Jessica's Reviews > Darkness, Be My Friend

**check out my review for Tomorrow, When the War Began for my take on the series as a whole**

Probably the slowest of the series so far, but by no means unworthy of the 5 stars rating. The feel of this book and the style are a bit of a departure. There is less action and craziness and way more internal dialogue for Ellie. I noticed a lot more “I remember when...”, and Ellie will often stop midway through a conversation or action sequence to share an anecdote with the reader. I can see how this might bug some people, but I didn’t mind. Everything she shares is relevant and it really grounds the town of Wirrawee in to reality more. You get a deeper understanding of the history of the place and the relationships of the characters. You get some more background on these radically changed kids, and it gives you new perspective on everything that happens. It also makes sense that Ellie would do more musing and philosophizing as part of her recent therapy. Writing helps Ellie exercise her demons and sweet goodness does she have a lot of them.

Also, as soon as I thought some healing was happening for certain relationships, I got sideswiped with some really devastating news and lost it. I cried for the first time in this series, which surprised me. Took me long enough. But I have a theory that it was because the book slowed down the pace a lot more and things calmed down. I wasn’t ready.