Wool (Silo, #1)

by Hugh Howey

'The next Hunger Games' The Sunday Times

'Well written, tense, and immensely satisfying, Wool will be considered a classic for many years in the future.' WIRED

'Thrilling, thought-provoking and memorable ... one of dystopian fiction's masterpieces alongside the likes of 1984 and Brave New World.' Daily Express

'Howey's Wool is an epic feat of imagination. You will live in this world.' Justin Cronin

'Wool is frightening, fascinating, and addictive. In one word, terrific.' Kathy Reichs

In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo.

Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies.

To live, you must follow the rules. But some don't. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism.

Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside.

Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last.

• ISBN10: 1476733953
• ISBN13: 9781476733951
• Publish Date: 12 March 2013 (first published 31 May 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 4 March 2021
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 528
• Language: English

Reviews

[nannah]

Book content warnings:
ableist language

Basically, Wool is a futuristic dystopia where the Earth's land is barren and its air toxic. People now live in an underground "silo" and live in a world of rules and lies and ignorance. But is that better or worse than learning the truth?

OK, wow. This was one hell of a ride. I can't remember the last time I'd read a book this . . . substantial,, you know? It's really one you can sink your teeth into. Well, it's really five books in one, but I'm really glad I got the "in one" version or I'm not sure I would've made it to the third.

I can't really tell you the reason why, because it's really, really spoilery and would completely ruin book one and two (and three, for that matter). But it's definitely not anything to do with the writing, which is lovely. Or the world, which is pretty much tangible. Or the characters, which are written with such care (with the exception of Bernard who's a bit over-the-top, but that's probably a matter of opinion).

This book has also introduced to me my newest favorite character: Juliette Nichols. She's wonderful and strong and flawed and I have the biggest crush on her. Should you read the book just for her? Absolutely.

One thing I would say is that for a book that goes into many characters' PoVs, the voice doesn't change. At all. Like At All at all. No matter what gender, age, experience, etc., (except for the fact they're all white . . . Juliette maybe isn't, but it does make me roll my eyes all the same).

Anyway, so glad I picked this up. And thanks to goodreads, I've learned there's more books to read in this series and I'm really happy.

[lisacee]

This is the best book I've read in a long time.

[Ace]

Thus book was definitely one that you can't stop reading - it's been ages since I've read an adult book this fast (kids books totally don't count!). What I really enjoyed was it took the general dystopian word and made a lot of events in the book unpredictable unlike the majority of books in this genre that have been published recently. Sure there were bits that were similar but that is to be expected - not one book is completely unique after all. A highly enjoyable read that I def recommend!

[Amber]

Wool was originally published as several shorter novellas, but then a publisher got hold of the awesome and came up with the genius plan to combine the short stories to make a bigger book. Since I don't read short stories, I would 99.9% never have picked up this series if it wasn't for that very wise publishing house. But, I did, and I'm very happy to announce that Wool is fabulous.

Full review on Books of Amber

[elvinagb]

I like this quite a lot, although it seemed overly long (I used some of those skills I learned in Speed Reading Class from college). With all the things they could do in the Silo, why not build a more efficient way of moving between levels? Or is that the point, the traveling and climbing to keep the masses tired, slow things down?
This has been optioned for a movie by Ridley Scott, I can see that this might make an interesting movie.
If this is part of a series I don't really feel I need to read more, the ending was more than adequate for me.

[Metaphorosis Reviews]

I'd been hearing about Wool for months, and when I saw that this story was available for free, I downloaded with great expectations. Largely, they were met. I was expecting a longer story, but that's not Howey's fault.

I confess to some trepidation early on - there are some infelicitous
turns of phrase, some pretty clumsy language in general. But it picks up as time goes on. The story poses a core question, and it's not really adequately answered; there's a bit of hand-waving, but not really enough to leave me satisfied. The ending, the other element that's built up, is not entirely unexpected, but it's handled nicely nonetheless. I may well pick up the next in the series, to see whether language or narrative was the fluke.

All in all, nice story, and certainly worth a free read. I'd say it's a 3.5. I rounded down because I was disappointed with the handling of that central question.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo. Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies. To live, you must follow the rules. But some don’t. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside. Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last

Hugh Howey’s independently released smash hit series Wool has been picked up and released as a novel. While Wool is more of an omnibus of the first five novellas, Simon and Schuster (in the US) and Random house here have been promoting it as a novel. While each novella does shift perspective, the questions at the end is what drives you to keep reading and that is what makes this a great novel. You find yourself with more questions than answers and you just need to dive into the next part in the hopes that you will have some of those questions answered, but knowing you’ll end up with more questions.

Hugh Howey has masterfully created this world built on lies and as you follow the characters you can’t help but wonder what the real truth is. Living in these huge 200 plus level underground silos, cut off from what may or may not exist outside, some lies need to be told to keep the peace. But what lie can really lead to peace? Aren’t all lies destructive by nature?

Wool is an exciting take on the dystopian/post apocalyptic genre and while there is something very familiar with this book, it also feels very fresh. The world is governed by fear and if you don’t obey you get sent outside to clean. Only problem with that is you’ll never survive the toxic air out there and this control leads to a totalitarian reign in this dystopian world. The antagonists of the silo turn out to be the IT department, because knowledge is power and this power struggle between this department and the rest of the silo is done really well.

The characters are just fantastic in this book, from Sheriff Holston who was likable but all of sudden volunteered to do the cleaning at the start of the book, to his replacement Jules, the strong minded female lead, and all the other characters on the way. I’m reminded of Game of Thrones in the way that you can never really get too attached because you never know who while be cleaning next. Even the minor characters have a sense of complexity that is often missed with other authors. This eye for detail and passion for a fast paced adventure with brilliantly flawed characters is what really makes Hugh Howey so successful.

I’m impressed with the huge success of this self published author and having read this, I now know why it works. The blend of questions with the fast pace and wonderful characters means this author is on track to become a masterful story teller. Wool really does live up to the hype and I hope you get a chance to read it soon. I’m torn between buying the kindle versions of the prequel, Shift, or to wait for the novel. I know if I buy each novella individually it will be torture waiting for my questions to be answered but I really want to go back to that world and see what Hugh Howey does with it.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/03/15/book-review-wool/