Wool by Hugh Howey Book Review (Silo Series Book One)

The only reason I know about this book is the show it’s based on. Yes, I know it’s very popular, and I’m slowly welcoming the adult section into my lists with the teen ones. And as of writing this review, two seasons of the show have been released, and so far, it is my favourite one on Apple TV. Even beats the tender-hearted Ted Lasso. I don’t give many perfect scores, but if I ever started reviewing TV, this would get 10/10, alongside Money Heist, Mrs Maisel (shame about modern Israel really sullying some of it in retrospect) and the original Avatar: The Last Airbender. For the record, there are other shows I’d rate 10 out of 10, I’m not THAT stubborn about generosity.

So, the reason I picked up this book was, yes, I’m a fan of the story. The show, in my opinion, feels like a Star Wars but more grounded, no pun intended, and claustrophobic. But I actually picked it up because I HAVE to know what happens next and I can’t wait around for Season 3. So I started the series, beginning back at the start, and I gotta say, for a book where I generally knew everything that was supposed to happen, and one that tells the story a bit differently, it was an enjoyable start.

This takes place in a future world. We don’t (yet) know the year. We just know it’s on Earth and everyone lives in this underground world called the silo. It’s over 100 floors deep, people grow their own food, and they take care of one another. There are screens everywhere showing a toxic wasteland out there, and no one is allowed to leave. The air is apparently poisonous. Always has been. People also don’t remember why they are there in the first place. 

But one day a worker from the rundown levels named Juliette Nichols is sent out purposefully, after she is granted position of the Sherriff and she starts digging into things the previous sheriffs were investigating. And when Juliette actually survives the part of the exile process that has killed everyone in the past, an uprising begins. And Juliette herself has her world come completely apart as she realizes the secrets of the universe.

Wool is the first in the Silo trilogy, but it makes up the entire story of the two seasons of the show, not just the first. If I’d read this book before watching the show, would I have felt the book was the norm and criticize the show, instead of the other way around like I’m about to do here? Perhaps. The first season makes up the first 230 pages, and the second season the final 330. If I’d gotten into the books first, maybe I would’ve felt the show took too long to get where they were going. 

But now that I’ve read the book, I’ll say the first season of the show expanded the story in ways that I appreciated. Juliette’s time as mayor is so small in the book, I felt that she may as well have just not been given that title and investigate for completely personal reasons. I also felt most of the characters were not as fleshed out as they could’ve been. Yes, like they were fleshed out in the show, but I’ll stop playing the comparison game now. If I’d written this series, it probably would’ve been longer. Wool feels like the Silo world but a bit faster paced. But the fast pace allowed something to always be on the go in a positive way.

I read this book even though I knew what was supposed to happen because I wanted to get acquainted with Hugh Howey’s writing style before diving into unknown waters with Shift and Dust, the other two books in the trilogy. And despite those criticisms and being almost 600 pages, I enjoyed myself. Whatever form of media you decide to use to enter this world of terror, gloom and captivity, hop on in.

My grade: 3 and a half stars out of 5