The Darklands trilogy is a series of books by Australian

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 author Anthony Eaton

Anthony Eaton

Anthony Eaton is an Australian writer of fantasy and young-adult fiction.-Biography:Eaton was born in Papua New Guinea in 1972 and moved to Perth, Western Australia during his childhood. After attending university he worked as a literature and drama teacher at Trinity College, Perth for eight...

. University of Queensland Press

University of Queensland Press

Established in 1948, University of Queensland Press is a dynamic publishing house known for its innovative philosophy and commitment to producing books of high quality and cultural significance...

 has
published the first and second book. The series is set over 1000 years in a future in which the human race has polluted the world and now lives in sealed environments. The books centre around Saria, a darklander, and Larinan Mann of Port City.

Nightpeople

Sally Murphy at Aussie Reviews.com commended the book as "a well-woven, absorbing tale". It was shortlisted in "Best Adult Fantasy" and "Best Young Adult Fantasy" category of the 2006 Aurealis Awards

Skyfall

Sally Murphy of Aussie Reviews.com commends the book as "challenging and absorbing". She also comments that "The world is alien enough to intrigue, but familiar enough for readers to connect with. The action is fast paced and the characters both diverse and believable". Skyfall was the winner of the 2007 Aurealis Award for "Best Young Adult Fantasy" category. It was also shortlisted for the 2007 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards

The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an award for books, scripts, digital narrative and a People's Choice. Awards are provided by the Government of Western Australia, and the awards process is managed by the State Library of Western Australia...

 for "Literature - Young Adult" Category.

Geography

In the world of the Darklands Trilogy, the surface of the earth is split into two areas.

• Darklands - Huge walled expanses of land designed to contain environmental and genetic defects
• Literally everything else - This land has virtually no population, with the vast, vast majority of humanity living in the dome cities.

Towns

There were once many towns dotted across the huge expanse of the Darklands, but there are now only a few. This is because some towns got smaller, then some people wanting to escape their failing towns moved to the larger settlements, and then their original towns really did die off. The remaining towns are nothing more than collections of ramshackle huts, made from rusted corrugated tin, and propped up with whatever was available.

List of Known Towns:
Woormra
This is probably the largest town and is home to the Council of Dreamers.
Olympic
This town is smaller than Woormra, although its people are more aggressive, dangerous, and paranoid, as they even built a defensive wall out of sharp branches around their town.
Mooka
This town is also smaller than Woormra, and is unremarkable, other than being significantly closer to the Darkedge than any other town.

The Valley

The valley, also known as Ma's Valley, was a secret valley far away from all other pockets of civilization, and was known only to a select few. Its only permanent occupant was Ma, an aging woman who took care of children sent to her. Over the years, a number of children were sent there for protection. None were ever found and the valley was never discovered.

Ruins of the Shifting House

The shifting house is a decaying structure left over from before the shifting. It is avoided by most Darklanders. It is renowned by most people within the Darklands, for its air of death, destruction and mystery, and because it sits in a circle of ruined, acrid ground. The Shifting House is implied to be a former nuclear power station.

Dome Cities

These were the pinnacle achievement of generations before; eternal containers of society, made of near impervious permacrete and clearcrete, two materials that revolutionized construction, and along with the invention of the Governors (Massive Computers that controlled every aspect of life within the domes) enabled the building of the Dome Cities. One of the Dome Cities ('Port') is featured on the cover of 'Skyfall'.

The Underworld

The underworld is what's left over from a thousand years ago. Endless fields of decaying skyscrapers and apartment blocks, all abandoned for a thousand years or more. It is unknown how many people if any live down here.

Fliers

Flyers are aerial vehicles that are used for travel between the dome cities, as well as research trips into the Darklands. A large variety of fliers exist, although the most famous ones belong to DGAP (Darklands Genetic Adaption Program) and resemble a squat bug. These fliers have three seats (Pilot, Co-Pilot and Commander/Observer) in the cockpit (The Front Dome) arranged in a triangle (Pilot Front-Left, Co-Pilot Front-Right and Commander/Observer Rear-Center), as well as space behind the front dome. This space includes an equipment rack for suits and helmets.