Ebook of the Month June 2012 – WOOL, but Hugh Howey

I first heard of “Wool” a few weeks ago on various blogs when news came around that Ridley Scott had optioned some self-published science fiction book for movie rights. Of course, a book getting optioned for movie rights means very little in a practical sense, since producers are forever buying rights to books that they never actually use.  In a theoretical sense, it was a big deal, because a self-published book getting optioned does not happen very often, or ever.

Anyway, it made me curious, and the book was cheap ($5.99 for the omnibus edition), so I picked it up. I had absolutely no idea what to expect – based on popular trends, I supposed the book would be about a clumsy yet bland teenage girl who falls in love with a brooding vampire billionaire who has a thing for handcuffs and leather.

I am pleased to report that I was wrong. WOOL is excellent. In fact, it is one of the best books I have read this year.

The setting is an underground habitat (the locals call it a “silo”) in a post-apocalyptic Earth. Some sort of disaster has rendered the atmosphere both toxic and corrosive. The silo’s only link to the outside world is a set of cameras outside the airlock, which are connected to a massive screen in the silo’s cafeteria. Due to the corrosive effects of the atmosphere, the cameras’ lenses gradually build up with grit. Which means every so often, an inhabitant of the silo has to suit up for a “cleaning” to wipe off the lenses.

And those who are sent to clean never, ever come back.

As a book and a work of speculative fiction, WOOL excels on every level. The characters are deep and fully realized – the sheriff, the mayor, the technician in the silo’s IT department, the maintenance worker in the generator room. The plot and pacing are excellent – it starts off slowly, building tension bit by bit, and the book lands some gut-punches in several place.

And WOOL is an absolute masterpiece of the writerly art of conservation of information. The setting – an underground habitat on a poisoned Earth – is fairly esoteric, but the book contains absolutely no infodumps. The backstory is revealed, bit by bit, as the book grows more tense, and every bit of new information only cranks up the tension further. WOOL is like an onion, with layer after layer peeled away, and every layer relevant, indeed vital, to the plot.

I think WOOL is destined to become a classic of the science fiction genre, and I recommend it completely and without reservation.

-JM