Story: 5 / 10
Characters: 7
Setting: 8
Prose: 6

A disappointment after The Silo trilogy. The concept is interesting, but the story simply isn't compelling and the pacing is weak. Wool readers will quickly figure out how Howey invented this setting.
Certainly will not forget sand diving though. ( )

Any interesting concept, but I struggle with the use of atomic weapons and what would be the fallout of its use? Especially in a distance so small from the "town points" but I do enjoy the feel of the madmax/waterworld/earth bending vibes.

This also feels like a YA novel, and some of the concepts reflect that but there are several points that are very dark and feel a little overly detailed.. but maybe that's just my sensitivity to the subjects.

I wish there are more explanation on the sand bending powers thing, because it feels like its not just a tech thing, but a power?

CW: Mentions of sexual assault, rape, graphic details of death or harm. ( )

Howey has created a world very different from Wool. The world of Sand is about life on the margins and doing whatever is necessary to survive. He's created a post-apocalyptic world where sand has overrun everything, and the inhabitants of what was once Colorado have to fight against the ever encroaching sand. The world before - our world - is buried under hundreds upon hundreds of meters of sand, and divers wearing special suits swim down into the depths to bring back remnants of the past to sell.

This is the story of a family of four siblings. The two oldest are divers, and some of the very best. The two youngest survive on their own in the town of Springston. Their mother is the owner of the local bar and brothel. Their father abandoned them years before, disappearing into the wasteland of No Man's Land, where no one has ever returned from.

I had a hard time reading this book. I got very invested in the characters, and kept having to put the book down because I was so scared horrible things would happen to them. But I almost immediately picked it back up again because it was so good.

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this book. It haunted me when I wasn't reading it, and after finishing it, it still haunts me. I've spent the past few hours staring at a map of the United States trying to figure out where the places mentioned in the story actually are. (I think Agyl may be Kansas City. I'm not positive, though, and it's driving me a bit crazy to not know for certain.)

I don't want to say too much about the plot because it really has to be experienced. It took a bit for me to really get into the story because it opened fairly early with a diving scene, and it took me a while to realize the characters were diving into sand and not water. But once I did, I fell into it headfirst. ( )

I really liked the set-up of this book. I found it very interesting. And I liked the plot and thought it was well executed up to the last...fifty or so pages where everything seemed so cramped and compressed and things just weren’t explained well. It got confusing towards the end and I wish the author had taken another 20-50 pages to really explain what was going on. The ending itself was okay...but would have been better if things had been made a little more clear. ( )

A post apocalyptic world where most of civilization is buried beneath hundreds of meters of sand. This is the story of the survivors caught in a harsh struggle without enough water and ignorant that there might be a world outside of the desert. Inventive world building and technology, especially the suits that allow them to slip into the sand a dive to recover scraps from the old civilization. Finished this feeling I should not come back and read more in the series. ( )