While I Live by John Marsden is the continuation of Ellie Linton’s story that was started in his Tomorrow series that was about the invasion of Australia. The war is supposedly now over and Ellie and her friends can go back home and be teenagers again. Certain parts of their country have been ceded to the enemy in the treaty but it is soon clear that the fighting isn’t over as enemy militia start raiding across the border. Ellie’s farm is very close to the border and it, along with her neighbours, are targeted.

By the end of the first chapter her parents are brutally murdered by foreign militia and Ellie must now try to hold the farm together, raise her adopted brother, attend high school and battle with the slimy lawyer who got himself appointed her guardian in order to swindle her out of her property. She comes into contact with a group of freedom fighters that call themselves the Liberation and is invited to join but at this time she has too much on her plate to get involved in fighting again.

Once again I became totally involved in Ellie’s world and the tough road she has to travel. Ellie is a character that I have come to like and admire very much and by the book’s end, I was hooked once again into Ellie’s adventures and will definitely be continuing on with the Ellie Chronicles. ( )

De oorlog is over. Ellen, Homer en Gavin zijn op een picknick tocht richting 'The Hell' wanneer ze geweerschoten horen. Ze komen uit de richting van de boerderij van Ellen's ouders. Eenmaal terug ontdekken zij dat haar ouders en mevrouw MacKenzie (een vriend van de familie) zijn vermoord, maar ook een aanvaller is dood. Het lijkt er op dat een groep bandieten van de andere kant van de grens hen heeft vermoord. Maar was het een uit de hand gelopen overval, of ....

Ellen ontdekt dat er een groep bestaat die zich 'Liberators' ('Bevrijders') noemt, die regelmatig acties onderneemt aan de andere kant van de grens om gevangen genomen mensen te bevrijden. Zij vermoedt dat Homer er meer van weet.

Ondertussen gaat het niet goed met de boerderij. De rechter wijst een voogd aan om Ellen te ondersteunen bij de diverse zaken op de boerderij, Maar deze voogd heeft andere ideeën. ( )

Just when you thought it was all over, tragedy strikes the Linton farm in the form of a revenge attack by the invaders and Ellie is thrown back in it all again, but, it is 'peace time' now..... ( )

I adored the (prequel) Tomorrow series. It managed to convey an imaginary war situation, full of action, yet it was somehow incredibly down-to-earth. Ellie and her friends are flawed, they get scared sometimes, they alternate between being horrified, at the verge of mental breakdowns, and wanting to brag about their heroics with pride. The series felt engaging and realistic.

This book, which still has some action, focuses more on Ellie's domestic drama. It talks about her financial and legal troubles, looking after the farm. I should have been bored out of my mind. But I wasn't. Although it wasn't as good as its five-star prequel series, I still rate this book at four-stars. I was so emotionally invested in Ellie and her friends, that I was perfectly willing to listen to her experiences buying cows at an auction, her difficulties with school. Although I loved reading about Ellie and the gang's guerilla warfare experiences, ultimately it was Marsden's writing, and Ellie's down-to-earth perspective, that engaged me most.

If you were addicted to the action of the previous books, don't fret- there are still a few action sequences- things are tense between the old Wirrawee, and the invaders over the border. They just don't seem to be the focal points of the book like they were in the previous series.

And most of the gang feature in the book at some point- Gavin, Homer, Lee, Fi. I know one of my worries after the ending of the Tomorrow series was that Fi & Lee would be cut from the Ellie Chronicles.

While I Live is exactly the sequel I wanted, and I can't wait to read the next two books. :) ( )

The series continues on from where the Tomorrow series by this author ends. If you have not read the Tomorrow series yet, you should read that before beginning this book.

****SPOILERS****
In the months since the war has ended, Ellie and her friends and family have returned home. Some have moved on to new lives, others are trying to pick up the pieces of their old lives. All are adjusting to the aftermath of the war. Just as Ellie's life is beginning to have a sense of normalcy again, her parents are murdered by enemy soldiers in a border raid. After all that Ellie has already been through in the war, I almost feel like this is just too much for her to have to bear and I almost feel like the author has become even more cruel than fate. In addition to that Ellie finds enemies closer to home in her new guardian, and gets caught up with the Liberation.

I can see where she would become a bit of a thrill junkie after all her war experiences, but at the same point in time I feel like this poor girl just can't go on much longer after all she's been through.

I ALMOST feel like John Marsden has jumped the shark with this one. ALMOST. But I still love Ellie and friends and I can't wait to read more. ( )