Brief Review of Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey
This is my first experience with Mr. Howey's work read via recommendation from a trusted friend.
I'm not, per se, a great fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, although Wind-Up Girl was fantastic. So I approached this story with a hint of trepidation.
In short, it was excellent.
The setting is extremely well-drawn, details fed to the reader carefully and meaningfully over time.
The story is complex and involves different points of view, micro and macro influences, short and long-term histories.
The cast is vast, varied, deep and fully-developed.
And I guarantee you don't know what's going to happen next.
I will say that reading this as five separate stories would be deeply frustrating, as the so-called endings of each section are not so much cliff-hanger as cliff, not to mention they are way too short individually to be satisfying. The way this needs to be read is right here, as one great novel.
oh nice...your excitement at this one comes through...i will be dropping it into the list straight a way...i am a suck for post apocalyptic...ha...
ReplyDeleteHey Brian. Let me know when you read it what you think. It definitely has its own style, I think.
DeleteCheers,
Casey
That particular genre has never appealed to me. Your review is so hearty though, I might check for it at the library and at least read the back.
ReplyDeleteYou might give it a few pages and see if it grabs you. It certainly did for me.
DeleteThanks!
Casey
I enjoyed this story very much. It's the kind of story that pulls me in and makes me want to know what the hell happened that led to the current situation the characters were in, made me want to know more. I didn't want to put it down until I knew what happened next, but once I knew that, something else set up another question/scenario that kept me reading. a really good story!
ReplyDelete