Wool Review

I recently finished Wool by Hugh Howey, as recommended to me by my friend Eric.  Eric has earned himself a gold star.

This is a series of scifi novellas about a society that lives in an underground silo.  At the top of the silo, there's a jumbotron that shows continuous footage of what it's like outside.  As this is post-apocalyptic, it's pretty bleak, which generally keeps people from wanting to leave.  The acid and sand and radiation or what-have-you get the image of barren desert all gunky over time.  So if anyone starts spouting crazy talk about wanting to go outside, they get sent out to clean the cameras for the jumbotron, and then promptly die of acid and sand and radiation or what-have-you.  The mystery is: why does every person sent to their death--every single one throughout silo history--clean the cameras?  What's in it for them?  It's bonkers!

I really enjoyed this one  The five novellas all together were about 500 pages, but it was a page turner and I went through it in about three days.  The chapters are short and end on cliffhangers involving ghostly people running around in the dark or running out of oxygen while submerged underwater in a hand made scuba suit...okay, I feel like I'm not selling it very well, but I was having trouble sleeping and this did not help.

I cared about all the characters.  The main character shifts for each of the first three novellas (Holston, Jahns, then Jules), then jumps around between several characters for the fourth and fifth.  I didn't slow down enough to remember that this is something I usually don't like, and didn't stop to think about it until I was done.  I usually get attached to characters and then get irritated when I don't hear about them anymore and have to start from scratch to forge a new relationship with a new character.  But here I think it worked for a few reasons.  First, the next point of view character was introduced in the preceding story, and not only introduced, but I was made to like them before the shift.  During Holston's story, I got to appreciate Jahns, and during Jahns' story I got to appreciate Jules.  So I wasn't really starting from scratch each time.  Secondly, when the point of view shifts in the second and third novellas, I felt content with Holston and Jahns' stories.  Their stories were over and I was okay with moving on from them.

I also thought the world was cool.  The silo is a self contained world with farms, water treatment, recycling, shops, schools, apartments, doctors, judges, security guards, a power plant, an IT department.  It's 144 floors, connected by a huge central spiraling staircase, and to get from one place to another, you have to hike up and down the stairs.  If this sounds really inconvenient, that's because it is.  It was designed that way.  The visual is just so cool, and it acts as both a setting and a physical barrier against anything the characters try to get done.

Compelling characters, exciting world building, and dystopian intrigue.  Fun times.