WOOL

This is the definitive dystopian novel that all challengers will be compared to. Hugh Howey has written the ultimate novel for this genre. Originally published in nine novellas through Amazon’s direct publishing system, it is now available in three novels...Wool, Shift and Dust by Simon & Schuster. It’s not my style to read a trilogy, but I’m tempted. I think the last time I read all the books of a series (other than A Game of Thrones, which isn’t over yet) was Arthur C. Clarke’s four novels of a Space Odyssey (the last one published in 1997). It’s been awhile. So, The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins), Divergent (Veronica Roth/see my review of 11/18/2013), and Delirium (Lauren Oliver) move over...there’s a new Sheriff in town (literally). There are other post-apocalyptic novels that deal with living underground, such as Jeanne Duprau’s The City of Ember (see Kai’s review of 11/9/2014), but not quite as exciting or elaborate as Wool. It’s not that the above mentioned novels are not great theme driven stories because they are, but Wool is uncommonly special. I guess that it’s the uniqueness of a society living in an underground silo with 144 floors in a caste system run by a mayor and a sheriff with the individual fear of being sent outside in a highly toxic atmosphere to clean the silo’s sensors and lenses as a death sentence. Wow, was that a long-winded Ernest Hemingway type sentence, or what? Okay, let’s talk about the story without divulging the exciting finish.

Since Hugh Howey kills off main characters as fast as A Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin does, I must tread carefully with this review. This novel is set in the future with a unknown post-apocalyptic happening. People live underground in a 144 floor silo (are there other silos?) ruled by a mayor and sheriff. The air outside is highly toxic and unbreathable. How this catastrophe happened is not divulged in this first book (supposedly Dust, the third book answers all questions). The story opens with Sheriff Holston suddenly requesting of Mayor Jahns (a good lady) that he wants to go outside and become a cleaner. Wow, that’s a death sentence, self imposed. His wife, Allison, had requested three years ago to clean...you are put in a space type suit made by the silo's IT department and sent outside to clean the lenses that the people inside the silo use to see the outside world. Allison had discovered files missing from IT’s servers that led her to believe that the air outside was not toxic and was a hoax to keep the people in the silo. She cleaned and walked towards the crumbling city and fell down to die, overcome by the fumes (or was it IT’s faulty suit that caused her death?). Sheriff Holston goes outside three years later, hopefully to find his wife living a normal life (by the way if you don’t leave the chamber to the outside quick enough, you are burned to death in the chamber...ouch) He decides to clean the lenses before heading up the hill to seek his wife. He finds his wife up the hill...dead. And he dies alongside her.   

Does this novel sound exciting? I want to tell you everything, but I can’t. Mayor Jahns and Deputy Marnes must now find a new sheriff. The two main endorsements are Peter Billings, a judge’s clerk, and Juliette from mechanical (the mechanical department occupies the lowest levels and keeps the electricity working). Juliette was instrumental in helping Sheriff Holston solve a previous case, so the mayor thought that she was a likely candidate for the job. The mayor and deputy (do they have a passion for each other?), although getting on in years, decide to make the trek down the 144 floors to meet the applicants. This is an exhausting trip, especially when they have to climb the 144 floors back up. On the way down the mayor stops at the nursery to find out why Juliette’s father hasn’t seen her in twenty years. The mayor finds out nothing. They continue down and stop at IT. The head of IT is Bernard (not a nice man) who wants Peter Billings as the next sheriff. According to the pact (undefined in this first novel), they are to agree on who the sheriff should be. Bernard is not pleased with the mayor’s choice but may reluctantly agree for the time being (is he scheming?). The mayor and deputy proceed downward toward the garden, farming, and bazaar floors till they reach mechanical. Juliette agrees to be sheriff as long as the mayor can declare a Power Holiday so they can refurbish the machines. Done deal. The threesome head upstairs to IT to get Bernard to sign off on the proposal. He refuses and has a co-worker sign the agreement. He also has the mayor’s and the deputy’s canteens refiled (with what?).

Okay, I can’t tell you anymore. It’s still very early in this 509 page novel. By page 148...the reader is stunned by what has happened. Hugh Howey knows how to get the reader’s attention. From what I’ve read, book three will reveal all the unanswered questions. What questions? Well, I think that I know the answers, but I would like to hear it from the author. For instance what is a chit? (money earned to be spent on something?), the pact? (the original laws of the silo when they went underground?), a shadow? ( an apprentice?) and the lottery? (the right to have a baby during a brief time frame?). This novel is a big time trip down to hell or a dreamland revived. You, the reader, will have to decide. Does it sound that I liked this novel? Is there a mustache in Mexico? Okay, I think you know that I highly recommend this novel. Buy it and enjoy!

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: It’s hard for me to avoid dystopian novels. I find authors continually sending me their novels coupled with my own desire to read the contemporary dystopian classic novels. When I was much younger, I didn’t even know what a dystopian novel was. What did I read? Well what about George Orwell’s 1984, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, or Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange. Did we know the that they were dystopian? By the way, I just dropped my pen...did you ever notice how hard it is to find it? Where does it go? Never mind.