"Tomorrow, When The War Began" Is The Best Aussie Book Series We've Ever Had

It's like Red Dawn, but Aussie and waaaaaay better.

If you grew up in Oz in the mid-'00s there was only one book series worth reading — the Tomorrow, When The War Began series.

Disney

While the seven books were published between 1993 and 1999, they really hit their stride in the '00s IMO.

Seriously, there was a point in high school where everyone was reading them.

Warner Brothers

These books were tucked under the arms of all the cool kids like accessories, you talked with your mates how you would react in the same scenarios, and every time you went camping, you wondered if you would come home to a abandoned house. Or, maybe that was just me?

For those of you who have not had the pleasure, let me fill you in real quick. The series follows seven high school kids in rural Australia, who head out bush for a weekend of camping. When they come back however, their hometown has been taken over by an unnamed force and the country is in the midst of a war.

Instagram: @danielle_the_tassie_bookworm / Via instagram.com

The core group of kids changes throughout the books because of ~unforeseen circumstances~, but I shall not give away any spoilers here.

What follows is seven books of daring guerrilla warfare, cross-country travels and, of course, some healthy teenage drama, as the group tries to survive and liberate their town/country.

Instagram: @thelittlelibraryofbooks / Via instagram.com

I'm talking explosions, fights and daring escapades involving cattle.

This book series awakened an entire generation of young Aussies to love, heartbreak (oh-so-much heartbreak) and elevated levels of badassery.

Instagram: @bookswithplanners / Via instagram.com

Which, of course, made us feel like we could definitely protect our country if we we had to.

Seriously, one of the books has the first sex scene I'd ever read in it — and my school librarian informed my parents that these books were maybe for a more mature audience. Why were they even in the library then, huh??

NBC

TBF, I was 12 at the time.

They were so good that the first of the books even got turned into a movie in 2010, and a TV series in 2016.

Ambience Entertainment / Omnilab Media, ABC Me

Starring Phoebe Tonkin as one of the main characters, from The Originals and H20: Just Add Water fame.

The author, James Marsden, also wrote a sequel series called The Ellie Chronicles, which followed the main character as she reintegrated into normal society after the war ended.

Instagram: @renepatrice / Via instagram.com

But, I gotta say I could not get into this series — I wanted more of the action displayed in the first seven books.

All of this to say that the Tomorrow, When The War Began series is DAMN GOOD. And, if you've not read it, then you need to get onto it ASAP. It might be classified as YA, but I reckon even older readers will enjoy — it's just a brilliant story that you won't forget years after you read it.

Nickelodeon

It seriously shows that teenage rural Aussies aren't mucking around!