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.

Khe - Alexes Razevich

I do love books that have unique views.  I do like standard sci fi and fantasy worlds as well, but I really enjoy a world that is based in nothing I have ever seen before.  And Khe delivers.

Khe is not only the name of this quick read, but also the main character.  She lives in a commune with other doumana (females) of her species, and will only see a male once a year when she mates.  Very communistic - everyone has a job, and everyone works.  They art tutored to find joy in hard work and sharing.  They share a house with their age mates, and those become their closes friends and comrades.  They are also the first to go to the commune leaders if they believe one is acting odd.

The world has  an odd mix of high technology - moving cities, advanced medicine, advanced power supply, access to their version of TVs, and low technology - they do a lot of their work very manually, they create their textiles in old fashion ways, and they live very simply.

Khe is unique though - when she comes of age, she does not feel the urge to mate, to return to her birth place and create life with a male.  And this colors the story, and the rest of the story hinges on this and Khe's search to be normal, and ending up being anything but.

A bit on Khe's people - these are not humans.  They are another species on another world completely.  And it becomes obvious not in only in how they are described, but in their mating rituals - where once a year, they feel a strong urge to return to the place they were created, and choose a mate.  They do not give live birth, but lay eggs.  They do not raise their young themselves, but the eggs are distributed among the communes, and their is great competition to receive more eggs in the communes.  The only time during the whole books we see a male of the species is during mating.

This is really a story of finding one's gods are anything but, and learning to live without the tampering of one's 'gods'.

BTW, this book in the e format is only 99 cents on Amazon.  An amazing price from an author I would love to hear more from.

The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archives #1) - Brandon Sanderson

This is a book that seems to be going absolutely nowhere....But I still really, really liked it.  The characters are fascinating and the world (as is true with all that I have read by Brandon Sanderson) is unique - the magic, the world, how the world works, and the peoples.

I love that about Brandon Sanderson that he creates the out of the box, not standard fantasy worlds, and I always want to know more about his world. In this world, it is world ruled by violent storms called the High Storms that come on a regular basis, and all the animals and plant life are adapted to these storms, and so have protective shells that plant and animal alike can retreat into to weather these harsh storms.  But on the plus side, these storms provide the magic for the world through the energy they bestow.

His characters are wonderful as well.  I want to know what is happening next, what the character is going to do, how they are going to achieve their goals, what motivates these people.  This book does have a myriad of characters - it is almost like he saw how popular George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series is doing with its myriad of characters and constant shifting view points, and thought he would adapt that to his own world view.  It works. I am waiting to see if he is as ruthless with his characters as George RR Martin is in the Song of Ice and Fire series.

All that said, I still have no idea where this books is going, or what the purpose of the story is.  I have a general idea - a big event is on the horizon, but not how the characters are linked to it.  It really seemed that this is a book that is going nowhere, and yet due to the wanting to know more about the world and the characters, I could easily over look that flaw because it is just a pleasure to read.

That said, I am anxiously awaiting the next in the series.