Review: Decay by Mark Lingane

When friends fail and cities fall, when enemies grow strong taking every thing you treasure, what can you do? Strike back. Sebastian and Melanie crusade against the cyborg enemy risking everything against betrayal’s cruel bite. 

The steam academy is rebuilt, but the city is not the same. The fortress of science, the last sanctuary from the marauding cyborg army sweeping the land, is being twisted by refugees as they flood to the city for protection. 

The world changes, power corrupts and the enemy becomes harder to identify. 

Dark deeds are afoot, and friends are not who they appear to be as Sebastian and Melanie embark on an adventure leading them into the very heart of the enemy’s territory where they must face their darkest fears and lose everything important.

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Decay is a dark and  moody Steampunk. The tone is well set and the characters well developed. To make sure the cause of hopelessness and despair don't lack purpose, there is an endless supply of cyborgs for the humans to defeat when they aren't struggling against food shortages and each other. 

In outback Australia, the humans have built a walled city.  Sebastian and Melanie, are young residents who attend the Steam Academy there, or they would if they weren't involved in a dangerous adventure that makes them doubt their very belief system and suspect even their most trusted allies of duplicity.

The fortress of science is no longer the refuge it was before it was overrun with refuges. Unemployment, limited resources and malcontent fuel desperation and the search for scapegoats. It soon becomes evident that there is a traitor. Someone is feeding information to Cyborgs and helping them sneak into the city itself. Sebastian and his cohorts risk everything to sneak into enemy territory and end the war. This Young Adult Steampunk is bound to be a success.

Book Bling gives this novel FIVE STARS!


 

Mark was first published at the ripe old age of eight, when a local newspaper published his review of Disney on Ice. The next time his name was in print was a life time later at the age of fifteen, when a national magazine ran his review of the Commodore 64. It was downhill from there, picking up a weekly column in the Sunday Times which funded a rather noncommittal path through university, studying a wide range of topics from Robotics, Anthropology, Philosophy, Computer Science, and Psychology. 

In fact so many subjects were studied he was eligible for graduation at the end of his second year, based purely on attendance.

He finally left and joined the corporate world before realizing work isn't that much fun, and going back to study. Further writing followed with regular columns for various technology magazines and newspapers around the country. Then as the reality of permanent food and shelter began to bare its teeth, another attempt at the corporate world beckoned as a technical writer, which turned out okay. Shifting from technology companies to resource companies provided the opportunity to travel and live in some desolate and exotic locations where the locals don't like you much.

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