To The Last Page

**Spoiler warning** **Long Dark Dusk is the second book of J P Smythe's Australia Trilogy, so although there should be no spoilers about what happens in this book, it would not be possible to review this book without mentioning significant events that took place in the first book of the trilogy, Way Down Dark.** Towards the end of Way Down Dark , the first part of J P Smythe's Australia Trilogy, there was a major revelation for the inhabitants of 'Australia', an interstellar spaceship several generations into their journey to discover new habitable worlds as Earth struggles with over-population and ecological disaster. Over the years social order on the ship has broken down and the ship is overrun with violent gangs and strange cults in a battle for control that eventually threatens the integrity of the ship itself. Among those struggling to simply survive is Chan, a 17 year old young woman who does her best to help the vulnerable against some of the most violent aggres...

The science-fiction premise of Way Down Dark , part 1 of J.P. Smythe's Australia Trilogy, is far from original. A space-ship, called Australia, is a generation into its long journey into interstellar space, its human population looking for a new planet to colonise, with vague references to an Earth over-population crisis exacerbated by climate change. Over that time myths have developed and the social structure of the ship has evolved into dangerous gangs and mysterious cults of Lows, Pale Women and Bells, each of them struggling for power or simply trying to stay alive. The main content of Way Down Dark isn't particularly exciting in its development either over this first part. Basically, the social order is on the verge of collapse, the Lows making violent incursions into the upper levels, killing, abducting and destroying, threatening not only the balance of the social structure but the ecosystem on Australia, and even the integrity of the ship itself. The main part of the ...