Thursday, November 29, 2012

Book Review: Wool by Hugh Howey



In the immortal words of Richard O’Brian in his lyrics for“Planet, Schmanet, Janet,” “A mental mind fuck can be nice.”

To begin with, this is a rather melancholy dystopian story. You follow the main character, Holston, through his reasoning for questioning his life. It’s well written and a solid read. The story grabs you and doesn’t want to let you go.

Holston is going through the remorse and sadness of losing his wife. He questions his life, his home, his government, just as anyone would. The problem is this story is post-apocalyptic and his entire society is holed up in a refurbished missile silo.

Outside is horrid. Air filled with harmful gases and skin torturing winds; or is it?

There is a truth hidden in this society. Those in charge work hard to maintain order and keep the truth hidden. When someone questions the truth, they are allowed to do as they please and go outside. The trade-off is that the person who desires to leave, must take out the cleaner and wool and clean the cameras for the rest of the people staying behind.

Holston doesn’t realize the truth until he goes outside himself and removes his helmet.

I sat for a bit and had to think about this story. It took me a little bit to really wrap my head around the conclusion. I was going to write that I felt a bit cheated in the story until I found out that this is only book one and there is a Wool Omnibus with books 1-5 in it. There is also a prequel titled “First Shift – Legacy” which is book 6 in the series. I have been told that although book 6 is a prequel, you really should read the omnibus first then the prequel so you truly understand the story.

If the other 5 books are as creative as the first, I’m hooked. Book 1 is currently free on Amazon for Kindle but I would recommend the Omnibus for $5.99. As soon as my pennies add up and my TBR pile decreases a bit, I’ll be reading them and sharing more info here.

I just found out that a Book 7 has been released as of November 12, 2012 - Totally on my TBR list now. 




Woot!! And book 7 for your reading pleasure:



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