Wool Omnibus Edition

Book: Wool Omnibus Edition
Series: Silo Saga
Author: Hugh Howey

Review: 'Wool Omnibus' Edition is a collection of short stories in the Silo Saga. Set sometime in the future, modern civilization as we know it has ended. People are living in a 100+ story silo (imagine a huge submarine where the top level few levels are above ground, everything else is underground) and the outside air is poisonous. Anyone who challenges the hierarchy in the silo or expresses interest of leaving, is sent to "cleaning", essentially their death outside the silo.

I'm going to review each story separately. Overall, I enjoyed the book.  

Part One - Wool 5/5
This was excellent. The sheriff's wife, an IT specialist, essentially committed suicide years earlier and he is finally asking some questions and making decisions for himself. A sneak peak at the world of 'Wool' and made me want to read more. 

Part Two - Proper Gauge 3/5
The mayor and sheriff's deputy travel deep down in the silo to recruit a potential candidate for sheriff. There is a lot of world building here and the ending was good, but it was really boring.

Part Three - Casting Off 4/5
Juliette is the new sheriff and we see the silo through her eyes. She is inquisitive and starts to research things that quickly get her in trouble. The 'big bad' is more fully introduced, although he doesn't come across as a real person through the dialogue. I really liked it overall. 

Part Four - The Unraveling 3/5
Finally-some real action! Although it was relatively predictable and I was thrilled with the uprising, I found myself rolling my eyes everytime Bernard and/or Lukas were in a scene. (**spoiler alert**: I find it highly unlikely that Bernard could have traveled down to the lower levels and murdered someone without anyone seeing him. Seems like there are people everywhere).  And while I was excited about the different storylines, I came to the realization that I just didn't care about any of the characters (no, not even Juliette). I burned through the first three parts quickly and couldn't wait to keep reading. 'Wool' lost it's zing in this part for me. 

Part Five - The Stranded 4/5
I have conflicting feelings about the last section. While the first 4 parts were definitely short, this was almost a short novel. I have nothing against that, but the writing style seemed to change as well. It was overly descriptive in parts and I found myself constantly taking breaks because it couldn't hold my interest. I'll still rank it a 4 because the ending was very strong in how it related to the main characters. 

Overall, I give the series 4/5. I plan to read the prequels and I really hope I really fall in love with some of the characters. Definitely a unique book that I've already lent out!