Sand (The Sand Chronicles, 1)

I finished Sand this morning and was surprised to find a tear. I've wanted to cry from reading a book before, and did at the end of listening to 11/22/63, but never have while reading someone else's fiction. Sand Omnibus did that. I'm not sure I could give a stronger recommendation. Sand is King of the Hill for 2014's reading crops, and while it's early, I expect it to be up there for a good while. For those unfamiliar with Hugh Howey, more so than his accolades as a self-publishing phenom, are his gifts at making setting illustrate common human struggles and relationships that are closer to your heart than people you meet on paper should be able to evoke. While his successes are a sign of his talent, what you should be interested in when you hear about Hugh Howey is what it feels like to meet and weep with his characters. In his Silo series, (Wool, Shift, Dust), people were buried underground in a silo, forced to live in a trapped community afraid of breaking the rules for fear of being sent outside to clean and die. I loved that series most because of the romantic relationship Hugh created between adults and what it feels like to be in the void of separation from a loved one. In Sand, Hugh is focusing more on the relationships within a family, but he does it just as well. I love the experience of reading his stories. Their world is covered in sand. It has buried cities and continues to bury generations, leaving life as a constant battle to survive the day when most wonder, what's the point? "Conner crossed a low dune between a freshly collapsed house and a new one under construction. A handful of men were hauling material from the ruin and nailing it back together two dozen paces away, once again forestalling the inevitable. The most disturbing thing about the scene was how normal it seemed, how many times Conner had watched this play out in Shantytown, a ruin serving as the foundation for new construction. But now his mother had him seeing the commonplace in a new way. If anything, this alien view strengthened his resolve for that night's plans. It undid what a beer and rabbit stew with Gloralai the night before had started doing to his head." and then: "The men building the house from the remnants of a house, all these tasks that required doing over and over with no end in sight, filling canteens and eating, shitting, sleeping, looking forward to a weekend and dreading the week that would come after. Life was lived by sissyfoots, all of them. One bucket of sand at a time. He had to stop thinking like that. There was progress somewhere. Something better." Hugh's books are full of these kinds of moving passages, pictures that show us our world in his and make us want to take the journey toward happiness that his characters are on. Conner is an incredible character, and he's not the only one in this book. Conner is on the verge of manhood, abandoned by a father who left them to find "something better." He takes care of his youngest brother, Rob, while his older brother and sister have also left to find "progress." His mother, Rose, has changed since her husband left her alone to care for the family. She's callous to herself and to her children, leaving them to fight for survival on their own. The problem for Conner is he has a younger brother that needs him not to do what everyone else in his family has, abandon him. There is so much to discover by way of growing to love these characters. I don't want to spoil that experience for you. Read Sand and find out how this civilization has learned to dive through sand as if it were water and discover lost cities. Read for the answers to why the father left, to why the mother has pushed her children away, understand why and weep with them, hoping for a redemption story as you take their mistakes into your life and try not to make the same. Feel anew the strength of familial love and what it can do to push you toward a better, happier life. To break through the ceiling of impossibility. Sand is only the beginning. Hugh manages to make this an amazing experience and yet we have not embarked on the larger journey to overcome what seems impossible and yet must be. It must.

Cross-posted from Papyrus Independent Author Reviews. A dive in the sand for Palmer is not only a profitable venture, it's also his passion. The sand is the only place he feels at home. However, after being commissioned by a band of mysterious rebels, a lucrative dive job may end up being his last and a secret is uncovered that can threaten all he knows. "Sand" is a far future tale of an earth that has been buried. The sand dunes form the landscape and the scraps of a previous civilization form the major currency. The world Howey has created is completely satisfying as a setting for a gripping story filled with mysteries, conspiracies and danger. One of the aspects I enjoyed is that there was no attempt to explain why our previous world has been buried in sand. We are stockpiling post-apocalyptic lectures on the kind of future to which our present may lead us, so it's refreshing to bypass the lesson for a change and focus on the setting. The adaptation to a world of sand brings Frank Herbert's Arrakis to mind with a focus on civilisation rather than religion and prophecy. I also sensed a hint of the Dust Bowl era, with its poverty and pervasive grit. I found it clever to introduce several new terms for sand in its various manifestations; for example: "scoop" - sand that collects in boots, "matte" - sand that collects in hair. The ever-present sand promotes an entirely new vocabulary. However, the most impressive evolution in this sabulous environment is that of the sand diver. The mind-controlled technology behind the diving is only loosely explained which allows the reader to focus on transplanting a sub-aquatic experience to a subterranean context without getting bogged down in the technical details or possible implausibilities thereof. The plot is told from the point of view of three siblings within the same family. Palmer, the second-oldest kicks off the story by making a discovery from the past world which creates a threat to the current world. Conner, the younger brother makes a discovery from their family's past that helps to uncover that threat. And Vic, the oldest sister, processes both discoveries to fight the danger facing them all. That is, in essence, the story structure. Unfortunately, in the construction of the plot there are a few implausibilities that rankle. A yearly camping trip allows the only real opening for a message to arrive from the family's past and it feels both overly convenient and highly implausible. The motivation behind the threat posed to the cities of Low-Pub and Springston isn't terribly logical and the nod to David Lynch's movie "Dune" in the last scene of the book is downright silly. However, at the same time, the story remained exciting and totally worth the effort. Of the three main characters, Vic and Conner are probably the most well-drawn. Conner has to give up a future as a sand diver in order to raise the youngest sibling Rob and plans to abandon Springston to journey to the east - from which no one has previously returned. The conflict between his need to escape and his ties to Springston along with his development throughout the story make him interesting reading. The reader also gets a strong feel about the connections within the family through Conner giving his character a very important role in how the reader responds to all family members. Vic is a resilient and tough sand diver with more than one chip on her shoulder. Her past has its share of darker experiences and this plays out quite logically in her current status. She dates the leader of a rebel group taking risks for glory. She is separate from her siblings and, in particular, her mother - a well known brothel owner in Springston. Her deep sand dives are a form of self-validation where none was received from her father, an almost mythical figure in the story. The writing itself is exactly what I would expect from Howey after reading the magnificent "Wool" trilogy. He transitions smoothly between acclimatising the reader to a new environment and delivering a dramatic story. Revelations surface gradually with prose that is well-chosen and, thankfully, error free. I've written before about Howey that his writing gets out of the reader's way, so that focus remains on the story and characters and "Sand" seems to follow this philosophy. I would highly recommend this novel. The sand diving alone makes it worth the price, even if I have some issues with the plot. It does not look like this novel is going to form a trilogy or series, so for those who don't like committing to multiple volumes, this makes a great "dive" into an imaginative and worthwhile reading experience.

This is a dystopian world beyond imagining. Great ideas and a gripping read. Slightly quaint in some parts but I'm guessing it was written that way to round out the characters. Another great novel by Hugh Howey. I'm just wondering at the nuclear weapon though ???

Sand has a very different feel to Wool. It's a much grittier (sorry!) affair in many ways reversing the dynamic. We now have an open environment and a totally disorganised and essentially lawless society where characters fend for themselves, one dusty day at a time. It has a much more adult feel dealing with sexual themes and gory comeuppances and is littered with more swear words than you might be used to from this author but this fits perfectly with the world Howey has once again expertly built and while it may not be as intricate and detailed a world as that of the Silos it certainly feels much more grounded in reality for some reason. Not too much is explained about the technology, giving it an almost steampunk feel, we just know it looks cool and it works but we don't really need to know how. The beauty of Sand however is in the writing. There is a true emotion throughout as we see a disengaged family struggle to reunite only to risk being torn apart again by the forces working against them. The characters are subtly introduced and expertly enhanced at key points, not only building on their personalities and history but also keeping the plot flowing steadily. The vivid, contrasting imagery can shift from beauty to ugliness in an instant and back again seamlessly and there are some moments of - and I do not say this lightly- sheer brilliance in Howey's prose and for all it's rough and tumble, Sand has some well-placed and genuinely tender moments which at times can cleverly disarm the reader temporarily, leaving them totally unprepared for the next fiendish plot twist. But fear not, this ain't no sandy Seventh Heaven. Sand is a highly-charged, action-filled, thrill-a-minute, ass-kicking, jawbreaking blockbuster and makes no apologies for it. The panic and claustrophobia of the dives is portrayed perfectly and the tension is retained every single time a character dives into the unforgiving sand even if just for a moment, knowing the slightest error of judgement means instant death. This savage world leaves no prisoners and Danger brashly loiters around every dune and street corner. It's a world where it's much easier to look away than help and sadly this is already starting to mirror today's society, but as our characters prove, the most exceptional of circumstances can yield the most unexpected response from some people. If there was ever any doubt about Hugh Howey's longevity as a writer, Sand is proof that there can be none. Consistency is hard enough for a writer to achieve, constant and sustained improvement is another thing entirely. Now I know it's only January, but I think I've already found my Book of 2014.

Un'altra uscita di Howey in ambientazione post-apocalittica. Simile per certi versi al suo precedente Wool, anche questo non tradisce. La storia è avvincente e originale, ma quello che più apprezzo è lo stile della narrazione. Il linguaggio usato passa dal rude al letterario, senza salti. I personaggi sono solidi e le sorprese si trovano ad ogni passo. Da non perdere!

this trilogy is the best read I have had since the saga of the seven suns. it is a great read that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. just when you think you have a handle on the plot something unexpected happens and your back on the roller-coaster of the writer's imagination. I recommend this trilogy to anyone who lives a fresh plot and a lively read. a talented author whom I will be following from now on.

Ich muss sagen, die Geschichte fand ich schon sehr ergreifend. Ich bin nicht so der Leser (ein Buch pro Jahrzehnt) aber das war schon was sehr schönes