When a free-thinking woman is hired to be the sheriff of a
self-sustaining silo world, a revolution is sparked in part one of Hugh Howey's
epic novel Wool.
Inside the Silo there is order, and that order is kept by
adhering to the PACT and to the ORDER and to a set of rules. One of the worst
crimes in the silo is voicing a desire for a better life. When the job of
Sheriff becomes vacant, the current deputy does not want it and recommends
Juliette Nichols for the job. Juliette, daughter of the man who keeps the
silo's nurseries running, is not anxious to leave the mechanical level of the
silo where she's worked for years tending to the respirators that recycle the
Silo's air, but is eventually convinced to take the position.
Her decision upsets the delicate political balance inside
the self-contained structure and leads to consequences no one could expect.
Soon Juliette is asking a lot of inconvenient questions about how the Silo came
into being and other secrets that the people in power have kept from its
inhabitants.
Howey's "arkology" is set some few hundred years
in the future. We’re not sure exactly where we are, although at one point, a character
sees a map with ATLANTA written on it. There are some nice world-building
touches here, including a ritualized funeral that includes throwing vegetables
and fruits into the grave to symbolize the circle of life.
