Wool

I jumped in and hung on, and loved the ride.

This series is the epitome of change from a world order in chaos towards a solution to survive. The creativity explodes from every page, as you immerse yourself in a new environment full of amazing and wonderful characters, experiencing insane challenges, personal and professional, as well as moral and emotional. The whole evolution of the ‘silo’ world is seamlessly integration into the story, making it all seem so normal.

This series is absolutely the best ever! I never wanted it to end!

Though it’s a dystopian underground world, I enjoyed my time in the Silo. Thankfully, I had a strong woman to guide me and help solve its mysteries. I was totally immersed in the experience and immediately read the second and third books in the series.

I loved this book because it’s unlike any other dystopian novel I’ve read. I wanted to be there with the characters. The twists and turns of the story were like the central staircase that connects all the levels of the mysterious world. I had no idea where it would go next or what I would… show more.

The title is what grabbed me first. It was amorphous, thus intriguing. The post-Apocalyptic theme is nothing new. In fact, the concept of a cataclysmic event sending people into shelters recalls the videogame Fallout. But, "Wool" turns in a different direction, and I found the premise of "law breakers" been sent out into a wasteland to perform a specific task (plot spoiler, not gonna tell you) to be a clever spin.

I read the entire trilogy (series name 'Silo') with great gusto! This brilliantly imagined world makes us question the motives of those who leads us and asks what each us of would do to protect the lives of others (or to destroy them.) Never preachy, it packs a moral punch.

I chose this book because I watched the Apple TV series adaptation of it called Silo. It is a post-apocalyptic thriller set inside an underground bunker (the silo of the title).

Why were they there? What was really happening outside? What was the origin of the silo’s strange rules? As the show was so thought-provoking, raising so many questions, I decided to turn to the source material.

And I wasn’t disappointed because Howey’s worldbuilding reminded me of that done by Frank Herbert so memorably in Dune. And the great thing is, Wool is long and is followed by… show more.

Juliette—humble and gutsy, kind and relentlessly motivated in her journey for the truth—kept the pages turning for me.

Juliette is a mechanic from the Down-Deep of the underground Silo, humanity’s last refuge to a toxic world. When Juliette inexplicably lands the job of sheriff, she treats her new position as a tool to seek the truth about her lover’s mysterious recent death. At her own peril, she pulls on threads that ultimately reveal a great conspiracy. 

Juliette’s literal and metaphoric rise from the Down-Deep to the Up-Top is a feminist’s journey that transcends intersectional barriers as she battles small-minded men… show more.

I was quite taken by the Silo TV series this past year and decided to further explore this universe by reading the independently published novels the show is based on.

In Wool, Howey describes a cylindrical bunker city containing 144 levels accessible via a spiral staircase that takes several days to climb. Each level is dedicated to a particular occupation, the miners and mechanics living in the “down deep” and the bureaucrats living “up top” with limited contact between them.

When Juliette Nichols, the newly appointed sheriff from Mechanical, climbs up to mingle with the bureaucrats, the order in… show more.

The story of people living in an underground Silo who don’t know why they're there, and only that the outside world is toxic and they must survive.

The characters in this story are heroic and relatable. I just wanted this book to keep going, and luckily there are two more in the series – Shift and Dust. The TV series is also a great addition and keeps a similar tone to the book.

In a way, Wool—actually a series of stories bound together—can be seen as both an odyssey and a chamber piece. What fascinated me was that the entire series (almost) follows the stories of several key people who live within Silo 18, a vast underground complex 144 floors deep. There, generations of people have built a self-sustaining culture because the outdoors is a toxic wasteland that is not only to be avoided but is best not even contemplated. Anyone who does raise questions risks being sent outside to find out for themselves… never to return.

But even as generational memory… show more.

This newer dystopian novel meant more to me because it was originally self-published. As an indie author myself, it was inspiring to see readers find and flock to an author who skipped the traditional publishing process. And did I mention it’s a real page-turner? Wool is another book with a great concept, telling stories about people who live inside an underground silo because the apocalyptic world above is uninhabitable. Or is it? That mystery, and the horrifying ways in which the authorities kept the truth from the silo’s residents, kept me reading until the end.