Wool Omnibus Edition - Hugh Howey

I like dystopian future novels.  I just discovered this in the last few years, as I find myself reading more and more of those.  This is definitely in that category.

What if, you lived your whole life in one huge building.  You can't leave because the outside is a poisonous waste land, and you know this because their are huge view screens that show you this poisonous wasteland, and you also know because every so often people as punishment at sent to clean the lenses of the camera's that show you this great outside, and despite heavy protective suits, they die within moments of leaving your safe confines - and you know this because their bodies are left outside as moldering mounds.  Your parents never left, their parents never left. Generations have been born, lived and died in this confined space that revolves around a central stairwell and about 150 floors.  That to walk from top to bottom is a 2 day journey.  That your religion teaches you that god created the Silo, and that this is where you were meant to live.

Now imagine you live in this place, and you discover something.  And that discovery makes you think that maybe the outside isn't as bad as it is believed.  That maybe it is all a lie.  And you beg to go outside, and you do go with the promise to your loved one that you will return for him/her.  And after a few years of waiting and missing you, your loved one, despite daily seeing your fallen body, nestled in the curve of a hill, decides to follow you out.

This is Wool. This is Silo 18.

Now you follow the spunky sheriff who didn't want to be sheriff as she discovers secrets, and she herself is sent to Clean, that death sentence for those who can't fit into the closed confines of Silo 18.  And what happens when someone actually refuses to clean.  To pull the wool pads from their neatly numbered pockets on their heavy suites and just walks away, out of sight, the first ever.

I was captivated by this book.  I really like spunky Juliette, brilliant, bitter, hard worker, stubborn, Juliette.  I liked Holston, sad, lonely, lost Holston who followed his wife into the poisonous world.  I admired hard working Jahns, who does what she can to make her world safe and keep her people safe,and who is determined to be a better mayor.  And Solo, lonely, mostly mad, Solo.  The story is improbable, but the characters are memorable, each with their own flaws and strengths, and this speaks to people who stand up to make bad situations better and all the people who quietly live their lives and make the most of a bad situation, and still find quiet happiness.  This book explores what keeps oppressed people from rising up, and improving their lot - fear and belief.