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Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1)

Hugh Howey

Start date: May 1, 2013

Finish date: May 20, 2013

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What Members Thought

Apr 24, 2013 Bee rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, favourite, dystopian-post-apocolyptic, science-fiction, young-adult, speculative-fiction

"Very fine post-apocalyptic fiction"

I loved this. It' has been recommended to me on so many different forums and in so many formats. I'm very pleased to have finally given it a listen. Great characters. Total suspension of believe, really took me away. Unexpected plot twists. Humour, sadness, hope. I highly recommend it. The narration was perfect, albeit she had a few slightly over-done character accents. Overall a wonderful story, well produced.

2023 reread with the girlfriend Edit:

Having recent ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Nov 22, 2013 Nuno Ribeiro rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, scifi, distopia

Este é um daqueles livros que marcam - o autor imaginou uma história muito original que despertou o meu interesse logo desde o início e vai desenvolvendo a narrativa, desvendando pormenores e aumentando o suspense à medida que, em cada capítulo, nos relata a história vista pelo personagem que protagoniza esse capítulo. O livro está muito bem escrito e também bem traduzido (apenas deparei com uma ou duas situações em que a palavra mais adequada em Português não foi a utilizada, transparecendo a t Este é um daqueles livros que marcam - o autor imaginou uma história muito original que despertou o meu interesse logo desde o início e vai desenvolvendo a narrativa, desvendando pormenores e aumentando o suspense à medida que, em cada capítulo, nos relata a história vista pelo personagem que protagoniza esse capítulo. O livro está muito bem escrito e também bem traduzido (apenas deparei com uma ou duas situações em que a palavra mais adequada em Português não foi a utilizada, transparecendo a tradução literal do conceito em Inglês). A estrutura do livro está de facto bem construída, já que à medida que a narrativa vai avançando, são-nos apresentadas pequenas revelações, algumas antecipadas, mas outras totalmente inesperadas, o que aumenta o prazer da leitura, estimula para continuar a ler e não nos deixa parar de ler. E à medida que se avança, a forma como os pormenores são revelados permite-nos construir uma imagem mental dos locais e dos personagens que é quase cinematográfica.

Gostei da forma dinâmica como os personagens ganharam vida ao longo das páginas do livro, em constante evolução à medida que os acontecimentos se desenrolam, e também da forma como o contexto em que a história decorre nos apresentar situações verosímeis, caso estes acontecimentos se vierem a verificar na realidade. A sociedade pós-apocalíptica que nos é brutalmente exposta nos primeiros capítulos é, mais tarde, justificada e explicada, e não difere muito das sociedades atuais em que a maioria das pessoas são controladas e manipuladas sem disso se aperceberem, por um conjunto limitado de pessoas que detêm o conhecimento da verdadeira realidade. O que é inovador neste livro é o contexto em que as noções de poder, controlo, coragem, amizade e amor são desenvolvidas. Deste ponto de vista, o livro permite-nos fazer reflexões muito interessantes que se prolongam no tempo, mesmo depois de termos terminado a leitura, já que a história permanece viva na nossa imaginação. Por exemplo, gostei, em particular, de uma atitude tomada por uma personagem, que nos assegura que a força de carácter dos seres humanos pode ser mantida, mesmo em condições extremamente adversas e desesperantes, em que ninguém estranharia que as pessoas simplesmente desistissem de lutar. A vontade de alterar a realidade, construir um Silo (mundo) diferente, baseado no conhecimento e não no ocultismo, baseado na capacitação das pessoas e não na respetiva manipulação, e ainda baseado na vontade coletiva em detrimento das motivações de elites dá-nos, na verdade, muito que pensar.

No último capítulo do livro são-nos apresentadas revelações, quer de ordem histórica, quer de possibilidades para o futuro das personagens, que me despertaram a curiosidade para ler os dois livros restantes da trilogia: "Shift" (o segundo livro que se trata de uma prequela que desvenda a forma como o Silo veio a existir) e "Dust" (o terceiro livro que desenvolve a narrativa a partir do ponto em que terminou neste primeiro livro).

Em suma, trata-se de um livro que se lê com avidez e que nos apresenta material suficiente para longas horas de reflexão sobre a nossa própria condição humana. Por tudo isto, considero que é uma leitura obrigatória para todos os fãs de ficção científica distópica, mas também aconselhado para todas as pessoas que gostam de ler um bom livro. ...more

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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

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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

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