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A review by batrock
Wool by Hugh Howey
3.0
3.5ish.
In the far distant future, ten thousand people live in a silo underground. If they ever express dangerous ideas, like wanting to leave, they’re allowed to leave: to near instant death. Wool follows several sets of characters through their perambulations up and down the stairs of the various strata of the Silo, from the dubious head of IT to the mechanic turned reluctant Sheriff candidate Juliette.
Wool was a phenomenon at the time of its publication, a success story of self-publishing mentioned in the same breath as The Martian (but, strangely, not Fifty Shades of Grey, which had a similar genesis). Presenting a dystopian novel as if it were in a more vertical version of a Vault from Fallout, Howey stumbled upon a compelling scenario and built a believable world around it. Clearly defined characters, a logical but alien society, and a new take on collapse and the prevention thereof, it’s not that surprising that Wool took off.
In the far distant future, ten thousand people live in a silo underground. If they ever express dangerous ideas, like wanting to leave, they’re allowed to leave: to near instant death. Wool follows several sets of characters through their perambulations up and down the stairs of the various strata of the Silo, from the dubious head of IT to the mechanic turned reluctant Sheriff candidate Juliette.
Wool was a phenomenon at the time of its publication, a success story of self-publishing mentioned in the same breath as The Martian (but, strangely, not Fifty Shades of Grey, which had a similar genesis). Presenting a dystopian novel as if it were in a more vertical version of a Vault from Fallout, Howey stumbled upon a compelling scenario and built a believable world around it. Clearly defined characters, a logical but alien society, and a new take on collapse and the prevention thereof, it’s not that surprising that Wool took off.