Wool by Hugh Howey

Wool by Hugh Howey
Silo #1
Release Date: January 17, 2013 (This edition)
Publisher: Century
Source: Publisher
Goodreads Stars: 4
Rating: Essential
Buy it: Amazon UK

In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo.

Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies.

To live, you must follow the rules. But some don't. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism.

Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside.

Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last. - Goodreads

The children were playing while Holston climbed to his death; he could hear them squealing as only happy children do.

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Is that, or is that not, the perfect opening line for me? Bring on the death and depressing topics, I say!

Wool was originally published as several shorter novellas, but then a publisher got hold of the awesome and came up with the genius plan to combine the short stories to make a bigger book. Since I don't read short stories, I would 99.9% never have picked up this series if it wasn't for that very wise publishing house. But, I did, and I'm very happy to announce that Wool is fabulous.

It didn't even feel like I was reading separate stories, since Howey (and his editor, I imagine) managed to blend them together seamlessly. Wool starts out with a guy called Holston who is committing suicide by going outside, where the air is allegedly toxic. I was made to care about him, only to have him ripped away after being given a glimmer of hope, and that set the tone for the entire book. Of course, me being me, I didn't actually give up on hoping that the second person we are introduced to would actually live this time. Alas. Once I was about a hundred and fifty pages in, my mindset was the same as the citizens of the silo: there's no hope, and it's pointless to even try.

Howey did a great job of introducing the cleaning, as well as the political structure and such, during the first couple of hundred pages. While the actual world was nothing unique, I loved the way Howey wrote about the politics and the people who were silenced by the arseholes upstairs (so to speak). I was very impressed by the time I met Juliette, and then she went on to blow my socks off.

Juliette is one of my new favourite characters. She's strong, intelligent, and she doesn't mindlessly follow orders. Even the other characters are impressed by and admire her. I love her so fucking much. You question that authority, you flawless woman *shakes pom poms*

There were some other characters, which didn't impress me nearly as much as Juliette, but I loved them all anyway. Howey writes some great characters, and I even ended up in a love/hate relationship with the villains. But I guess that's nothing new for me, right? You shouldn't be shocked.

Yes, there were parts that made me cry. Any novel featuring oppressed people that start to question those who keep them in chains, and a brilliant main character who becomes the reason behind an uprising because people love and respect them... I can't. Now I'm tearing up because I may have just described the basic plot of Spartacus. Bye.

I absolutely cannot wait to start reading Shift, which is currently staring at me from my TBR bookshelf. Soon, my beauty. I don't know much about what Shift entails, just that we see some other stuff that's in this post-apocalyptic world (I'm struggling to not spoil anyone right now), and that we also see how the world became this way. I think. Oh, and I don't think Juliette is in Shift, which saddens me because I seem to have developed a girl crush on her.

Do I recommend Wool? Hell yeah, I do! I can't get enough of the world and the characters, and Howey's writing is addictive. My review totally doesn't do this book justice, so you should all read Tatum's when it's posted. I'm sure it'll be put together better than mine is!