Wool | ⭐⭐⭐ | Review

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Wool

Written by Hugh Howey Published January 2012 by Broad Reach Publishing

#ScienceFiction, #Dystopian, #PostApocalyptic, #Apocalyptic

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This book was one of those that caught my eye every time I walked into the book store.  I really like the cover design.  I have always been a fan of interesting graphic covers rather than photographs of people.  I decided to pick this up recently and I read it in its entirety in about two days.

This book is a bind-up of a series of short stories that all continue the same story.  It could be considered a serial novel.  Most of the stories have a complete arch though some of the later ones really only make sense when they are together as a whole.  The first few stories are shorter and interesting but the character arcs within them were slightly cliche and therefore sub-par for me.  Post-apocalyptic stories are popular now a days so it takes more than an interesting premise to keep me engaged with a book.

The later stories were more engaging, partially because they were longer and followed more interesting arcs, but also because Howey disclosed more an more information about his world.  It is one thing to set up an interesting world and plunk some characters in it, it is another thing to use those characters to disclose more information.  I really enjoyed the middle portion because it was more like the latter notion.

There were a few moments were some characters should have died but didn't.  I am not sure I

entirely believe the way they survived but it wasn't the worst affront.  It pulled me out of the story slightly, but it wasn't terrible.  I was also slightly disappointed in the ending to the novel, it seemed rushed.  The rest of the stories were incredibly well paced, however the end to the final story seemed to wrap itself up quite nicely on its far quicker than it should have.

All in all this was an enticing read, and a quick one at that.  I enjoyed the experience, but it definitely isn't one of the best books I've read so far this year.  It is a solid book in its genre and got a lot of love for being originally self published and becoming so popular that it was printed after the fact as a bind-up.

There is a second bind-up and a third novel that follow this story line.  I am considering getting them at some point to read and continue this story, however I am not running out to get it, nor to library even.