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Darkness Be My Friend

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

The author of A Killing Frost continues his bestselling series. Marsdens style is as surefooted as his independent band of teens.”—School Library Journal

Ellie and her friends had been rescued. Airlifted out of their own country to the safe haven of New Zealand, they’d arrived burnt and injured and shocked, with broken bones, and scars inside and out. They did not want to go back. But five months later the war is not over, the nightmares continue, and there are two compelling reasons for them to return: a planned sabotage of the air base in Wirrawee and, most important, the families they left behind. In this episode of the tale begun in Tomorrow, When the War Began and continued in The Dead of Night and A Killing Frost, John Marsden takes us back to Hell, the outpost for a group of teens in a war-ravaged country.

“Ellie is a solid narrator whose no-nonsense approach to love, war, and friendship makes her an unusual and impressive female protagonist. A personalized war novel that is apocalyptic yet open-ended enough for another sequel, Darkness benefits from not being limited to fitting into any one genre, but satisfactorily including aspects of several.”—Booklist

“Contains as much riveting suspense and cliffhanger chapter endings as the first three.”—The Horn Book

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    • School Library Journal

      July 1, 1999
      Gr 8 Up-The fourth volume of Marsden's saga of teenage survival and defense of their homeland during war continues the tale at its customary breakneck pace. In the previous books, Ellie and her continually dwindling troop of friends arrived home from a week's camping in the bush to discover that their small town-and, seemingly, all of Australia-has been overtaken by an unnamed enemy army. This latest volume takes up the tale as Ellie and her four remaining buddies leave the safety of New Zealand to return to their old campsite, planning to infiltrate the enemy-held town of Wirrawee under the protection of New Zealand soldiers. The soldiers soon disappear, however, leaving the teens once again on their own. In this middle book of the tale-which runs to seven titles in Australia-the teens learn the fates of their families and manage to survive without further losses. There are hair-raising adventures aplenty, including a break-in at the general store that goes awry, as well as Ellie's unintentional mortal dispatch of an enemy officer. As with previous titles, the ending leaves readers hanging in wait for the succeeding books. The adventures here are finely wrought and enough new background detail is supplied to keep loyal followers of the series engaged in the characters' development. However, this isn't a story to approach midstream. It needs to be read from the beginning, and teens will want to continue once they have done that, for Marsden's style is as surefooted as his independent band of teens.-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA

      Copyright 1999 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • The Horn Book

      July 1, 1999
      This fourth book about a group of Australian teenagers fighting for survival following an enemy takeover of their country contains as much riveting suspense and cliffhanger chapter endings as the first three. A highly unlikely opening and premise is, ironically, followed by a string of events that are more realistic than those in previous books.

      (Copyright 1999 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:5.6
  • Lexile® Measure:770
  • Interest Level:9-12(UG)
  • Text Difficulty:4

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