Oh, wow! You need to read Wool

Wool Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was zipping around on Amazon the other day wondering what I would read after having experienced Pat Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind and A Wise Man's Fears, when I stumbled upon Wool.

I'm an adventuresome sort of reader, so it comes as no surprise that I picked up the Omnibus for my Kindle. Hey, any book that gets a rating of four or five stars by everyone and their brother cannot be bad.

The hook in the first part of Wool kept me coming back, but I wasn't sold on the characters. I was intrigued by this post-apocalyptic world of the silo that Howey created. What would it be like to live underground, to never know if a sky should be blue or grass green? If I'm honest, by the second night of reading Wool, it infiltrated my dreams. It's a very convincing world. A scary and convincing world.

At the heart of Wool is a struggle for control. Who controls the knowledge? Who decides the punishment, when the punishment is ALWAYS death? If an injustice occurs, who can you rely on? In Wool, the system is broken. Those in control have overstepped their bounds, and the push back in an enclosed silo, can be catastrophic, as you might imagine. I know I did!

I enjoyed Wool because like all good stories there were points where I felt out of control. I didn't like what was happening. I was angry at the blatant corruption of it all. Of course, that's the point. Well played, Mr. Howey, well played. But seriously, I wanted to hit something I was so upset.

As I said, it took me a bit to attach to the characters, mostly because there were so much big bad going on, I didn't want to attach to someone who might die. Yeah. People die. Lots of good people die and each death hurt. So, I was reserved about Jules at first. Oh well. It happened anyways. I LOVE YOU, JULIETTE!

Yes, our protagonist is a girl on the right side of the law. She is whip smart, and a free thinker. Just the sort of person to throw a wrench in the silo's gears. Get it? Wrench? No? Don't worry, you will.

Overall, Wool is a must read. You should read it NOW, before it blows up and all the wonderfulness is ruined by spoilers.

Favorite quotes:

"These buildings," he pointed to what looked like large white cans sitting on the ground. "These are silos. They hold seed for during the bad times. For when the times get good again."

"I'm not sure what you are trying to say," she told him.

He pointed at her. Pointed at his own chest. "We are the seeds," he said. "This is a silo. They put us here for the bad times."

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