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This was my first Hugh Howey book, aside from his short story [b:Glitch|22578294|Glitch|Hugh Howey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1407019309s/22578294.jpg|42046362]. I was impressed enough with that short story that I was ready to dive head-first into one of his longer works, and this was the one I happened to pick.
I'm now realizing that "dive head-first" was perfect wording...
To start with, I was very impressed with the world-building in this story. Howey didn't bombard readers with loads of exposition at the beginning of the book; instead, he gradually revealed information about the environment, sometimes through dialogue and sometimes through someone's internal monologue. I personally found the world to be very intriguing and thought the idea of sand diving was really unique.
The plot began as several separate and sort-of-unrelated stories from the POV of each of the main characters, but as the story moved forward, their paths began to cross and events in one person's life began to affect the others. I've always been a fan of stories with structure like that - it's like putting together puzzle pieces in order to see a bigger picture.
I've gotta say I was a little disappointed in the ending. I didn't think there was quite enough closure. Some other reviewers complained about never finding out where the sand actually came from, but that didn't really bother me (to my surprise!). I felt like everyone's character arcs were completed and we got some closure on that front, so that was nice, but I was left with some questions regarding the actual plot. The story attempted to answer these questions with speculation on the part of the characters, but I thought that was kind of unsatisfying.
Regardless, I enjoyed Howey's world and characters and writing in general, and I'll be checking out more of his work in the future.
I'm now realizing that "dive head-first" was perfect wording...
To start with, I was very impressed with the world-building in this story. Howey didn't bombard readers with loads of exposition at the beginning of the book; instead, he gradually revealed information about the environment, sometimes through dialogue and sometimes through someone's internal monologue. I personally found the world to be very intriguing and thought the idea of sand diving was really unique.
The plot began as several separate and sort-of-unrelated stories from the POV of each of the main characters, but as the story moved forward, their paths began to cross and events in one person's life began to affect the others. I've always been a fan of stories with structure like that - it's like putting together puzzle pieces in order to see a bigger picture.
I've gotta say I was a little disappointed in the ending. I didn't think there was quite enough closure. Some other reviewers complained about never finding out where the sand actually came from, but that didn't really bother me (to my surprise!). I felt like everyone's character arcs were completed and we got some closure on that front, so that was nice, but I was left with some questions regarding the actual plot. The story attempted to answer these questions with speculation on the part of the characters, but I thought that was kind of unsatisfying.
Regardless, I enjoyed Howey's world and characters and writing in general, and I'll be checking out more of his work in the future.