From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…

Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1)

Hugh Howey

Start date: May 1, 2013

Finish date: May 20, 2013

Discussion: Book Discussions

Discussion leader: Jonathan

Why we're reading this: Group discussion May 2013
[close] Group discussion May 2013

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 250 topics — 8,801 comments total

Book Discussions

"Cyteen" by C.J. Cherryh
By deleted member · 48 posts · 103 views

last updated May 24, 2025 11:25PM

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
By deleted member · 46 posts · 150 views

last updated Mar 28, 2025 02:28PM

showing 10 of 13 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Feb 21, 2016 Andrew rated it liked it · review of another edition

Ok where shall I start apart from very carefully - I am always weary of commenting about famous or popular books as you can guarantee someone will come up and take a pop at you over criticising their bestest book ever! Okay that may be a little extreme but still what can be said that has not been said already.

So that said I will put my hand up and say I enjoyed it - The book left me asking more questions than I think it gave me answers, although I will not go away to ponder them for days to come Ok where shall I start apart from very carefully - I am always weary of commenting about famous or popular books as you can guarantee someone will come up and take a pop at you over criticising their bestest book ever! Okay that may be a little extreme but still what can be said that has not been said already.

So that said I will put my hand up and say I enjoyed it - The book left me asking more questions than I think it gave me answers, although I will not go away to ponder them for days to come I do wonder why do I invest in a book I know I will have to read on the series to find out more over. Yes I enjoyed the characters but still I didn't completely connect. The work that Mr Howey built is a fascinating idea but being an engineer I do struggle to see how it could work.

One thing I will comment about - after seeing other peoples reviews about how the book was structured, was that it was originally self published and broken up in to parts - and reading further in to the books history it seems like both it and the author has had more than their fair share of adventures to get to this level of fame and awareness. So full credit where it is due and it certainly shows a level of commitment and perseverance that I know I would not have. which sort of makes me respect the man and his creation even more.

So back to the book - I know there are more books out there ( as well as shared universe additional stories by other authors who expand on the who world of the Silo series) and I know that many if not all the secrets are kept back for them but the story itself is fair paced once you break through the whole setting the scenes chapters.

One thing I will say and I am not sure if its part of the storyline or how the author writes but I do think that such an oppressive and totalitarian order has been sanitised and cleaned up and presented in a story of personal struggle and hardship. Now I am not making light of it - sometimes the more impressive impacts can be the subtlest but when you think about the reasoning behind the Silo world it is quite a nightmare to consider and I think is one that is waiting to be addressed later on.

So my final thought - it seems of recent that post apocalyptic totalitarian dystopia fiction (now thats some mouthful) is getting a lot of air time especially when we see a lot of sassy young (ok Juliette is in her 30s) fight the system and win - but I do ask the question how do people let the world get in to that state in the first place, just wondering. ...more

29 likes · Like · see review

Aug 21, 2015 Sue rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Howey's characters make us both discover and awaken within ourselves a spirit of conquering all.

Juliette works tirelessly overtime at her arduous job, thinks of new ways to solve problems, climbs two steps at a time non-stop at great risk to herself when her energy is depleted but somehow finds the strength for more, and fearlessly goes out into the unknown.

She is the strong heroine who perseveres and who is melded to her fate and that of her people. Howey presents a well-developed woman chara ...more

20 likes · Like · see review

Aug 17, 2014 Michael rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: summer-reading-2014, finally-off-the-tbr-pile, read-in-2014, science-fiction

If I'd read Hugh Howey's Wool back when it was a self-published, little book that could, I think I might have enjoyed it more than I did. Or at least I wouldn't have entered into it expecting the "next great thing" in the publishing world.

As it is, I enjoyed much of what does in Wool even if I didn't necessarily love it. As far as world-building and character arcs go, this one stands out from the crowd of post-apocalyptic novels. The hook (which I won't give away here, though I will admit I figu ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 31, 2015 Dea rated it it was amazing

Wow. Just WOW. I inhaled this book. I sacrificed hours of sleep to this book. (I can totally function on five hours of sleep as well as I would on eight, right? I can make up the difference with caffeine. Right?) I quit internet browsing. I quit TV watching. I just wanted to keep reading “Wool” even when I was getting the tension headache over my right eye.

Lets get into specifics!

First, it has a non stereotypical, girly, female protagonist. There is nothing wrong with girly girl characters but Wow. Just WOW. I inhaled this book. I sacrificed hours of sleep to this book. (I can totally function on five hours of sleep as well as I would on eight, right? I can make up the difference with caffeine. Right?) I quit internet browsing. I quit TV watching. I just wanted to keep reading “Wool” even when I was getting the tension headache over my right eye.

Lets get into specifics!

First, it has a non stereotypical, girly, female protagonist. There is nothing wrong with girly girl characters but it is so refreshing to read about someone who is a character first and a woman second. Second, no easy solutions to anything. Sometimes problem solving protagonists seem to just magically solve everything the moment they arrive at the scene, “Wool” is nothing like that. Every solution is fought for with literal, blood, sweat, and tears. Third, it is wonderful to see how things fall into place as the story progresses. At first I discounted specific labels and aspects of world-building, yet as the story progressed I realized how much care was taken to make sure everything would fit so perfectly together. Forth, internal struggle of the protagonist. All too often the protagonists are certain that they are the good guys. All too often the protagonists are concerned with changing the status quo without concerning themselves with what would come after, and if all the trouble of rebuilding the world after the revolution is worth the death and violence. (“Moon is a harsh mistress” and “The hunger games” both discuss this aspect.) Fifth, plot twists without plot twists. Usually you either know what the answer to the big secret at the end of the book will be or you run into a big plot twist that unhinges the flow of the story entirely, “Wool” is nothing like that. Instead, you follow along with the rest of the characters running into the same dead ends and making the same false assumptions that they do. It gives the story this natural feel, pulling you in, to be a participant instead of just an observer.

So yes, while there are some shortcomings I believe they come from the lack of experience on the part of the author, not a major inherent writing flaw. I expect nothing but improvement from Hugh Howey from here on, even though “Wool” is already incredibly good.

(view spoiler)[
Specifics with spoilers included!

I was going to quit reading after the first three chapters or so. Everyone kept dying! I really didn't want to be introduced to new characters and then watch them die. I also did not want to keep going back in time and know that the person I am reading about is already dead. It made me feel like there is a pointlessness to reading about someone whose fate you know is sealed. Obviously, the rest of the story is nothing like the beginning so I am glad I stuck to it.

I have to be honest and say I did not care for the romantic relationship between Marnes and Jahns. I understand the symbolism and the emotional baggage, but I just didn't care. It's sad they loved each other. It's sad they died. But I just couldn't care about them.

I didn't care for the Lukas character. I think he was not well written and while he did serve an important role in the story development, he felt like a filler, something convenient that needed to be there for the story to develop but nothing more. His mentality is very child like and his character motivation is poorly explained. In one chapter he is mourning the death of the woman he supposedly fell in love with at first sight, and in the other he is fearful to do anything but to talk to her. With the introduction of the Romeo and Juliet play I thought that Lukas and Juliette would take sides on opposite sides of the war thinking each of them to be dead. Instead, Juliette fought to death to save her silo and risked her life to save Lukas, while Lukas sat in the dark reading books. At one point he even became jealous enough to flat out ask Bernard if the man had killed George Wilkins with his own hands. Could he not have asked if Bernard ever killed, period? This way leaving the answer open and not give away that, one, he knew about the murder, and two, the specific murder connected to Juliette. Finally, the romantic aspect at the end between Lukas and Julliette was just weird. It seems to have lost the basis in realism and grittiness that the rest of the book has, or it could be that Howey is just bad at writing romance.

Now that I have criticized aspects of the book I would like to say something nice. The part where Walker and the other mechanics are trying to contact Julliette and at the same time Julliette trying not to drown, was wow. It is hard for me to describe the feeling but it was almost as if I could not find enough air to breathe while trying to read as fast as I could to the part where she floats to the top and the mechanics get rescued. And the super sad part where both Rickson and Courtnee ask if the “others” can come and help them. It's one thing to discover there are others, when you need help, it is a completely different thing to realize those others you didn't know existed are in just as bad of a situation, if not worse, as you are.

(hide spoiler)] ...more

Like · see review

Nov 03, 2015 Scot rated it really liked it

Shelves: scifi

My rating is as much or more so because of the level of quality based on this originally being self-published than the overall story. That said it is a unique and interesting story which is why it built such a buzz. If you like straight-forward SciFi that is realistic and set in the not so dystopian future than this is worth a read. It is easy breezy and the author compiled all 5 shorts into one volume to save the reader some money.

This is the story of people living in a silo below ground follow ...more

Like · see review

Jan 05, 2014 mina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Yes, maybe it's just another dystopian novel, number one of a trilogy? pentalogy? But it's fast-paced after some slow moments at the beginning. Especially when you get to the part where Juliette became the sheriff. The author is good in describing things: detailed. The ending is too simple for all the difficulties and suffering the protagonist has been through, though. But the story is engaging enough to continue reading the trilogy. The next one, according to the teaser at the back, is about si ...more

Like · see review

Dec 21, 2015 Katie Tillwick rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow! I'm so glad I read this. I came to it a Doubting Thomas, but am leaving a believer in Indie fiction. What a tense read. The concept of a dystopian future is certainly not original, but the story and characters were incredible. Recommend to Scifi lovers! ...more

Like · see review

May 24, 2023 Blake Behrens rated it liked it

I did a thing where I made it 30% of the way in to the book and then started the tv show, and honestly… this one doesn’t align too closely. I enjoyed the book and am enjoying the show, but they’re different. I will read more in the series.

Like · see review