From the Bookshelf of Challenge: 50 Books…

Wool (Silo #1)

Hugh Howey

Start date: June 1, 2015

Finish date: July 1, 2015

Discussion: Group Reads

Discussion leader: Carol

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What Members Thought

Jun 19, 2013 Brian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

Such a refreshing new world to explore here. Anyone who grew up during the Cold War can see the inspiration, but Hugh Howey went there and executed it. A brilliant and powerful novel exploring so many issues pertinent to our current global politics. I can't recommend this more. Go read it. ...more

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Feb 21, 2013 fried.rambutans rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, novel, series, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, united-states, survival, social-classes, silo, trilogy

I've been reading lots of dystopian YA novels and asked myself: what with all the YAs? It's like I've never outgrown my teens. It does help me to see the world through the eyes of my young students, provided they can read one of those books in English along with its subtleties (no, Fred, not subtitles, but subtleties!) out of the context written by an American writer. Then I came across this book. I did not expect to be as excited as reading Hunger Games, but I was wrong! This book is the epitom I've been reading lots of dystopian YA novels and asked myself: what with all the YAs? It's like I've never outgrown my teens. It does help me to see the world through the eyes of my young students, provided they can read one of those books in English along with its subtleties (no, Fred, not subtitles, but subtleties!) out of the context written by an American writer. Then I came across this book. I did not expect to be as excited as reading Hunger Games, but I was wrong! This book is the epitome of one of the best dystopian writings.

This is the story of Juliette, who was born and grew up in one of the silos left after the aftermath of some kind of nuclear war in America. The word 'silo' to Juliette meant the whole world. She didn't recognize silo as a place to store grains when things go bad.

The silo where Juliette lived was built to house a population. A lottery had been devised to keep population density from exploding, as there were only 150 or so levels in the silo. The levels were divided into the upper-top, the mids where the IT office of the silo also located and the down-deep where Mechanical workers work. Juliette was one of the top Mechanic of the down-deep who had been chosen to serve as Sheriff for the entire population. 'Wool' starts from the time the Sheriff before Juliette was sent for cleaning. Cleaning is like a religious ritual - someone sent for cleaning the sensors outside the silo is certainly sentenced to die. However, when Juliette was slandered by the Head of IT for her effort in uncovering the murder of one of her friend and she was finally sent to cleaning, she managed to get away and live.

As I was reading the book, my mind wandered of to the Grand Design - to the theory of how life on Earth started. Are we alone in this Earth, just like the people of Silo 18 used to think, or is there life just like ours in faraway galaxies? I'd never know. But I can't wait for another installment of 'Wool' just to learn more about the surviving 47 silos! ...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Michelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Okay, I'm giving this 4 stars, but I'm not quite comfortable with that for a couple of reasons. I started this book, and felt so depressed after the first two sections that I had to stop reading for a month or so (I was also slightly bored). For a month. That's a super long time in my book world. But I kept thinking, But people loooove this book, I must persevere. So I started the third section and was still bored for a while, but eventually we get into the groove with Juliette (and others) unra ...more

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Mar 08, 2014 Jen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: recommended-sci-fi

Hugh Howey is now my favorite sci fi author. He has interesting characters. I liked some of them, disliked others, and just loathed a few, but hey were all interesting. There are a lot of plot twists. Quite a few important people die, but not so many that you just stop caring completely (ahem George R R Martin). All those things are god in my book. He does just the right amount of explaining on the technology. Just enough to make it believeable but not so much that you know he's faking it.

Most o ...more

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Aug 05, 2014 Tulara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Grand tale - takes place in underground silos where people live their lives according to a caste system - to keep their silo producing a livable atmosphere and food. - You start wondering WHY on the very first chapter - and it unravels the farther in you go. Great read!!
I read Wool Omnibus 1-5.

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Jan 12, 2013 Melanie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Loved the concept of the book! Wish that the end was a bit more flushed out - I hope that means there will be more books!

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Jul 12, 2012 Heather Dine Carter rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

One word for this series - Wow. I am not a sci fi/fantasy reader, and this book actually fits into the Dystopian genre, but I had heard about this series and decided to give it a try. I could not put it down. My top read of the year so far. Dont shy away from the length - it will be worth it.

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