Hugh Howey first published Wool as a series of self-contained chapters for download to e-readers, and had not considered print until approached by a publishing house. The resulting novel has been a critical and popular success, and is one of the best books I have had the privilege to review in a long time.
What is left of post-apocalyptic humanity huddles within a massive silo deep beneath the poisoned ground.
The origins of the Earth's collapse are lost in the past, and life within Silo is all its inhabitants have ever known. The only reminder the outside world exists is by way of viewscreens which show the bleak, lifeless landscape far above.
In such confinement, it is essential to maintain peace and order, a state achieved by a mixture of legal sanctions and a selfæimposed ignorance. Anybody who breaks the rules or dares to ask forbidden questions is sent outside to clean the external cameras. Even those who swear they will refuse this final task and just walk away change their minds when they reach the surface.
Despite this, things reach a breaking point every few generations and a wider rebellion breaks out.
Wool details the beginning of a new cycle of discontent.
One of the corollaries of serialised publishing is that each instalment has to leave the reader eager for the next, and the resulting novel is tense and fast-paced.
But there is also room for some complex character development, and as the plot unfolds it becomes far less black-and-white than it initially appears, becoming as much a study of moral compromise as dramatic action; under what circumstances do the means justify their ends? Is it better to withhold information to maintain control, or risk making it available even if it leads to despair?
• Cushla McKinney is a Dunedin scientist.
