January Book Study: Wool omnibus

Just finished the first part as well. I saw the ending coming but just really hoped it wasn't so. Either way, it's good so far.

Sai said:

Heh, my internal monologue near the end was something like "Boy, this is bleak, bleak, bleak...oh my God! Hope? No, You're not going to get me that easy, no way does this take a happy turn now...but I want to believe...maybe it's actually going to end well...Ahhhhh! No! I knew it!"

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You read my mind!

I read this book a few months ago. In 3-5, it felt like the author was trying so hard to not write Juliette with any bad-female-character tropes, he made her a bit flawless. I suppose that's good, as my criticism of her character isn't entirely based on her gender. Also, he literally described her as "feisty", yeach.

I enjoyed the story for the most part, but it felt...unpolished. I can't put my finger on it, but something was wrong. I think I remember the prose being a bit weak, and the pacing was off. The book's strength lied in the story rather than the writing, if that makes sense.
The second part moved really slowly, I think it was dragged down by the world building, but I'm not sure. The momentum from the opening story helped me finish the second part.

Plot hole that made me groan aloud: Just as The Road forgets that bikes exist, Wool forgets that elevators exist. Even if they were "lost", they're not technically complicated; they could have been reinvented easily.

It was still a really great read. A sci-fi mystery. Each revelation raised more questions that kept me curious enough to turn the page.

I actually managed to find this, and I'm glad I did. The first part was enjoyably bleak but it's the broader questions that will keep me reading.

It's only been a few days, but where are people? I'm midway through the fourth part and still enjoying it. Some comments:
- Not particularly liking the villain due to mustache-twirling.
- I thought the third part was ending weakly, then got whiplash from the great ending.
- Part four changes the tone, but I think it works as the story broadens.

I'm about half way through the last part. It's getting intense and I'm really not sure how this will end. I like that feeling, makes me want to keep reading.

I finished the book last night. I enjoyed it and totally didn't see the climax coming. Maybe I should have but I didn't.

And I won't say anymore on that until other people are done.

Wool is a delightfully intricate story. I loved that the wear and breakdown of the silo is a mirror for what is happening to the people inside.

There is a reason there are no elevators and why communications are limited and costly...these are definitely not oversights or plot holes.

I will agree that Bernard is a bit of a mustache twirler, but he has a unique perspective of all the silo inhabitants.

Tezzirax said:

I will agree that Bernard is a bit of a mustache twirler, but he has a unique perspective of all the silo inhabitants.

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Yeah you get a whole new look at him toward the end. He's not just evil to be evil and at one time he did question the system. His biggest failing was trusting those in authority over him and buying into the whole scheme and then truly believing that it was the right thing to do.

I'm done too. Has anyone read books six or seven? I'm curious if they're a direct continuation like these or if they expand into other silos.

My complaints about Bernard were substantially lessened once we get more of him from Lukas POV chapters. I have mixed feelings about the climax in general, but I think his final actions are potentially very interesting. It's possible he just panicked, but I interpreted it as more of a choice.

Ian Isaro said:

I'm done too. Has anyone read books six or seven? I'm curious if they're a direct continuation like these or if they expand into other silos.

My complaints about Bernard were substantially lessened once we get more of him from Lukas POV chapters. I have mixed feelings about the climax in general, but I think his final actions are potentially very interesting. It's possible he just panicked, but I interpreted it as more of a choice.

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I'm curious about 6 and 7 too.

And yeah he could have done that as an act of something good, but I think he chose to die because he knew that if he lived he'd just be sent back out to die anyway. He had already decided to burn instead of go clean, he wouldn't want to go back inside just to repeat the inevitable all over again.

I actually sort of liked Peter Billing's turn as a surprise. From the very beginning of the story, everyone talked about him like he was a spineless non-entity who would just be a tool of someone else. Having him play a major role was a nice affirmative statement about people in general, though I wish we'd gotten that scene instead of skipping it for increased tension.

Agreed about the kids, though. Unless they're setup for events in future books, they seemed kind of like an odd attempt to introduce more tension to that part of the plot.

Ian Isaro said:

I actually sort of liked Peter Billing's turn as a surprise. From the very beginning of the story, everyone talked about him like he was a spineless non-entity who would just be a tool of someone else. Having him play a major role was a nice affirmative statement about people in general, though I wish we'd gotten that scene instead of skipping it for increased tension.

Agreed about the kids, though. Unless they're setup for events in future books, they seemed kind of like an odd attempt to introduce more tension to that part of the plot.

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Sai said:

Yeah, I think that's what it boils down to for me: I liked the turn itself, but I would have liked to have seen it.

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Ditto. It would have been a fun scene to watch that conversation between Billings and Lukas. But then it wouldn't have been such a big shock to see Bernard dead at the end.

And yes, the kids totally feel like set up for the rest of the books and not much else. I am curious to see where they go though.

So, I really loved the concept of this, and the first two parts of the omnibus read like a breeze. And I liked the world-building with the silos and all (despite my grumbling in another thread about how no one writing nukes or radiation in post-apocalyptic fiction does their research).

I like that all we get from the head IT motherf***er up in silo one is a relatively one-sided phonecall. I almost hope in later additions to the series that stays sort of mysterious- when exciting stuff happens in real life, how many of us really get to confront the Big Bad Wolf face to face?

On that note, HH is possibly the only writer in living memory to make a telephone conversation sound exciting.

Gripes:

Frigging Juliette made me grit my teeth. It's not even that she doesn't have enough flaws, it's just that all her flaws are likable ones. I kept waiting and waiting to see something other than "Oh look, charming tomboy!" but nope, didn't happen. I was actually more interested in Lukas 'cause for a while he had a sort of antihero thing going on.

Got pretty tired of how often the point that Bernard is small gets driven home (that is, every time they describe him physically at all, ever). Because of course no small person with power ever wields it sensibly.

Juliette's body gets way more attention than the story warrants. It's like cinematic male gaze- in prose form. And are there any female characters in the entire omnibus to date who aren't protrayed as feisty on some level, regardless of whether the word is used? Gosh Mr. Howey, stop typing with one hand.

I finally got to Wool over the weekend (and the sequel, Shift, which I liked better). Not a huge fan of Juliette. I was left confused as to why Bernard tried to kill the deputy in story 2. Seemed like the mayor should have always been the target.

Shift really played with my expectations in good ways. Wool was fairly predictable, to me, but Shift kept me guessing.

I was genuinely unsure what the end of Wool was going to be; for a while there I thought he might be going for a kill-everyone ending.