Wool (The Silo Series Book 1)

Wool is comprised of five short stories, and is also the first book in a sci-fi series

THE BLURB:  

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.

MY THOUGHTS: 

Howey writes pretty well, but I did not like this book. I can speculate that the reason might hinge on the fact that he began by writing a single short story, then tacked others onto it, leading to something that just did not cut it for me as an overall novel. Perhaps in the very beginning he did not know just how far he would be taking the story, and once he realized there was a demand for more, didn't know quite how to navigate to turn it into a full length novel. 

There are some interesting ideas mixed in the story, but nothing that gets fleshed out; it's more just an interesting premise that never gets fully realized in this story. And the way it was put together just did not do it for me. There were some exciting scenes here and there, but for the most part I was very, very bored. I abhor not finishing a book once I start it, so I pushed on with this one, but it was a chore to force myself to read more. It wasn't until about halfway through that any plot advancement at all took place. This might be where the book's inception as separate short stories comes into play; the scenes seemed to just plod along haphazardly, without much in the way of cohesiveness. It didn't build up like a novel should, in my opinion.

I found myself questioning things about the world we are shown here, the explanations we are given. Many times the characters' reactions didn't make sense to me. Some characterization didn't seem all that consistent, either. I failed to develop an investment in any of the characters, and as a result didn't much care what happened to any of them.

I'd like to reiterate that the writing was good, though, and some of the ideas held promise. The author could potentially impress me more with a different story, one crafted more smartly than this one, perhaps planned initially as a mapped out novel rather than a meandering tale of filler scenes all thrown together into something I couldn't make myself care about. 

MY RATING:

2 booksies

Author Website: http://www.hughhowey.com/