Review: Adding to the Wooliverse in Style! Great Addition.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2013
As a huge fan of Hugh Howey and an early reader of the magic that is the Wool Universe (yes, I do have a T-shirt!), I was a little hesitant to delve into the fan fiction that began cropping up for fear of it skewing the near perfect world as yet created by the original author. But with the end coming soon in the Hugh Howey offerings, I decided to give it a go. So far, I certainly haven't regretted it and this is a fine addition to the Wooliverse.Karma, as she is known now, isn't really named Karma at all. But then again, we know from Hugh's books that things certainly are never what they seem in the worlds of Silo. Karma finds herself pregnant and then remembering, much like another pivotal character in Hugh's work starts to remember. Of course there are consequences to remembering and Karma finds herself wondering who she can trust and how much she can trust them. She's stronger than she seems (particularly when reading about her as a side character in Hugh's stories) and we get the first installment of how it has all played out from her point of view.Sorry, so very sorry, to be cryptic like that but if I say even just one word more I'll ruin it for any Wool fan who has read all the books. You'll figure out who it is. So, if you're a Wool reader take this advice: Buy it, read it, fill in a gap you know has been missing and be happy you did so.Excellent first part of the tale that is exceptionally well written and flows very nicely. The writing style is different from Hugh's which is actually a good thing. It makes this character, one that didn't get full treatment in any Wool/Shift book, really come to life and in her own way. It works.I suppose there are one or two questions that I have lingering, which is pretty standard for any Wool/Shift book, but I remain hopeful that this is addressed in later installments. Primarily, if the water (and we all know what they did to the water) is possibly dangerous for the unborn, then wouldn't there be problems with babies and children? That tends to be a fairly common trend with medicine and I would have expected it to be particularly true given the *type* of treatment included in the water. Also, why weren't pregnant people watched more closely or did this one occur so quickly that they simply didn't know the effects were as complete as they were?Regardless, I really enjoyed this and was sad to see it end. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for the next installment, you can be sure of that. Highly recommended for fans and previous readers of Hugh Howey's Wool/Shift series but not for those not already familiar with that series.