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.

Aftermath (Sirantha Jax) - Ann Aguirre

The final installment of the Sirantha Jax series. 

I loved this series - it featured a strong female lead, which is something I look for in books, who was by no means perfect, another thing that I enjoy in books. Jax is tough, a bit selfish at times, very devoted to those she cares about, but she grows and changes.  Jax started out as a very self-involved, egocentrical character who saved the universe by accident, but she becomes a much more balance character in the end.  It is something that annoys me in so many series when the characters never seems to learn or grow from their experiences, and yet, Jax does that.  Yes, like so many leads in series she does end up saving the universe, but she does it in the most backhanded fashion.

After surviving an attempt that to take her life, and managed to take the life of her lover, her holding in a psychiatric facility, her break from said facility, her involvement in a war, the bringing down of the universes corrupt government, the chaos that reignes, the creation of a new government, preventing the Morgut invasion, and  imprisonment for mass murder, Jax is back to save the Lehengri from their slavehood to keep her promise to her friend, Loras, and she does it in typical Jax fashion.  She tries to do it the right way, but everything ends up cocked up, and civil war is the result. 

I have to say, I identify well with characters who are very flawed, and not a little broken.  I enjoyed Jax's journey, and feel that this is a strong entry, and it had what I like in books, a happy ending.  Not a perfect ending, just happy. 

Another thing I enjoy in books is when all the lose ends are tied up, and I felt this was done very well in this book  I always wonder after watching a movie, and everything was blown up, or massive destruction happens, and it ends, well what then? What about the consequences?  Does the hero have to face legal consequences, explain to the police, retain a lawyer to explain the destruction and deaths?  Well, each subequent book in this series is dealing with the fallout and consequences from the previous book. 

I highly recommend this series. 

Below, I have linked to both the this book and the first book in the series.