Wool By Hugh Howey

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

 

I expected much more from this book after hearing so much about it. It was all right, don’t get me wrong, but definitely nothing I just have to recommend.

The pacing is just so slow. A lot of it does have to do with world-building, I do understand that, but it just didn’t really pick up at all until the very end. Even then, the action was overwhelmed by descriptions and a million characters that could have easily been trimmed out. What I think the novel needed, more than anything was a good editor who could get rid of some of the extraneous information and characters that got in the way of the real story, starting with the whole beginning chapter. The rule of thumb is that if any section in a book, or character, can be removed and the book still make sense, then it should be removed. There were a lot of things that could have been chopped out of this one. 

None of the characters were truly developed. Since there was so much world-building, it is hard to get to know the characters as more than action pawns the author moves around from scene to scene. In particular, the “relationship” between the protagonist and Lukas made no sense. It was insta-love for adults and…no, just no.

I don’t think I’ll be picking up the other two books in the series. They are just too slow paced to hold my interest.