Review - Wool: The Graphic Novel by Hugh Howey

Wool: The Graphic Novel by Hugh Howey
Published: June 2014 by Jet City Comics
Source: Purchased
Rating: 3 Stars

Wool as you’ve never read it before: The New York Times bestselling novel is now told in graphic novel format. This contemporary dystopian classic—hailed by Justin Cronin, New York Times bestselling author of The Passage, as “an epic feat of imagination”—will captivate readers both familiar and new.

This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.



I am already a HUGE fan of Hugh Howey's Silo Series, so I decided to dabble in the world of graphic novels and see what I'd come up with. 

I'll admit, I'm still not a graphic novel fan, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this one. The pictures/paintings/sketches were just perfect for the book's bleak environment. I LOVED when at just the right moment, every picture was tinted different shades of red for a particular scene. These graphic novelists have perfect timing. 

The story follows the book fairly well in my opinion. I think I only remember one or two differences that weren't a big deal. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys graphic novels... especially if you also like the dystopian or post-apocalyptic genres. 

For the Love of Everything Dystopian

Last month I posted of my first love, historical fiction. Now I have to show my affection for my second love, everything dystopian/post-apocalyptic. I still remember years ago, slowing filling my bookshelves with stories of survival, bleak skies.. characters enduring hardships that make me feel brave by just reading about them. Here are a few dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels that stole my soul.

Wool by Hugh Howey

An epic story of life, love and survival at all odds and one of the most-talked and anticipated books of the year. In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo. Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies. To live, you must follow the rules. But some don't. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside. Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last.

I cannot express how much I loved this entire series. Wool is the first installment that kept me awake many nights. The world-building aspect of the novel is absolutely amazing. There are many characters to keep up with, but damn it was worth it. This is a lengthy novel, and so are the other two installments.. but I loved all the detail. It just made everything more realistic and believable. I urge EVERYONE to at least check out Wool, but I know if you do, you'll have to read the entire series!

The Passage by Justin Cronin

An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy - abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl - and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape - but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

This was another lengthly novel that I admit was a bit sluggish at times, but was once again worth it. I love how one of the main character completely changes his course halfway through the book.. and it felt completely genuine. A man decides to stake his entire life for one little girl. She may be the most special girl in the world, but to him, she was just a little girl in need of an adult. This story will always stay with me.

Into the Forest by Jean Hegland

Set in the near-future, Into the Forest is a powerfully imagined novel that focuses on the relationship between two teenage sisters living alone in their Northern California forest home. Over 30 miles from the nearest town, and several miles away from their nearest neighbor, Nell and Eva struggle to survive as society begins to decay and collapse around them. No single event precedes society's fall. There is talk of a war overseas and upheaval in Congress, but it still comes as a shock when the electricity runs out and gas is nowhere to be found. The sisters consume the resources left in the house, waiting for the power to return. Their arrival into adulthood, however, forces them to reexamine their place in the world and their relationship to the land and each other.

I remember reading this book years ago. Two sisters stay in the same house hoping and waiting for the power to come back on, for people to show up alive and well.. for anything normal really. Years and years pass and the sisters learn to live off their small garden and stock of dwindling supplies. The world is bleak and honestly, this book is as well. I think the realism and how the author didn't force a happy ending or any kind of "coincidences" of good fortunes for the sisters on us.

Review - Pure by Julianna Baggott

Pure by Julianna Baggott
Published: 2012 by Grand Central Publishing 
Source: Around the World Tours

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . . Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . . There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it's his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

This has literally been my favorite dystopian book of the year. Pressia is an amazing character who sees the world as it is and wishes to conquer it. And not in a "I'm the king of the world" kind of way.. more like a "I make my own destiny" kind of way. She is the voice inside us all.. the voice that tells us to push on and to acknowledge our faults and disabilities and to never let those bring us down.

The plot, the characters, the world building.. everything in this book mesmerized me. The mutated humans/animals, the people who were fused to objects when the world exploded... how did the author come up with these things?! Pressia was holding a doll in her hand when the skies erupted. She will bear the brunt of that little mistake forever. The dolls head fused with her hand and at the beginning she would always cover it up with a sock and would pull her sleeve over it. Others were fused to much worse. Or they had radiation poisoning so bad that they weren't really human any more. The children of these people are forever tainted with disabilities, but that it just a part of the world in this book. It is the norm. If you are a perfect specimen, then you are a pure, a person from the dome.

The dome was a safe house against a nuclear war, a natural disaster.. anything that could wipe out humans. But of course not everyone was allowed in when it was time. There was no pushing and shoving to get in, or special admission tickets. You were chosen or you weren't. The dome promised to reunite with those still on the ground, but none truly believed this. But some still harbored hope. Some like Pressia.

I don't want to give away even an ounce of this book to you. It is that near and dear to me. I can't wait for it to hit the stores so I can buy myself a brand new copy and send some to the people I know will appreciate it.