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Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1)

Hugh Howey

Start date: May 1, 2013

Finish date: May 20, 2013

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May 14, 2013 Jeannette rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, eclectic-readers

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Original - 6/1/13: What a scary and yet fascinating book this was. The first part captivated me right away, and despite being so brief, it set the tone for the whole series (though I can totally see where it was meant to be an excellent stand-alone piece). I then was drawn in deeper in Part Two, only to have my heart broken by the end.

Just as I was about to give up getting attached to any of these characters (which did frustrate me, though it made sense), Howey introduces Juliette and shines a l Original - 6/1/13: What a scary and yet fascinating book this was. The first part captivated me right away, and despite being so brief, it set the tone for the whole series (though I can totally see where it was meant to be an excellent stand-alone piece). I then was drawn in deeper in Part Two, only to have my heart broken by the end.

Just as I was about to give up getting attached to any of these characters (which did frustrate me, though it made sense), Howey introduces Juliette and shines a light on the main conflicts. I think they are fascinating and I loved each little twist (though one or two were rather predictable). Juliette herself is pretty kick-ass, despite being banished for a rather considerable part of the story. If I were to complain about anything, it would be that, as well as her sporadic inability to note the obvious.

My other nitpick is that as an entire novel, it takes rather a long time to get to the nitty-gritty of the plot, but then, it wasn't written as an entire novel, was it? Despite the overarching storyline, it really is a series and it might read better that way. Still, I found the concept of the silos and the reasons for them are scary enough to engross the reader through the five stories. I'd be super interested into learning more details, but it might take some courage-gathering to go and delve into Howey's other series ("Shift," I believe). A good dystopian read.

Update - 4/19/15: Reading again, I still love Juliette, Jahns, Marnes, and almost the entirety of Mechanical, but I found myself disliking Lukas just a bit more and feeling more sorry for Peter and Solo than I did before. It was also interesting to note that some of the things I'd found "predictable" in the past, I realized were more just the payoff for good setup and description that I had only absorbed subconsciously during my first read. I'd forgotten the chilling truth behind the silos, which made for another late night of reading Wool last night. It's still a great sci-fi dystopian story, and I'm dying to finish up the other books I'm reading now to pick up the new Howey stories! ...more

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Jul 12, 2013 Ted Cross rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This story reminds me of a better, more adult version of The City of Ember. I've always liked dystopian future stories,and this one delivers just fine. ...more

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