Wool Review: 'If the lies don't kill you the truth will.'

Hi readers,

As promised, I finally finished reading Wool and I'm reviewing it today. For me, this is my favorite novel of the year and probably will become one of my all time favorite books. When people asked what I was reading, I'd tell them the basic plot in a few minutes and then expended on it for much longer! At the end I'd add that it's the kind of book I wish I'd written. That really just goes to show how this book made me feel. Luckily, there are two more books, so I won't have to say goodbye to it just yet!

If you are currently looking for a good, length book to take away on holiday, then I'd so recommend Wool. I'm taking the second one away with me next week. The minute you start reading, you get gripped into the world and the characters' lives. This carries on through out the novel and at the end it leaves you wanting more. I think what most surprise me about this novel is that though it's genre is dystopia everyone can read and understand it. This is because the force is mostly on the characters and their discovers about the world they live in. The dystopia does come through strongly throughout, but as the action deepens for the characters you just get lost in what's happening to them, more then the background.

My second surprise was that the Silo series is actually nine novellas divided into three books and that the first one was self-publishing on Amazon Kindle. The book become popular and Hugh Howey wrote more and got a publishing deal. He's now also signed the rights to movie. It'll be interesting to see that when it comes out. Once again though, its interesting to see that there is a growing trend of writers being picked up via self-publishing.

The plot of the novel appears simple on the surface: the earth has become inhabitable and people have moved underground. They live in silos which are carefully divided up and go deep down into the earth. They live by strict rules and most of them are fine with that. Those that break the rules get sent outside to clean the cameras the allow the people keep an eye on the outside world. They are also destined to die.

The first novella, Wool, tells the story of sheriff Holston and his wife. They uncover a part of the silo's and the world's past that has been hidden away. They can't really tell this secret and it ends up sending them both outside to clean. This secret is then re-discovered by two other people; Jules and Lukas, whom the second and third novella's follow the stories of.  I'd love to write more about the plot, but I really don't want to give anything away!

The characters are really well written and they are easy to get along with. The background characters also come across as being realistic and they all add a lot to the plot. I really loved all the characters and could connect with each one. Jules was my favorite though and she is an awesome female character. With her being the main character, a lot of time is spent with her, but this works out nicely because of the things she uncovers. The antagonist characters (bad/evil) are understandable too and you do start to see things from their point of view, even though their actions seem wrong. 

The narrative is all third person and switches between a group of characters. This works out well because all the points of the plot get covered and a lot of characters get to share their experiences, (as it were). The characters voices can be heard clearly through the dialogue, which is also really well written. It has a gritty realist feel to it and all the voices come across as being very different from each other. Something else I liked about this novel. The narrative flows well between the different scenes and the words feel like they have a lot of movement. Some jargon and science fiction terms/words are used, but nothing heavy and they are easily explained. That just adds to the world that Howey has created.

Lastly, the imagery that gets created by this novel is big. It feels like there's a lot going on all the time, but because of all the description and details, the images are easy to create in your mind. It's not overburdened with them and just feels right for this kind of work. I can easily see how this would make a good movie and when reading it almost feels like watching one. 

Overall, I would strongly recommend Wool to everyone. The dystopia genre might not appeal to everyone, but this novel is about a lot more then that. It's about family, friends, survival and choosing your own destiny. The novel is wonderfully written, the characters are so realistic and the plot is hard gripping. I'm so looking forward to reading the next books now. 

Image from: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wool-Trilogy-1-Hugh-Howey/dp/0099580489

Up And Coming Posts

Hi readers, I thought I'd put together a list of all the posts I'm planning to do in the next few months/the rest of the year. This is also because I've not finished the book I want to review. The other book I thought about reviewing today, I've not read in a good few years. Even though it's by one of my favorite writers, I realized that I so needed to read it again to get the review right. So, I thought I'd do one of these posts again and make a list of things. Hopefully it'll help you as well as me! Please note these are not in any order, beside from the first one.

Book reviews 

1. Wool by Huge Howey.
2. Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite.
3. Shift by Hugh Howey.
4. Dust by Hugh Howey.
5. Batman and Dracula comic book trilogy.
6. One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (Japanese Manga)
7. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (The Novel)
8. Rapture by John Shirley (Bioshock Novel)
9. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
10. Soulless by Gail Carriger.

11. Phoenix Rising by Pip Ballantine.

12. The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow
13.Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
14. About a Dragon by G. A. Aiken.
15. Prince Lestat by Anne Rice
16. The King by J .R. Ward.

Other Topics 

1. Has education made us hate literature? (My Opinions)
2. How To: Promote Your book.
3. Editor Jobs.
4. Proofreading Jobs.
5. Ghost Writing Jobs.
6. What other jobs can writers do?
7. Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition.
8. Writing Promotes.


Images from:
http://sablegrey.net/home/?page_id=20

Weekend In London

Hi readers,

I just spent the weekend in London with my boyfriend for my birthday. We had a great time and there was a lot to see and do! It was hard to pick out the four things we ended up doing, but I enjoyed them all. We traveled down on Friday and enjoyed being in first class. The two hours flew by and so did some nice countryside. The hotel wasn't that far from Euston, but with all the bags we decided to grab a taxi and it was nice to see London going past the window. We stayed at a Raddison Blu Edwardian hotel which was close to the theaters.

We went to the British Museum and spent a lot of time wondering around looking at all the different displays. My favorite part was the Egyptian room. I also liked the Roman room too. There was information about the archaeologists and explorers that discovered and brought back the items, which was very interesting. The museum was really busy and it was hot too. We didn't actually get to see everything because we only had an hour or so before we had to get ready to go out.

We had a posh Chinese meal and then went to watch Les Mis. It was really good and I enjoyed being a part of it. I didn't do much singing though! Being on stage, brought it more to life and enchanted the experience of watching the musical. They added a couple of songs which just created a flow into the next one, so I didn't mind that. All the actors were really good and the singing was perfect.

I do enjoy going to the theater to see plays and musicals. I'm sure in the future I'll go more often and there's a lot more out there I want to see. My boyfriend wanted to see The Book Of Moran, but we couldn't offered to go this time. Hopefully, it'll come to Manchester as staying in London is expensive!

The hotel bedroom was really nice though and I did get some sleep before we went to breakfast the next morning. I had pancakes which were amazing. We then headed out for a full day of walking and being being on the Underground. We had planned to go to the London Eye and the zoo, luckily they were on the same underground line, so we could easily get to them from and back from the hotel. Also we had pre-booked tickets for both, which provided to be so worth doing.

We arrived at the London eye way early, so got to walk up and down, before we went on it. I enjoyed doing this and I got to stand on the bridge across from Big Ben. There was a great view of the wheel and Westminster from there. It was mega busy though and there were people everywhere. It was also hot, though we did have a sharp shower later on. We went to pick up the tickets for the Eye and it was really busy and even more so when we had to go and queue up to get on! The fast track tickets cut the waiting time in half or even less and we were soon stepping on the wheel.

The view almost straight a way was good and as the wheel went further up, it just got better. You could see so far and get a good view of London. There were screens in the pod and it showed all the important buildings. It did start to rain a little once we reached the top and started coming down again. This meant that the view of the other side of the pod was rain splattered. The rain stopped when we got off, though I would have been happy to have gone around again!

We then caught the underground to London Zoo. I was really excited as I love zoos and seeing all the animals. We had to walk 15-20 minutes when we got off the train. We stopped in a coffee shop for a drink and homemade cake. When we got to the zoo was I starting to get tried. The weather was also starting to turn. We went to the Aquarium and reptile house, before going to see the monkeys and gorillas. They were inside and mostly sleeping or high up in their enclosures. We left and went to see the Pygmy hippo talk. That was interesting and we got to see the hippo eating and laying in the their 'hot tub house.'

Heading back to see the penguin talk we went to the see the fruit bats. I really like bats and find them fascinating to watch. It was too dark in their cave to take any good photos though. We also stopped for ice creams. It felt like we were in the queue for them for awhile. Not because it was busy, but because the staff were slow and they were also making milkshakes. We had just enough time to eat before we went to the penguin area. The talk about them was really good and it was very popular. We got to see the penguins diving for fish and also eating them out of the keeper's hands.

At the end, we went to the butterfly house which was just behind the penguins. I love butterflies and could have spent a lot longer watching them. My camera ran out of battery at this point. I wanted to go and see the big cats and the other animals that were on the other side of the zoo, but my feet were really hurting. We decided to head back in a taxi and get ready to go to an American Diner tea.

  The next morning, I so didn't want to get out of bed. My feet were still hurting and we'd had a really late night. However, we had to go to breakfast, pack and check out by 11am. Having slowly done this, we left our bags at the hotel and went to the National Gallery. It was a few minutes walk away at Trafalgar Square. When we got there, we found that there was an event on for the Tour De France and the place was noisy and packed. The gallery, though quieter was just as busy. Though I did enjoy looking at paintings and galleries, I ended up sweeping through most of the rooms. Sometimes it was hard to see a painting because of a cluster or tour group of people standing in front of it. However, it was good and I left feeling impressed by the art I did get to see.

It was then time to say goodbye to London and ahead back home to Manchester. I had a really good time and I enjoyed the parts of London I did get to see. Next time I go, I'm so going to Highgate Cemetery!

Photos are all authors own. Permission need to use.