Review: Wool 5: The Stranded

Last Updated on Thursday, 12 April 2012 09:21 Written by Kadomi Friday, 6 April 2012 03:17

Wool 5: The Stranded by Hugh Howey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Attention, review contains spoilers for the previous 4 novelettes.

Ultimately, 4.5 stars for me.

Wool 5 is considerably longer than the other stories, at about 40% of the whole Omnibus edition. The last part ties it all together and brings it to a satisfying conclusion. It leaves plenty of room for more stories though, and if I understood the author correctly, there will be more stories set in the same world.

Wool 4 had a number of diverse sets of story, and The Stranded brings it back together. We have the uprising that has been pushed back into the down deeps, in the heart of mechanical, where Juliette’s friends fight for their survival. In the mids, we have Lukas, Bernard’s chosen successor, the one who is to uphold the silo Order and Legacy. And then we have Juliette herself, the first person from silo 18 to survive a cleaning who has made her way to another silo and is now trying to get back home.

It’s a bit depressing, it’s got its thrills, and you never know how it might turn out. At the end of it, I was ready to read more, and find out how the folks in silo 17 are doing. Maybe I’ll get my wish. Maybe we’ll find out about silo 1 one of these days. I would like to.

Wool is definitely worth reading, but anyone who’s read my recent reviews knows my opinion already. It’s not a letdown that, say, Mockingjay was, in a way. For its super-cheap Kindle price alone it’s worth checking out. Have I convinced you yet?



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