First published back in December of 2011, US author Hugh Howey’s fourth instalment into his impressive dystopian saga ‘Silo’ was entitled ‘Wool 4: The Unravelling’.
DLS Synopsis:
Juliette Nichols hadn’t cleaned. Worse still for Bernard, she had somehow walked over the crest of the hill and vanished from the silo’s sight. And he needed answers.
News of Juliette’s non-cleaning and survival past the nearby hill had raced down the silo and soon reached Mechanical in the down deep. A gathering met, with emotions running high from all those who had loved and felt that they had lost Juliette. How had she done it? How had she survived in the toxic world outside long enough to walk over the hill and past up-top’s field of vision?
And it was only at the arrival of old man Walker that the truth to Juliette’s survival was quietly spoken. Walker, who had cared so much for the young woman. Walker, who had called in all the favours he was owed from over the years. Walker, who had made sure that the parts that made up Juliette’s cleaning suit were replaced with Mechanical’s best of the best. Not IT’s parts that he knew were designed to fail. Not the death-trap that Juliette was meant to be sent out in.
Meanwhile, Juliette has found herself walking past the false beauty protected in her suit’s visor, and into a vast decaying world that stretches on as far as the eye can see. And as she moves onwards, she comes across something that completely throws her bearings. How can the silo entrance be here? How could she have gotten back to where she came from? Unless this is a different entrance. Unless this is a different silo. A silo built to the same specifications as the one she had just been expelled from. The same…but dead.
Back in the down deep and emotions are exploding in the cramped room as the lies and deceit that the workers have all been subjected to throughout their lifetimes comes crashing down on them. Knox, the Head of Mechanical, knows that what is being said is true. He knows they can’t just stand there and let IT keep on spreading these lies to control who they want; killing to keep their secret safe. Knox knows it’s time they stood up to those higher up in the silo. This is how it starts. This is how the uprising begins…
DLS Review:
From one hell of a nail-biting cliff-hanger to a whole new instalment bursting at the seams with twists and turns and mind-boggling revelations. Author Hugh Howey has pulled out all the stops in this fourth instalment; delivering a storyline crammed full of excitement and vengeful retaliation.
The book is split into three distinct parts. Firstly, you have the expulsion and unprecedented survival of Juliette, whose dramatic entrance into another nearby silo unlocks a whole host of interesting twists in the whole storyline. Secondly, there’s the growing involvement with the character of Lukas, who Bernard Holland has suddenly appointed as his new Shadow. And finally there’s the tense and explosive storyline surrounding the sudden uprising. With Mechanical and Supply joining forces and storming up the stairwell to finally stand up against IT.
This is certainly the most dramatic instalment in the series thus far. It’s intense and exciting, with twists and turns and sudden revelations thrown in throughout its length. And the action and throbbing energy of the novel just keeps on building.
Howey successfully wraps a thick blanket of tense atmosphere around the chapters detailing Juliette’s survival. It’s dark and bleak, with Juliette’s hope of making it, only ever just a faint whisper. And with her arrival in the dead silo, comes a whole new set of questions. The whole thing just keeps of unravelling...
The novel runs for a total of 151 pages.
© DLS Reviews
Other ‘Silo’ instalments:
- ‘Wool 1: Holston’ (2011)
- ‘Wool 2: Proper Gauge’ (2011)
- ‘Wool 3: Casting Off’ (2011)
- ‘Wool 4: The Unravelling’ (2011)
- ‘Wool 5: The Stranded’ (2012)
