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So, I have finally finished ‘Dust’ the final installment in the Hugh Howey Silo trilogy.  It felt like a long book this time around, but I think it was becuase there was so much to absorb, so much to tie up and quite a few supporting characters to remember.

Jules is barely hanging on to her seat as Mayor of Silo 18 and knows something is out there, something is up and also that her people are being controlled.  She is determined to explore ‘the outside’ and to go further than any other in Silo 18’s history.  To explore outside her own world.  It is here that Hugh Howey cleverly explores how people deal with change, with the threat of death, with the threat of losing control.  Some rely completely on faith, some would rather stick to the world they know and wait it out, others like Jules want to fight for change and some just want to take what they can to survive and to hell with anyone who gets in their way.

Silo 18 is under serious threat and from her previous adventures in ‘Wool’ the Mayor knows that not only does Silo 17 need their help more than ever, but that the other Silo could also be a shelter and a salvation for her people.  So, she gathers a small army and they dig through to Silo 17.  Throughout the book, as one adventure and goal is reached another shows itself and with every new goal a piece of the puzzle is revealed and the more powerful the threat looms.

I admire Hugh’s attention to detail, the intricacy of the Silo maps, the storylines that thread seamlessly through each book and the fact he can create so many characters and give each one of them a face and soul to be imagined by the reader. Whenever I put the book down my mind would wander to present day wars and what would or could happen in the future if we aren’t a little kinder to each other.  What would happen if war did spiral out of control? If genetic engineering shaped us instead of natural selection and evolution?

Thankfully I don’t need to worry about it in this lifetime but can explore the possibilities and my own imagination through this book.  A great book and a solid trilogy you will go back to time and again, even if you aren’t a Sci-Fi fan.

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