Wool

With a goal of reading more books in 2025, I solicited ideas from folks on Mastodon and mentioned I was enjoying shows like the sci-fi series Silo on Apple TV. Brian Bennett recommended the book it is based on, Wool by Hugh Howey, which happens to be a 3 part series. Growing up as a teenager when I used to read a lot there was nothing I loved more than a series I could dig into and as it turns out not only did Howey write these three but several other authors have taken to writing books set in the "Silo Universe". I doubt they'll capture my attention as much but for now I'm already on to book #2, Shift, and figured I'd write up my thoughts on Wool.

I began reading this book as we were nearing the end of season two of the television series, which happens to line up nicely with the first book. It's an interesting thing though reading a book you're actively seeing play out on screen. As you'd expect there are some deviations, areas where the show has taken the story in slightly different directions or on a more minor scale changed the gender of particular characters. I feared I would not find the book as interesting as the television show, or even the reverse, that I would find the book wonderful and thus begin to loathe the television adaptation. In reality, I think both stand on their own and there were parts of both that worked better.

I certainly won't give any spoilers but I think the way season two of the show ends was much more dramatic than the book, although the book left no cliffhangers as to the fate of particular characters. I can understand why a season finale would given they've signed on for at least 2 more seasons. The book wraps the story up at the end with little fanfare and it's unclear if there's any more story to tell. In fact, I think the dramatic conclusion represented little more than the last handful of pages and was a bit of a letdown given the book is not short by any means.

Speaking of short the book began its life as a short story which the first section of the book represents and it's a great standalone story. The author self-published it and apparently it just kind of went viral from word of mouth as more and more people picked it up and subsequently begged him to write more of the story.

I'm on to book two of the series, Shift, and I have to say this one has captured me in a far greater way. I'll write more on it once I'm done and already I wonder if my enjoyment is at not knowing what's coming next or the fact that it's a prequel that finally tells the backstory of how the world of Silo came to be. Either way I'm enjoying the series as a whole and would recommend it, particularly if you end up watching the TV series and like it.