A Review of Hugh Howey’s Wool.

Wool is a
collection of five novellas containing three separate stories that logically
follow on from each other. The series is set on a future devastated Earth.  Earth’s atmosphere is full of deadly and corrosive
chemicals that can eat through a space suit in a matter of minutes. So the
remnants of humanity have retreated to an underground silo.

The silo
has 130 levels and a central staircase that connects all the levels. There are
no lifts, and no web or phones, as the silo’s designers did not wanted
communication between the silo’s inhabitants to be easy. The silo’s designers
didn’t want unruly gatherings of disaffected citizens or twitter revolutions occurring.

Mechanicals,
the engineers and maintenance workers who keep the power and plumbing
functioning, live at the bottom of the silo. Intermediate levels contain the food
growing and manufacturing areas as well as habitation levels. They also contain
the secretive IT section. The mayor and silo’s sheriff live at the top
alongside a doorway to the toxic outside.

The first
story in the collection is called Wool
and is about the silo’s sheriff, Holston. He is investigating why his wife
choose to be exiled from the silo and die in the toxic wasteland outside. This
story introduces the claustrophobic insides of the Silo, and has the reader
asking why are its inhabitants so docile?

The
second story, Proper Gauge,
follows the relationship of Jahns the mayor and Marnes, her deputy as they
travel over three days down to the bottom levels of the silo. Their journey
ultimately introduces them to a mechanical named Juliette, who is the main
character of the following stories. The story builds on the intrigue of the
first as there are still many unanswered questions.

The
remaining three novellas could have been turned into a novel themselves as they
tell the one story. They follow Juliette as she unlocks the dark secrets behind
the silo and what happened to the planet above her. In this story we discover
who really controls the silo and what happened to the world outside.

Much of
the series takes place in the heads of the main characters as they trudge up
and down the stairs. They don’t know who to trust so they are weary on what
they say to others, less they be forced outside.

The
series explores the theme of how control of information can be used to control
a population. It asks the question, is it right to lie to the population as the
truth might cause society to collapse into death and chaos? So it light of
recent Wikileaks and CIA leaks, the story has much relevance to the world as it
is today.

The
series was self-published by Hugh Howey. But don’t let that put you off, it is
very well written. In March 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported Wool had sold more than half a million
copies. Wool has been so successful
that Howey recently signed a print distribution deal reported to be worth half
a million dollars with Simon and Schuster. Howey kept the ebook rights. Film
rights to the series have been sold to 20th Century Fox and Ridley Scott is
said to be interested in making the film.

The Wool omnibus had a satisfy ending, but
left room for a sequel, which Howey has already written. He has written a
prequel too, which I purchased the day after I finished reading the Wool collection.