Reading Challenge Book Four: Wool

Book Four was an engrossing modern dystopian read:

Blurb

In a ruined and toxic future, a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Sheriff Holston, who has unwaveringly upheld the silo’s rules for years, unexpectedly breaks the greatest taboo of all: He asks to go outside. 

His fateful decision unleashes a drastic series of events. An unlikely candidate is appointed to replace him: Juliette, a mechanic with no training in law, whose special knack is fixing machines. Now Juliette is about to be entrusted with fixing her silo, and she will soon learn just how badly her world is broken. The silo is about to confront what its history has only hinted about and its inhabitants have never dared to whisper. Uprising.

Why I chose this book

I’ve always been a big fan of dystopians, and I also wanted to read some books by indie authors who made it big. Wool fits the bill on both accounts.

Rating/content

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

This book follows the story of Juliet, a young woman who lives in a society based in an underground silo. The silo inhabitants are not allowed contact with the toxic outside world, and the greatest taboo is talking about the outside.

It’s an adult book, with occasional profanity, and some violence and peril as necessary for scenes of uprising. The book is a fairly easy read, with a little technical language in respect of mechanical and electrical equipment.

Good points

I really loved this book. It had everything I look for in a good dystopian. The set up of the society, living in underground silos, was original and well thought out. Every aspect of what it would be like to live in a large cylinder with only a metal staircase to ascend and descend was considered and developed. It was very immersive.

The strong female lead, dragged up from the depths of the mechanical department to work in government, appealed to me. Juliet was active and resourceful and questioning. She wouldn’t settle for a no.

The reveals throughout the book were done really well. I mean, I’ve read enough dystopian to have predicted it in advance, but I didn’t because I got so immersed in the society. I felt I discovered the shocking details along with the main characters.

Most of the secondary characters felt like individuals too, and it was also possible to understand the reasoning behind the bad guys actions. It raised ethical questions as to whether the bad guys were really doing what was best for the society or not, and you could see why they thought they were.

I also liked the underlying romance thread that ran throughout. Subtle, but there under the surface without overshadowing the plot. The way I like it.

Bad points

To be honest, anything I say here is just being super picky, because I didn’t really find fault with anything.

I guess the pace was a little slow at times, and the setting felt quite confining and oppressed – but that just reflects the nature of the story.

I didn’t fully get to grips with some of the mechanical stuff described, but that’s something I don’t really know anything about anyway.

Overall

If you’re a dystopian fan, this book is a must-read, and I will definitely be checking out the sequel.