Wool Series

Title: Wool Omnibus (#1-5)
Series: Wool #1
Author: Hugh Howey
Pages: 509 (paperback)
Published: March 12th 2013
Published by: Simon & Schuster

In a ruined and toxic landscape, a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Sheriff Holston, who has unwaveringly upheld the silo’s rules for years, unexpectedly breaks the greatest taboo of all: He asks to go outside. His fateful decision unleashes a drastic series of events. An unlikely candidate is appointed to replace him: Juliette, a mechanic with no training in law, whose special knack is fixing machines. Now Juliette is about to be entrusted with fixing her silo, and she will soon learn just how badly her world is broken. The silo is about to confront what its history has only hinted about and its inhabitants have never dared to whisper. Uprising.

The world has gone to pot, and what remains of humanity resides within a silo: a self-sufficient tower with all they need to survive. Including a window onto the outside, so they can always see the corrosion of the planet due to the toxic atmosphere. The very worst crimes are punishable by cleaning: being sent outside to clean the camera lenses which give them this picture, shortly followed by certain death in spite of the protective suits they are given.

I've already covered the first three parts of this book, back when they were available as stand-alone ebooks. Now, like 18 months later, the paperback is finally available with all five compiled together in this omnibus edition and I got around to both purchasing and reading it.

And it was well worth both the wait and the read. At the end of the third section there is quite a major revelation, and development in the storyline. This left me hooked and wanting to know what happened next, and while the fourth section did not leave me wanting, it was probably my least favourite out of the five. The first three are setting the scene, pulling you into the mystery of what exactly is going on, what all these people discover, and then comes the reveal. The fourth serves somewhat as what is usually the middle book in a trilogy: the set-up for the grand finale after the hook. It's still very readable, but it felt like a lot went on without anything actually really happening.

Part of this is because of the points of view we see the story from. They aren't in the middle of the action, for various reasons, so we hear about the major things going on rather than experiencing them for ourselves firsthand. There are a couple of exceptions to this, and these were some of the best parts.

This continues into the fifth part somewhat, but is remedied by more action being taken by those we are following. The first two chapters in particular were wonderful in my opinion, showing just how good of a writer Howey is, not just at coming up with the cool ideas but in terms of emotive writing. I'll leave you hanging as to what actually happens, but I thought it was wonderfully done.

As the end to the first part of what is now going to be a trilogy of books (parts 1 to 5 being put together into this, the first book) it was a satisfactory ending with most of the things brought out over the course of the five stories being closed off nicely, but at the same time certain things are left so you're wondering just what will happen to the silo and the people inside it with all this new-found knowledge and the convictions of those now in charge.

I'll definitely be continuing with the series - a great example of indie writing come good.

I Am Legend

Title: I Am Legend
Author: Richard Matheson
Pages: 162 (paperback)
Published: 1954
Published by: Orion Publishing Group

Robert Neville has witnessed the end of the world. The world's population has been obliterated by a vampire virus, though Neville has somehow survived. As he toils to make sense of it all and protect himself against the hounding vampires who seek out his life force, Neville embarks on a series of projects to discover the source of the plague and hopefully put an end to the vampires.

First things first: this is nothing like the film. At all. They've taken the very very basic plot premise and done with it what they wanted. And the central character's name: Robert Neville. Pretty much everything else is different. The ending in particular, but I'm just going to ignore that.

Now, I love the film. Will Smith is one of the few actors who can pull off that amount of screen time alone. But he isn't really the Robert Neville we meet at the start of the story. True, he is more like the man he grows into, but even then there are differences.

Robert Neville at the start of the book is a broken man. Living alone, surrounded by vampires determined to drink his blood every night. His humanity is clear, and his flawed nature. He cares for his teeth rigorously because he is his own dentist, yet he drinks and smokes copiously. He fastidiously cares about his car, yet sometimes goes days without repairing his house from the damage caused by nightly attacks.

We see him surviving and nothing more. Indeed, barely that at times.

But things happen which make him start thinking again. There are quite a lot of biological terms and stuff thrown around in some parts which I won't even pretend to have followed a lot of the time (biology not being my strong point), but it was interesting watching him develop an interest in something.

The conclusions he come to are different and intriguing, and there is a rather amazing twist at the end which is something different from anything I've ever read before. This book is a 'Masterworks' without a doubt.

Wool Series

Titles: Wool; Proper Gauge; Casting Off
Series: Wool #1-3
Author: Hugh Howey
Pages: 298 total (ebook)
Published: July/November/December 2011
Published by: Broad Reach Publishing

Blurb from the omnibus edition (Wool #1-5)

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 is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

The world has gone to pot, and what remains of humanity resides within a silo: a self-sufficient tower with all they need to survive. Including a window onto the outside, so they can always see the corrosion of the planet due to the toxic atmosphere. The very worst crimes are punishable by cleaning: being sent outside to clean the camera lenses which give them this picture, shortly followed by certain death in spite of the protective suits they are given.

I'll hold my hands up and admit that I started reading this series because they were free ebooks. What's not to like about that? Free stuff is always good! It gives me a chance to explore new authors, and if I don't like them it doesn't even matter 'cos it doesn't cost a thing - a win/win situation the way I see it. But this series is definitely an overall win: I've read the three books over the past two and a half months and thoroughly enjoyed each one of them.

They all follow a separate character, but the progression from character to character makes sense, and all follows and continues the thread of the same story. They each have a distinct voice and move the story forwards in their own way, slowly showing you something of the extent of the corruption within the silo.

First is Holston, the sheriff of the silo. His story unfolds both the present day, and with flashbacks to three years earlier when his wife had gone crazy and demanded to be let outside. The descriptions of life within the silo are well done, and you aren't overloaded with details being thrown at you. They're slipped in naturally in the narrative, and you build up a picture throughout each of the books. By the end of the book, you find out what caused his wife's actions, and come to a shocking realisation about the internal workings of the silo.

Book two picks up right after, this time with Mayor Jahns providing the story. She and the deputy sheriff - Marnes - set off on a journey down the depth of the silo, right to the Mech levels right at the very bottom. This one has more of an information-y feel, giving you more about the functioning of the silo and the power struggles, as well as more clues to the underlying conspiracy. Complete with another shock ending, you are slowly pulled more and more into this world.

The third book followed Juliette as she tries to adjust to life on the top levels after spending decades down in the Mech level. She understands machines, not people, but the analogies she draws between the two are wonderful. Her journey is probably my favourite thus far and I really like her character. She's smart, and quickly gets to grips with the things she needs to, even when thrown in a little at the deep end. The end of this book is the most gripping of the three, and I'm incredibly interested to see what happens in the next book.

Howey has created a wonderfully unique voice for each character, the life they've lived tinting the way they think, the way they see and understand the world and those around them. The silo is well thought out, though the world-building is limited, namely because of the limitations of the whole world being confined to a tower. The plot doesn't really suffer because of this, though. It's interesting and goes along at a good pace. Each book is longer than the last (70, 107 and 122 pages respectively), so each story arc is given more time to develop as you learn more.

Obviously, you know things that the characters in books 2 and 3 don't know - you've followed the progression of events and are party to things that they just can't know, so you have a much more complete view of things than either of them do. You have to sit through them discovering or working out things that you already know, but for the most part this isn't a significant issue. There's usually some new information divulged during the course of this, and the story doesn't drag as a result of this necessary rehashing.

My one real complaint with this book is a technical one rather than a literary one: books 4 and 5 no longer seem to be available as stand-alone novels, which means I'll have to invest in the 1-5 omnibus to finish the story. Of course, what happens at the end of book 3 means that this will definitely be happening at some point! A gripping tale, and one which has me quite eager to get back to Wool's world.