Review: Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey
Hugh Howey’s Wool Omnibus is a post-apocalyptic drama that is among the best contemporary sci-fi I’ve read. Not only it is among the better science fiction stories (its actually five stories, not one full-length novel), it does not rely on flashy technology or futuristic landscapes to get readers’ attention. I hope they make a movie out of it.
The first story is about Holston, the sheriff of a subterranean society who recently lost his wife. The underground society has a unique set of laws, condemning anyone who says they wish to see whats on the surface to death. The sentence involves them actually going up on the surface to clean the underground city’s sensors allowing the people underground to see the nightmare dead lands that are just above them. The suits they utilize to walk on the surface eventually give way and the person dies. Holston’s depression and guilt lead him to announce he wants to go up-top where he learns the reason why prisoners actually go through with cleaning the sensors rather than just take off.
The second story is about the mayor who must find a new sheriff to replace Holston. She and her deputy decide on a mechanic that works deep down in the city (called the silo). The IT head, Bernard, is not happy with the selection, preferring his own man. This story reveals some of the politics of the silo as well as more description of all the levels of the silo, which goes over 140 levels down, using a huge main stairwell as a highway linking them. There they meet their selection, Juliette, a young woman less than eager to leave the deep to become a political appointee.
Stories 3-5 follow Juliette in her rise to sheriff and her fall. Intrigue and conspiracy follows where Juliette learns the truth of Holston’s death, the reason for the order of things in the silo, and the dark secret that keeps the existing order intact.
I loved the stories; they interlink perfectly. There are no gaps or missing pieces that sometimes ruins compilations or series. Only two or three of the characters are fully developed but you get just enough of the secondary characters to care about each of them. They feel and sound real. The drama is powerful and the action sequences are well written making it difficult to put the book down at all.
Unfortunately I had to put it down because it exceeds 500 pages. The Silo Series gets a great start but the Omnibus is long. It takes a little patience but readers will never feel like the story isn’t moving. It is always moving, which makes the 500 pages go at a good pace. Some of the descriptions are tough to follow and overly mechanical. Howey must be a carpenter or electrician or something. I have no mechanical knowledge or skills at all, which is why I had a little trouble in these parts.
For those looking for futuristic technology, it isn’t here. This has a bit of steampunk, in that the technologies seem to be late industrial but pre-information age. The IT dept. carefully guards their knowledge of computers and data storage. In fact some of the characters struggle to figure out a radio. I love this element of the series. It is a regression in technology that would likely happen if the world suddenly ended and billions of years of knowledge and skills were lost. It is one thing to store it on hard drives and books, its another for the survivors to actually possess and utilize that knowledge.
Howey presents the reality of technological regression in a post-apocalyptic era. The cleaning of the sensors and concealment of the truth are great little elements that explain why people are the way they are in the silo.
As for negatives: some of the technical descriptions get tiresome but that’s due to my mechanical ineptitude. Other than that, I absolutely loved it.
I am officially a fan of Hugh Howey. Wool Omnibus deserves 5 stars and I am eager to read the sequel First Shift – Legacy.
Next up are Natural History by Justina Robson, The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, Feed by Mire Grant, and Bowl of Heaven by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven.
Jacob
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