An eldest daughter is a father's curse. Vic knows this. She knows she was never supposed to be the one. But her father taught her to breathe beneath the sand, taught her how to dive deep and find the treasures of the buried past. He taught her brother as well. When she hears of Danvar's discovery, it feels as though fate has slipped her by. If the rumors are to believed, that is. And while she has her doubts, her missing brother sends her on a hunt of her own. Cities are not the only things that get buried and forgotten. There are families, too.
I'm the author of WOOL, a top 5 science fiction book on Amazon. I also wrote the Molly Fyde saga, a tale of a teenager from the 25th century who is repeatedly told that girls can't do certain things -- and then does them anyway.
A theme in my books is the celebration of overcoming odds and of not allowing the cruelty of the universe to change who you are in the process. Most of them are classified as science fiction, since they often take place in the future, but if you love great stories and memorable characters, you'll dig what you find here. I promise.
We meet another member of the family, but this time the story has more references to the first book of the series. Slowly all the threads start coming together.
Hugh Howey writes his stories in such a way that you either buy many little sections to make up the whole book or (you do what I do) you wait until the entire collection is possible in book format. There is nothing wrong with this, I merely find it difficult to review each individual section as, for me, the whole is worth more than the parts.
So, with that in mind, here is a review of the collective for you (so you can make a decision about whether Sand is right for you):
After reading the Wool Trilogy, Hugh Howey earned a spot in my favourite authors list. Wool is to this day my favourite dystopian series meaning I had very high hopes for Sand. Whilst I did thoroughly enjoy Sand it was not as great as Wool – although, I guess nothing could be that great.
Howey once again creates a unique dystopian world, this time in a land covered by sand (hello title). Much like Wool we were given the what and the how – although this story was condensed to be much shorter than the Wool series. Sadly, however we were not given the why. When the book ended I still had questions concerning the why of the world. With Wool we were given the answers in the second book, Shift, but this one leaves us with that question hanging in the air. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the book. I just would have liked the answer to that. Still, with that in mind, such a thing was not possible in the story context. What we’re given is the myths of the world, as we’re seeing things in the way that the characters do.
Speaking of characters, Howey has once again created a world of loveable characters. Each character is unique in their own way, playing a vital role as the story unfolds. I will admit that I was attached to some characters more than others, but that was mainly due to being able to relate to them more than others. No characters were two dimensional, all had personalities and all played their part in the story, everyone growing over time.
There were a few predictable events, which was quite surprising considering how Wool was one shock after the other, yet despite this it was a fast paced engaging story. I was constantly telling myself I would read just one more chapter and before I knew it I’d read another fifty pages without even realising it.
All in all, it is another great story. If you’re a Hugh Howey fan I certainly recommend reading it. If you’re new to his wonderful worlds then it isn’t a bad place to start, although I would certainly point you towards Wool instead simply because I enjoyed it more.
Gah! The suspense is killing me! It's awesome to meet Vic, and what she does is awesome, and I'm glad they found each other, but I want to know what's going on with everyone else!
Okay, so she lives in Pueblo but dives at Denver International Airport?? Why doesn't she live in Colorado Springs? Plus, there's enough of that ceiling left so that she can tell it's tent shaped?
I've been there... I'm sure it's not as flimsy as it looks from the inside, but I can't see it still being recognizable as a tent-like structure after it's started to rip.
On the diving side of things - at least Howey's acknowledged that the bends exist - which is a step forward - but instead of dealing with it meaningfully, he just waves a magic wand to make it not be a problem anymore. I don't mind magic wands in my fantasy books, but I'm not a fan of them in my sci-fi ones.
And I'm certainly not persuaded by Vic's freediving. Sure, the body can go without air for a LONG time, but as far as I know, you can't hold your breath for 10-15 minutes, take a couple of breaths, then hold it for another 10-15 minutes. It takes time to re-oxygenate your blood.
(Bumping up to 3 stars since Howey at least did a smidgen of research about diving to know what the bends are...)
Were introduced to a bunch of new characters, or rather we get to meet some that we've only heard of, in person. Vic is the only sister in the family and she's an expert diver. She is tough as nails, and she loves her brothers fiercely bu seems to hate her mom. Her boyfriend, despite that she treats him as mostly disposable, is decidedly not. He is also a ,main character here.
This is the first time we get alternating perspectives and since you may be reading this without having read the first two books, I'm stopping here.
Ahora sí parece que Howey tenía ganas de contarnos una historia; no pude despegarme, tenía que seguir leyendo y las 100 páginas las devoré con un muy buen sabor.
Además de saber qué pasa con Palmer, introducir a Vic y conocer un poco más del pasado, la historia incluye un poco de la logística del mindo de arena y la intriga que me parece es el meollo de toda la saga. Y lo hace bien, con intrigas, dejándonos con ganas de abrir de inmediato el libro 4 y leer.
Muy bueno, definitivamente le dio la vuelta a Out Of No Man's Land.
This story kicks off with the sister in the family, Vic, but unlike the first two stories you aren't limited to her point of view. I found her story a lot more intriguing than Conner's story, and was happy to find out what happened with Palmer. Given the developments in the book, I'm not sure if he is going to answer the big questions about the world that I have, but I can see the conclusions to most of this family's stories getting brought together fairly nicely.
Action. Episode 3 of this serial brings us back to the sand diver who discovered Danvar and lived. And his tale to tell brings a lot of action and violence for him and his family. It's the family story that reveals more with each instalment that makes for a strong sequence in the midst of world building.
They keep getting better and better. As much as I loved Wool, I think this story has even more potential. I know, I know; blasphemy, you say.I hope that we'll get prequels/sequels just like we did in the form of Shift and Dust. Keep doing what you do, Hugh!
Hugh Howey is simply an amazing mind... He creates fantastic worlds, just familiar enough to strike a deep cord with the reader, and marks them down on pages with brilliant style. Looking desperately forward to #4!
Yes! Back to the full coolness that was part 1, and back to Palmer. Still massively enjoying this series. Superbly written with great characters and plenty of mystery to look forward to finding out about. Great work, Mr. Howey!
I like the direction this story is going. The last two installments will need to have a more even distribution of the character arcs, though. That will be fine for me as I'm ready for the characters to all come together to wrap this up.