Wool: The Silo Saga, Book 1
4.6 | 52,913 ratings
Price: 20.52
Last update: 04-23-2026
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- Derek J. JordanProbably One of The Best Sci Fi Series I have Read in A Good While!I ended up getting this edition after getting Wool for free ... and liking it enough to buy the entire series.. I reviewed each one as I finished, but I must say that this really is the best deal for the money.
For Wool:
This was good.
Short, sweet, and to the point. It peeked my curiosity and as well grasped my emotions - a perfect mix for a short story. It only took me a few minutes to read it, but was awesome the entire time.
It is sci-fi and plays with the human need for hope. I really would not like to go into much about what the book deals with, because it may ruin something for the possible reader. Just know that this has a great storyline and will really turn your head/ideas around.
As an afterthought.. it felt very much like a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode.
For Wool 2:
I liked this one very much... Not really as much as the first but with the way the first introduced this world... I was certain you could not follow it up better.
In this one you get a better idea of how the silo works and a more well rounded list of characters... Or maybe not... Maybe close to the same, but you can tell by the end that is is not really meant to stand on its own, but instead to grab a reader for the wanting of the next book.
I have to say that I really enjoy the writing style and like that each moment I am ready to guess the next more about the world, but also have so many questions that I want answered as well...
Something near the end has given me other ideas for a blog post and I am excited bout writing that.. Though I recommend having read this before that post. I will link to it when it is written and posted!
Language Factor : In reading it I remember one or two 'bad' words.. so .. know that .. but mainly the language is fine.
For Wool 3:
HOLY SMOKES!!
This is GOOD STUFF!!
I have to be honest.. This book was about to be a four star review.. I liked the second book and was glad for a continuation, but was really lost on where one could go from what the first one created. I was even getting a little bored near the middle of reading this one. But.. all changed shortly after that.. This one has sealed the plot.. has.. created such an awesome story. Maybe not something that was not a little predictable, but with such simple telling of the stories.. it was .. unexpected.
I am on to the next one!
For Wool 4:
We are now to the point where the story is just broken into pieces. It has been this way for the full five books but the end of three and in four it is even more apparent.
Once you have read the third, you are invested enough to read them all.. I am excited about reading the next one, the progression of story has been wonderful!
This particular one has had the most cursing... And I would not be surprised if the last one has even more (I was very wrong about this).
Still a great scifi read... If you have ever read The Lottery (likely for school) or maybe Harrison Bergeron.. And enjoyed them a tiny bit.. You will certainly enjoy wool.
For Wool 5:
Coming off of the awesomeness of all the previous .. this one could only be good... and it was. I enjoyed every bit of it. I am amazed at how well he tells a story. True.. I would have liked some other parts in there, but I can understand why they were 'left out' or truncated to a later 'explaination' stage.
The 'conclusion' of this series was wonderful. I still was surprised by the end. I know what I wanted and I have some pretty interesting ideas about the future of this world. I like what these stories sparked in my mind and would recommend them to pretty much anyone! - Ross B LampertLies, deception, and heroism--what's not to like?4.5 stars (but I can't do half-stars above!)
Wool is the title of both the first novella and the first five stories in the Silo series, and the book which rocketed Hugh Howey to science fiction stardom. Deservedly so.
WARNING: There are spoilers in this review. I’ll put them in ALL CAPS so you can spot and skip them if you wish.
Wool is the story of a large, thoroughly developed community of people (hundreds if not a few thousand) who have lived for a long time in a 144 story deep underground silo. ONE OF MANY, AS IT TURNS OUT, BUT THE RESIDENTS OF SILO 18 DON’T KNOW THAT THERE ARE OTHER SILOS UNTIL LATE IN THE STORY. UNTIL THEN, ONLY A SELECT FEW EVEN KNOW THAT THEY’RE “SILO 18.”
The silo culture is divided into dozens of functional groups: the Mechanicals live in the “down deep,” the lowest levels of the silo and keep the power, water, and air-conditioning flowing; Supply lives in “the mids,” and does what you’d think a supply organization does; the IT department lives in the lower portion of the “up top” levels and provides an early 1990s-era level of technology. There are porters, farmers, doctors, priests, and others, all overseen by an elected mayor and a tiny police force: one sheriff and three deputies, one in each of the vertical thirds of the silo. Why everyone lives in the silo is a closely-guarded secret, however, but everyone knows that the outside is deadly. They can see it, thanks to four camera lenses mounted on a tower that bring in a panoramic view of desolation in to the cafeteria on the top level.
Those lenses need cleaning every now and then, but cleaning is not a job: it’s a death sentence. The silo’s Supply and IT departments have the ability to create environmental suits that allow someone to survive outside—but they can’t be allowed back in. Most residents don’t know why, they just know they can’t be. So when someone is convicted of a particularly heinous crime, which does not necessarily include murder, they’re sentenced to clean the lenses, and then die when their oxygen runs out.
So you’d think the condemned would fight being sent out, yet they never do. For one thing, the air lock to the outside is cleansed by fire after the outer door is opened and closed. FOR ANOTHER, WHEN THEY GET THEIR FIRST LOOK OUTSIDE FROM THE AIRLOCK, WHAT THEY SEE IS NOTHING LIKE WHAT THEY SAW THROUGH THE OTHER LENSES. THE WORLD IS GREEN AND LUSH. THE BUILDINGS IN THE FAR DISTANCE ARE GLEAMING SKYSCRAPERS, NOT SKELETONS. AND SO the condemned people get to work, scrubbing furiously at the lenses with their wool cleaning pads, trying to show the people inside what’s really there.
Except it’s not. And when they take off their helmets, thinking they can survive, well, you can guess what happens. Until one person learns the truth. And then another truth. And another.
Wool is a story of deception and a desperate attempt to keep the people of the silo compliant with the rules as enforced by the mayor and sheriff, in part because there have been uprisings from time to time in the past—WHOSE HISTORY WAS THEN (SUPPOSEDLY) ERASED FROM THE ARCHIVES—and anyone who dared to mention them sent to cleaning.
For writers, Wool is an excellent story for studying world-building and character development. You’ll care about Sheriff Holston, and then your heart will break for him. You’ll care about Juliette, his successor and the protagonist of the story, and desperately want her to survive and succeed. And you’ll come to understand why Bernard, the head of the IT department, does what he does. He is the hero of his own story, and his story is rational in its own way.
One final note. A reviewer here or on Goodreads, I can’t remember which, took Howey to task because there was no wool in Wool. Alas, the young lady was wrong. There are two kinds: the wool of the cleaning pads, and the more horrific, suffocating wool that’s pulled over the eyes of almost all the residents. There is one problem however: while there is wool in the cleaning pads, there’s no mention of sheep in the story. But this one oversight is easy to miss and almost as easy to forgive.
Very highly recommended.