Warning: Plot spoiler ahead
The Third Day, The Frost is the third book in John Marsden's seven part series about eight teenagers stuck in the middle of a war.
John Marsden has managed to create powerful yet ordinary characters in this series and put them in a war situation where each character reacts differently, so as we can empathise with at least one of them. The series, stripped down bit by bit is practically about survival and the human spirit.
These books allow us to empathise with war-stricken countries as the war in the books is set in rural Australia. We see what Ellie sees, we feel what Ellie feels and understand more about the world around us. It’s easy to sympathise, but until we experience things, we can’t understand it fully.
Plot:
Ellie and her friends, after a long while hiding in hell, venture out into Wirawee where they discover Kevin working on a nearby farm. They make contact with him and arrange to rescue him by faking his death. On the day of Kevin's escape, Ellie and her friends push a dead sheep down the well to go along with the plan. Eventually, Kevin runs free but is spotted by an soldier. Fortunately for the group, unfortunately for the soldier, Lee kills him and the group make it look like an accident.
Kevin proves useful when he tells the group about what he learnt about bombs, especially ANFO - a bomb that can be made out of things you find on almost every farm. They use this knowledge for another, greater attack – on Cobbler’s Bay a major harbour. Ellie and Homer are the best swimmers, so they are chosen to carry out the task of loading and blowing up the ship. Ellie becomes very nervous and scared as the time comes nearer, but keeps a calm face and goes through with the group's plans. Ellie and Homer, after a lot of hard work, eventually load a broken down truck with Manure and Deisel fuel and head for Cobbler's bay. Luck is with them when they pass the security gates undetected and are loaded on to the ship.
A long, agonising wait follows being loaded onto the ship, but soon Homer and Ellie light the fuse to the bomb and dive off the side of the ship. Unfortunately, they underestimated the security there and are quickly spotted by soldiers. Ellie and Homer loose each other and we follow Ellie as she struggles to get away from the bullets of the soldiers. Ellie is just about to give up when the ship explodes and she is washed ashore.
Ellie stumbles through the bush but still has hope that she can find her friends. On her way, she comes across a helicopter but that is quickly blown apart by a Kiwi jet. Ellie continues her journey. Finally, Ellie finds her friends being held up by soldiers. Very fortunately, the soldiers don't see Ellie so she picks up a nearby gun and shoots them. Her friends come to her side and the group quickly forms a plan - they take the soldiers' car and drive as far as they think they should.
On the way, the car gets smashed a bit more which turns out to be a good thing when they come across a car wrek yard. The group stay there for a while and make contact with New Zeland. Ellie and her friends are excited to hear that the cobbler's bay attack did well but are dissapointed when they find they cannot get out of their situation.
Later, the group is forced to flee when Lee discoveres that the soldiers have employed sniffer dogs. Ellie and her friends have a meeting and decide to take a holiday in a nature reserve nearby. Unfortunately on their way there,Ellie and the others are captured and put into a maximum-security prison.
Ellie and Homer are singled out as the 'ringleaders' and are shut off in separate cells to the rest. Ellie quietly starts to go insane but before she does, she is called to the office of...Major Harvey. It turns out he survived the attack on Turner Street and now works in the prison. He comes to the conclusion that Ellie's group has help from the New Zealanders and keeps in regular contact with them. Major Harvey tries to get Ellie to tell him everything but has no luck.
A couple of weeks later, Ellie is allowed out into the exercise yard with her friends. She finds that the others have year sentences while she and Homer have death. During the long wait untill she is executed, Ellie hears faint booming noises which are actually close bombings by the New Zealanders. The last time Ellie is in the exercise yard, the bombs come down and one of the walls is blown open. The group seize this chance and run to freedom.
The group soon comes to a dead hault when Major harvey appears and holds a gun to Robyn. They are forced to the ground but Ellie realises Robyn has a hand grenade under her shirt. Robyn then pulls the pin and is gone in a flash of light. Ellie is haunted by the sight.
Robyn, in sacrificing herself, has cleared the path for the group. Ellie and her friends race along the road and come across a helicopter piolet who has crashed. He pushes a panic button and in a few seconds, a rescue helicopter arrives. Ellie manages to pursuade him to take the group to New Zealand and they board the helicopter.
Finaly the group is safe.
John Marsden wonderfully describes not only the situation but also the emotions and effects of the war. I give this novel a 10 out of 10. |
