REVIEW: Way Down Dark (#1) - J. P. Smythe

Title: Way Down Dark (#1)
Author: J. P. Smythe
Series: The Australia Trilogy
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Format: Paperback
Pages: 277 Pages
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Blurb

There's one truth on Australia: You fight or you die. Usually both.

Seventeen-year-old Chan's ancestors left a dying Earth hundreds of years ago, in search of a new home. They never found one.

The only life that Chan's ever known is one of violence, of fighting. Of trying to survive.

But there might be a way to escape. In order to find it, Chan must head way down into the darkness - a place of buried secrets, long-forgotten lies, and the abandoned bodies of the dead.

Seventeen-year-old Chan, fiercely independent and self-sufficient, keeps her head down and lives quietly, careful not to draw attention to herself amidst the violence and disorder. Until the day she makes an extraordinary discovery - a way to return the Australia to Earth. But doing so would bring her to the attention of the fanatics and the murderers who control life aboard the ship, putting her and everyone she loves in terrible danger.

And a safe return to Earth is by no means certain. 

Thoughts

I found myself so surprised with how much I actually enjoyed this book. The book follows Chan who lives on the Australia, a transport ship that is taking them to a new world, but not all is as it seems.

As I said previously, I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this book, I loved Chan as a character, She gets thrown in to protecting people on the Australia from the gangs that roam the ship.

I loved the friendship between Jonah and Chan, I thought Jonah was also a great character (with a backstory you won't see coming). I also loved Agatha, who was like a mother to Chan, trying to tell her to keep her head down, and gets exasperated when Chan starts involving herself against The Lows, one of the gangs on the ship.

I found the reveal about the Australia such a mind twist, and I really never saw it coming (which with stories like these, they can be predictable).

I found some bits of this story to be so heartbreaking (so be warned, there are instances that you might not be able to get through).

Overall, a great book and I can't wait to read the next book in the series.