Wool by Hugh Howey

Wool
Hugh Howey
2013, Random House, London
9780099580485
537p.

A dystopian, post-apocalyptic tale of a society that lives entirely in an underground silo. The outside is contaminated by some type of toxins and is said to be uninhabitable, but criminals are sent outside to 'clean' grime from view screens. A few inhabitants begin to question this, and other aspects of the society.

This was a relatively quick read and quite enjoyable. Which I found surprising because I really don't like the person who gave me the book! haha! The pace was a bit uneven at times, parts could have used a bit more editing. I also feel that some parts were perhaps not logically thought through as they made no sense if you start really thinking about it. Again, something that could have been solved by another edit pass. But overall, great story, interesting characters, and relatively unique premise.

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Hyperion
Dan Simmons
1989, Headline, London
0747234825
502p.

This novel tells the stories of seven pilgrims who are on a journey to a planet called Hyperion with a mission to prevent an interstellar war. Hyperion is reminiscent of The Canterbury Tales in its style.

Apart from geeking out that this is basically The Canterbury Tales set in space and in the future, I did really enjoy the individual tales and the intricate universe that Simmons has weaved. I particularly enjoyed The Priests Tale - a story of an indigenous and deeply religious tribe on a remote planet and the priest who went to study them, The Poets Tale - a story of a lost muse, and of course The Scholars Tale - a story of a young woman who is met with a rather unfortunate temporal mishap.

I ws impressed with how delicately the individual tales were drawn together to form one narrative. This is an engrossing book and, although it is much longer than I usually like, I did not want it to end. In fact, I really rather want to keep reading.