilogy about Australia under siege that started with Tomorrow, When the War Began comes to a thrill-a-minute conclusion as the teen heroes continue their guerrilla tactics against totalitarian foes. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 UpAThis is the third installment of the saga begun in Tomorrow, When the War Began (1995) and continued in The Dead of Night (1997, both Houghton). Six months have now passed since an invading army attacked Australia. Ellie and her band of teenage guerrilla fighters are rapidly becoming harder, more jaded, less inhibited. Their plan this time is to destroy the port at Cobbler's Bay, a strategic harbor for the enemy. Throughout most of the book, the young freedom fighters outwit the bad guys and manage to keep just one step ahead of them. Alas, they are finally captured and taken to a maximum-security prison. There they are certain to be sentenced to death for their activities. Good prevails in the end, however. Well, sort of. War is not neat and tidy, and along the way there is a personal tragedy for Ellie's gang. This sequel is less taut, less compelling, and grimmer than the other books, but it is still an action-packed, enjoyable read. Readers will be lost, however, if they have not been introduced to the characters in the earlier books. Furthermore, the Australian slang (even with the help of a glossary) can be daunting. As in the other titles, Marsden poses several questionsAabout right and wrong, the nature of evil, and what human beings are capable of enduring under extreme circumstances.ARoxanne Burg, Thousand Oaks Library, CA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.