Arrow Wool

Like most people, when I start a series, I refrain from buying every book in the series and start with just the first in case I don't like it. Well, this was one of the first times I bought the rest of the series before I was even half-way through the book... Wool immediately had me hooked, Hugh knows how to start a story. From the killer first sentence, to the beautifully tragic first part, to the curious world he slowly revealed, this book was the definition of a page-turner.Oh, and this book gave me another "first:" Never before have I enjoyed a book MORE after I was finished. But I was reading more about Hugh, specifically the last 10 pages when he spoke right to the reader, and those 10 pages raised this book from "That was a great book" to "I freaking loved that book!" Typically I don't like authors spoon-feeding me the message or lesson from their story, but in this case, it helped to know what inspired Hugh to write this book. I loved hearing him compare the story of Wool to the current events of our world and describe human's natural instinct to seek comfort in storytelling about the unknown frontiers of our existence. I had never thought about this before, but upon reflection, I realized that 14 of the last 15 books that I've read were, in fact, post-apocalyptic! Hugh, you hit the nail on the head. And his genuine gratitude to his fans for pushing a novelette to become an entire series was heartfelt and inspiring.Anyways, about the book. Needless to say, I'm pumped to jump into the next couple of books. The mysterious and unique world that this story exists in was absolutely fascinating. Hugh slowly reveals more and more about the weird existence that our characters exist in, and the more I learned, the more invested I became. (Though I learned early on not to get too attached to characters, Hugh is no stranger to creating the reality which is that there isn't always a happy ending.)It's hard to describe how this book made me feel: claustrophobic, intrigued, angry, curious, enlightened... It was brilliant how we learned about the reality of the world alongside characters who were just as ignorant as us. And I loved the short chapters as we jumped between 3 simultaneous stories. It was fast-paced and always left me eager to get to the next chapter.I'm really excited to learn more about the humanity of this story. Wool set the tone for the interesting conversation about what humans will do to survive even if it means lying and killing. Are we responsible for the decisions our ancestors made for us? Or is today ours to do as we wish? What is free will? Does humanity choose wrong eventually when left to make their own decisions?I highly recommend this book, and probably the series. It didn't feel like 600 pages and I'm excited to keep going into the series and learn what happens.

I hate finding a great book after a TV series has been made-I feel like it often can sway what my mind would come up with on its own but despite watching the show before reading the first book I still ended up flying through Wool. The show does an incredible job of visually representing what I might dream up with on my own. I never would have even heard of the books if Apple had not created the TV series, so I'm grateful all the same for finding this gem. The TV series is about the first half of the book and then its all new material in the pages from there. I already have purchased the other two books of this series and am so excited-I just put down Wool last night and have Shift ready to go. I always find it interesting when a male author speaks through a female character but I loved Jules. I connected with her strength and determination, her stubbornness. I find myself reading post-apocalyptic books and this one did not let me down! I high recommend and will be telling friends and family to read Wool! -Josie

I couldn’t have put down this book if I tried. Hugh’s writing style captivated me from the start and didn’t let me turn away. I squirreled away to read Wool any chance I had, disdaining my earthly responsibilities of work, food and sometimes sleep. I feel like a fly on the wall within the Silo (intentionally no spoilers here with my language choices) with the best view of the house.I am a recently published author and this was the first book I’d read since publishing my own book. I read the story through different eyes than any other book: I read with eyes of deep respect. Writing a book and publishing, purely because your soul feels that personal mission, is radically impressive. What a feat that this book is in the world!Hugh’s style of dialogue, metaphor and character development is impressive to say the least.I particularly loved reading how this story came to be and his personal journey through learning how to hope again.Hugh ~ if you’re reading this: thank you for not only providing entertainment and art to the world, but Thank you for inspiring another author to keep going! The butterfly affect of your work has created ripples over here. I cannot wait to dive deeper into the many worlds you’ve created.In GratitudeCarleena Lara Bregatta

If you are reading this, then the title of my review has done it's job & I am glad for it. Having cut my teeth on the works of Asimov, Clarke, Niven, Bradbury, Heinlein, etc, it has been a bit of a challenge to find more modern authors who have the ability to tell a story rich in character development, gripping story, imaginative, yet believable.So, since book reviews are meant to guide the next possible reader, let me cut to the chase first, and then I will go to work on the review of the books:******* BUY THIS SERIES NOW! *******Do not waste your time trying the sample, just go ahead and buy all of the works in the WOOL collection (six, as of this writing) right now.If you do not buy them all, and you find yourself without an internet connection and you just finished reading one of the books and you know there are others available you will be extremely annoyed, distracted, pi$$ed off, etc till you get the next one & start reading it.Having read hundreds of books, many in the SciFi genre, but also many biographies, and historical works (european & british history especially) I was absolutely blown away by the Wool books. To be completely honest, I almost put the book down maybe 30 pages into it. I was on vacation on an amazing little island off the coast of North Carolina, no cars, no distractions except miles of beaches & ocean waves when I searched on my Kindle for some Science Fiction to read over the 15 days I was away. Since I often read SciFi books that are based well in the future, take place off-earth, etc, I was not really prepared for the way Wool opened. It was dark, depressing, and not what I thought I wanted on my vacation with the sun shining and the seagulls singing and the waves crashing on the sand. But I stuck with it, and that is why I am here today, writing this.First of all lets backup for a second and talk about the name of the book. WOOL. You wear it (sometimes). But it has numerous other uses, including, apparently, as the name of a book. I didn't know what to even make of it. I mean look at most of the titles under SciFi, & you get the space war sagas, the alien invasions, the boy-meets-space travel stories, etc.... But WOOL?? I couldnt fathom it would be a book that would interest me for very long, and so I again reveal how mistaken I can be. Important Lesson learned? : Dont judge a book by it's cover, nor by it's NAME.One of the many great yet very subtle parts of this work is when you actually connect the name WOOL with the line in the story that reveals the connection. It's not too far into book 1 and you know what, you might not even catch it, and it might not mean much to you- but it did, for some reason, to me.It brought home to me that Hugh Howey had put me in a place that seemed at first to be so incomprehensible, but later came to be seen as a very possible, plausible place not so far removed as to be unimaginable, yet still so staggering in it's implications.If WOOL had only been the short, single work of book 1, I would have been upset that it wasnt taken further, or approached it's potential. In fact, I didn't know there were more books at first and I really was upset. I thought "WOW- SO MUCH POTENTIAL, this was an amazing story, but look where it ended!?" And then I checked back on Amazon and saw the remaining books and grabbed them all (hence my earlier suggestion to do the same).Without spoiling the story for those of you who have not yet started, I do want to say that this is one of the most fascinating, smart, stop-for-a-second-and-say- `Oh my god!' reads I have ever picked up.I absolutely loved the way I first tried to figure out where this was taking place. Was it on earth? Somewhere else? When? How did it come to be...? Did any of that matter...? As I read on, and parts of those questions were answered I was very very pleased with the depth of the story, and so glad that there wasn't a flaky, thin, all-is-revealed at once to put it all together for me. It came together carefully, methodically, and at just the right pace.The fact that the characters in WOOL are just people, with no super abilities, paranormal talents, etc, makes them all the more important to the way you see them move through the story.While all of the books were gripping to me, I particularly enjoyed the flashbacks to see how it all came about. Without spoiling this particular part, I will just say that it was extremely well done and has some fantastic but subtle connections between the characters and story that could easily be missed. A great example of this: A sister of a congressman only gets mentioned briefly and almost as an aside in passing during a brief conversation, yet later you realize the implications of the circumstances and again have another "WOW" moment.Yes, I realize that was pretty vague, but trust me on it. If you miss it, my apologies, if you get it, no other comment is required..;)Well, this is by far the longest review I have ever written and I still feel like it is not even close to being as compelling and passionate as I had envisioned it when I decided it had to be done. But in closing just a couple of things to say: No doubt, this is a book I will read many times over, and as another reviewer summed it up so well, I only wish I could read it again for the first time.Will it become a movie? I don't know, but I hope so, but ONLY if it can be done well (an example of what it should NOT be like: Steven King 'The Stand' book vs. movie. The movie was an insult to the book in my opinion). The Scott brothers certainly have the ability to do it right. I actually care less about the movie possibilities than the fact that the deal may help Mr. Howey devote more time to writing! We will see.... Regardless of the outcome of the motion picture issue, I hope that Mr. Howey keeps this series going for a long time. I do understand that talented authors, artists, actors, musicians, etc need to move on and create new works and new characters and new stories, but the selfish part of me hopes this story will keep intriguing us and challenging us for years to come in new installments and characters and situations. The foundation exists in as solid a form as possible.In my opinion this is already a classic work of fiction, here to stay, and Mr. Howey should feel extremely pleased to be in this stratosphere of talent that comes along so rarely. These books will be talked about in classrooms, in living rooms, family rooms, bookstores, etc for a long time to come and I really hope you will enjoy them as much as I have.

I watched the Silo Series on TV and could not wait until the next season was written, produced and aired (especially with the writers/actors ongoing strike) so I just had to buy the book(s) to find out what happens next. I was actually clueless that the tv series was based on a book (a series of 3 actually) until my husband told me and was thrilled to discover that it was so that I didn’t have to wait for season 2!I could not put this book down! I’m passing it to my husband and beginning book 2 today! I was especially intrigue by the author’s “letter” at the end of Wool titled “A History of the Darkest Yarns” (I almost passed it by thinking it was the beginning/teaser of another of his books). Hugh Howey’s comments were so on point and really pulled me.This is a thick book (571 pages plus 13 more of Hugh’s “letter” - which is a must read) but it’s a real page turner! You won’t regret reading it!