Oof, where to start.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was another one that I was very eager to read, and that I had trouble putting down!

Wool sets the scene in an underground silo, Silo 18, and we’re introduced to the post-apocalyptic world that this book is based. We meet Holston, understand who he is and who he’s lost, and are quick to feel no small amount of empathy for him and his situation.

But this is not just his story and it isn’t long before our point of view changes to follow Juliette Nichols, who is also easy to become fond of. She’s a feisty and hard-headed mechanic from the lower levels of Silo 18, and I was rooting for her success from the get go. She’s an incredibly capabale character, self-efficient and smart, handy and highly proficent. It’s hard not to cheer her on.

Reading her journey was, at times, something quite frightful, and seeing what she went through, the trials and the dangers that she faced, had me quite apprehensive for the outcome. Especially when it became clear just how beloved and important she was, both to the people around her and to the Silo itself. The people of Mechanical love Juliette and they are fiercely protective of her; willing to make dangerous moves and speak certain dangerous words of hope, if only to keep her safe. It’s also obvious how integral she is to the running of the Silo; capable of complex problem solving and integral maintenance work.

In general, I really liked how the story didn’t rush into things too quick and, instead, was slow to get going and took its time to introduce us to the world that Howey had created.

It was gradual in how it established to readers the reality of what it would be like to live in a concrete facility built deep underground. It sprinkled the lore steadily and let us learn naturally alongside the story progression, which is my favourite type of worldbuilding in a book!

When an author takes their time with their work, the twists and turns feel earned and the audience is kept guessing. It’s rich in engagement ability and encourages the reader to keep going out of curiosity and the need to find out more! I personally find that when books lore dump within the first chapter, that it feels rushed, and almost undeserved: I don’t even know anything about anything yet! Slow down!

So, yeah, I much prefer a story that gives things time! It’s as though I’m going on a journey with these characters and it feels like a well-earned breath of fresh air.

The themes also felt very grounded and well developed, and I rather felt that there was a constant undercurrent of dread running through the book. Like the feeling of electricity in the air before a storm, or the wait before the drop on a rollercoaster.

There was an ever-present undertone of helpless doom going on. The state of this alternate Earth only exacerbates it all the more: the surface of the Earth is entirely uninhabitable, left barren and desolate from human activity. We learn that the screens that broadcast views of green hills and blue skies are fake, which only makes the lived reality all the more heartbreaking. The remains of humanity find themselves, essentially, imprisoned, within these concrete coffins.

Considering what our Earth faces today – war, climate change and the general degredation of our natural world – what I read rang like a warning bell to pay closer attention too. It seemed like a poignant, pressing, and very relevant message.

The humans living in the Silo are told that the world outside is toxic, but their need to find out if this is the actual truth is overpowering. But such hopeful thoughts are forbidden, and anyone who even voices such optimistic belief of repopulating the surface, faces incredibly grim (and what I think to be quite cruel) consequences.

In fact, the only time where it is permitted to step outside, is during Cleaning Day, when the Silo’s cameras need to be cleaned from the filth and grime outside. It falls to anyone who shares their hope of a life on the surface to be the one to do it. Except, it’s a one way trip. A death sentence.

Desperation clings like a second skin in this book.

And I really shared this despair with them: because I love the outdoors! I really can’t get enough of Mother Nature. I had never felt so at ease, so calm and at peace, as I did walking the West Highland Way last year! That felt like freedom to me, truthfully. And so I cannot, for the life of me, imagine living in a world where nature erodes so completley and irreversibly.

I think in that situation, death would be a mercy.

The world that Howey built is bleak. But it for sure has you coming back for more, and I am eager to read the next installment, if only to chase that very same hope that the inhabitants of the Silos harbour so dearly; I want to read more, in eager anticipation, believing that the Earth will fight to become inhabitable again!