I'm not one to expound too much on low ratings, but I feel compelled to do so, here, given the high praise heaped on this book by other reviewers.That said, this will be spoilerific, so if you want out, now would be the time to bail. Seriously. I'm going to spoil the hell out of this.Disclaimer: I have absolutely nothing against indie publishers (authors who choose to self-publish). This review has nothing to do with that.First, the things I liked about the book.The author is actually very good

Forget Wool. This should have been called Forge. Writing that's a power-punch to the gut. Direct, slow build of heat, singeing as it suddenly roars into flame. A world that feels solid, heavy, hard-edged, soldered with characters that are heated and molded into something new. This isn't knitting a scarf so much as forging a steel chain.I absolutely love the character of Juliette, determined, essentially elemental, a person that rocks my character world. I love how all her metaphors are mechanica...

When the old sheriff of the Silo dies, Juliette, a Mechanic, is thrust into the role and quickly finds herself in over her head after asking the wrong questions. What will she discover when she's cast out of the Silo into the toxic world beyond and left for dead?Yeah, that's not a great summary but there's a lot I don't want to spoil.Since I've become more and more interested in the idea of Kindle publishing as of late, I decided to check out Wool, one of the juggernauts of self-publishing. Whil...

Back in the dark ages of early 2012 I came across a short story “Wool” by a then relatively unknown author Hugh Howey, and before I knew it, I flew through the entire pentalogy of it that made sort of a serialized novel. It was a fun ride, and I was mesmerized. A year later a reread left me less enamored once the shine had worn off, and I forgot about it until now, when a GR friend (hiya, Dennis!) was rereading it. And this read-through was unexpectedly entertaining again, although I knew where

things this book does not have:* a unique premise* three dimensional characters* a compelling plot* a satisfying ending* good writing* emotion, heart, whatever you want to call it. something to make the reader FEEL. things this book has:* stairs

Wool Omnibus (Silo #1), Hugh HoweyHugh C. Howey is an American writer, known best for the science fiction series Silo. The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment i...

I don't get the hype.If you'd judge a book by its rating on Goodreads and Amazon, you should consider Wool to be a science fiction miracle - the vast majority of Goodreaders gave it 5 stars, and on Amazon it currently holds an astonishing 3,740 five star reviews - with new ones appearing every day. Wool seems to be a prodigious child of a next Asimov or Heinlein, destined to last for decades and inspire generations of readers and writers. What's even more interesting is that Wool began its life

A bunch of people live in an underground community and those who break the rules are cruelly expelled to their doom? Reality TV producers have to be kicking themselves for not coming up with this idea themselves.At an undetermined time in the future, the people of the Silo have lived for generations with only a few dusty camera views to show them the world above ground. After the sheriff steps down from his post in rather dramatic fashion, the mayor and a deputy determine that a mechanic named J...

There are two stupid things about this book, neither have to do with the writing. The writing is good, the story is original, I highly recommend this book. Let's address the stupid things. The name is stupid. It is like a garage band was after a clever name. There are no sheep in this book, there is no wool in this book. There is one tiny insignificant piece where a character is knitting but she isn't even using wool, she knits with cotton. Given the subtitles are all knitting related (unravel,

Wool, by Hugh Howey is reminiscent of Robert Silverberg’s Time of the Great Freeze or Philip K. Dick's The Penultimate Truth with a population living underground following a climate-changing catastrophe. The Wool Omnibus is actually a collection of five novellas connecting the action, a serialization of an ongoing storyline. The setting reminds me of the Zion population in the Wachowski Matrix films, an isolated, encased and quarantined populace. I found the narration mainly good, sometimes very...

Who would have thought that a small flat with unfriendly neighbors was an imposition should try this very close underground living real reality tv version without an alternative, except certain death. Whenever society goes underground for whatever reason, there seems to be this tendency to lunatic autocracy and evil despotism, never to utopias and drilling more underground living space, building industries singing happy dwarfs songs, mining the hell out of earth, or at least until it gets hot in...

This book is an excellent and unique take on a post-apocalyptic earth. Recently, literature has been saturated with post-apocalyptic stories and sometimes it is hard to find something that is fresh . . . something that doesn't feel like it has already been done before. Everything about this book was suspenseful and interesting - no boredom of rehashed ideas/concepts/storylines for me.Another cool thing about it is the book is divided into little novellas which kind of refresh the story every 50

Hugh Howey paints a world, or what is left of one post apocalypse, with an eye for detail that is easily visualized; one that you can descend into and inhabit.This is epic storytelling, told with a taut hand on the tiller, controlling the pace and direction, allowing the reader to uncover truths together with the many, care worthy, relatable characters that populate this place. I blinked a couple of times and found myself entrenched in this world. And it all seems so effortless, the narrative fl...

Bullet Review:Good story, but OMG, did we REALLY need 500 pages to tell it?! So much of the "story" is just Juliette spending chapters getting into and out of clothes and airlocks, it was about ready to drive me nuts. Could be a superb story minus about 200 pages.And because of that, it's doubtful I'll pursue the rest of the series. There's a good internet saying for this:tl;drToo long; didn't readSums up how I feel pretty well.Full Review:It is some unspecified time in the future; people live i...

Outstanding!WOOL began its life as a self-published short novella in July of 2011. That's hard to believe. I feel like I've been hearing about this thing for ages and ages. So I'm late to the party, but not that late. Due to excited reader response over WOOL 1, author Hugh Howey quickly released the next four parts in the series. Then came along this Omnibus which collects Parts 1-5. There is now a 2013 edition with a great new cover that features a blurb by none other than Justin Cronin, author...

The basic premise: mankind has devastated the surface of the world, leaving ruined cities, endless wasteland and a toxic atmosphere. The only survivors live in an underground silo, a closed society with a mayor, a sheriff, and a shadowy IT department that seems to control everything, including the population's understanding of reality outside the silo. Cameras offer a glimpse of the outside world on monitors throughout the silo, letting the inhabitants see the sunrise over the wasteland and all

2021 re-read:I enjoyed this even more the second time around. Looking back at my review (clearly written under the influence of ... something) I have to say that the slow pace in the beginning didn't bother me this time. Also, while the world does indeed not open up that much, that's perhaps more a strength than a weakness. The silo does certainly come alive and the intrigue of slowly figuring out the surroundings is a strong one.Upgrading my rating to 4.5 stars.2017 attempt at being funny (I gu...

I read the full 500+ page novel, not the novella. Maybe this should have stayed as a novella because holy shit I was so bored throughout reading this. I found the characters to be flat, many of the lines to be cliche, and the story to be such a mundane watered-down sci-fi apocalyptic narrative (brooding protagonist in grief over the death of his wife who knew secrets about their world before she died, etc.)

Admittedly, this is not my genre, but someone on GR strongly suggested it (who?) and I just finished it. Wool is the first volume of a trilogy (apparently, the 2nd volume is a prequel and the 3rd is the sequel to the first.) The plot is interesting, dystopian future with humans living inside because we destroyed the environment outside (you listening Mr Pruitt?). The character development is a bit thin, folks are pretty much black and white (although one gets the impression that all the characte...

Some books take a while to dig into. The first few chapters set up the story, introduce you to the main characters and build a framework for the tale to come. Wool sets up the story too, but in a heartbreaking and gripping way that has you consuming the book as quickly as possible, if only to learn the answer to: "that's not really about to happen, is it?"There are moments in Wool when I wondered if maybe the book was too dark. I mourned for characters and didn't know how they would possibly get...