Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of The Dead of Night (Tomorrow, Bk 2)

The Dead of Night (Tomorrow, Bk 2)
The Dead of Night - Tomorrow, Bk 2
Author: John Marsden
ISBN-13: 9780395837344
ISBN-10: 0395837340
Publication Date: 1999
Pages: 288
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 5

3.6 stars, based on 5 ratings
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

2 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

cyndij avatar reviewed The Dead of Night (Tomorrow, Bk 2) on + 1032 more book reviews
Good "future" thriller YA series set in Australia. For my review of the entire series, see the PBS Blog for August 2023.
ophelia99 avatar reviewed The Dead of Night (Tomorrow, Bk 2) on + 2527 more book reviews
This is the second book in the Tomorrow series Marsden, it was an okay continuation of the Tomorrow series by Marsden.

Ellie and her five friends are still struggling to survive after unknown enemies invaded their small Australian town. Two of their friends have been taken behind enemy lines and Ellie and Homer work together with the other to mount a rescue mission. They are all struggling with the larger question of how to make a difference and fight this invasion on their own terms. They are also hoping to find another group of natives to work with and really make a difference in this war.

My main complaint with this book is that it's a short book and not much happens. There are vast sections of nothingness while we wait for the characters to get to the next interesting event. While this does a good job of conveying the boredom interspersed by spurts of deadly scenarios, it's not that exciting to read about. After reading this book I understand how the series can go on for seven books, it just progresses incredibly slowly.

All the characters are okay. The book is told completely from Ellie's POV which means we see all of the other characters colored by her perspective. There wasn't as much interesting survival in this book; there were more conflicts between the characters and lots of discussion about how to make a difference to the war effort.

Ellie rehashes her feelings over and over again; feelings about killing, about violence, and about how the rest of the world is reacting. There is just too much of this and not enough action. I found a lot of it to be quite boring. Some of the discussion is good, but similar themes are just repeated over and over.

We don't really learn a lot more about "the enemy" either. Most of the questions asked in the first book remain largely unanswered.

Overall this was an okay addition to the series but I probably won't read any more of this series. The idea is interesting, however I am not a huge fan of war stories. I do enjoy survival stories, but there is a lot less survival stuff in this book than there was in the first book. I also feel like the story moves very slowly and the characters in here aren't my favorite either.