Sand: Omnibus Edition

By: Hugh Howey

Narrated by: Karen Chilton

Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

We live across the thousand dunes with grit in our teeth and sand in our homes. No one will come for us. No one will save us. This is our life, diving for remnants of the old world so that we may build what the wind destroys. No one is looking down on us. Those constellations in the night sky? Those are the backs of gods we see.

©2014 Hugh Howey (P)2014 Hugh Howey

New world, not as compelling as Wool

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It's value neutral, no time lost and a little bit of a gain.

What was most disappointing about Hugh Howey’s story?

Sand doesn't stand up to Howie's first series of books (Wool, Shift, Dust). The world building and character development are lacking compared to the riveting Silo world of Wool, which was enjoyable and addictive. You cared about the characters in Wool even if the lines between good folks and bad eggs were a bit simplistic. In this book, more of the same of that but without the same general development and attention to detail. The people and the world of Sand just exist (despite all the action) and are not as compelling.

Slight spoiler as example:

The glaring treatment of Mom as Dystopian prostitute is just hammered home (no pun intended) every time the character was in the scene or beyond. Her children, near and far, do not have an interaction with a friend or stranger without their mom's (survive or perish) profession being thrown in their face as a slut-shaming joke. I mean it, every time. It's lazy, clumsy, and somewhat awkward until it becomes distractingly annoying.

/End spoiler.


While I've never found Howey to be sophisticated in his handling of adult relationships or sex in general, I thought he was better than this.

What does Karen Chilton bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She did a great job. Howey writes straightforwardly and without flourish (or variety) and Chilton bought the story to life and made it what I think would be a better listen than read. I did listen at 1.25 narration speed but it was not due to the narrator (it worked well at both speeds) but the writing.

Could you see Sand: Omnibus Edition being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I kept thinking of Kevin Costner in Postman and Water World even though the only middle-aged man who is a 'would be' a main character is but a distant memory to the family in Sand. This not a good sign. I'd much rather see Wool as a mini-series!

Any additional comments?

I'm on the fence about the rest of series, even though the story picked up at the end with some of the most thoughtful writing and the only real moments of intrigue in the book. Like the best of Howey's characters though, I do have hope...

Ugh. Hugh, what happened?

What would have made Sand: Omnibus Edition better?

I am normally a big Hugh Howey fan, but what the hay? This was a very interesting story line (as usual) but it felt fragmented and disjointed. I really could have cared less what happened to the main characters. Although Karen Chilton is a fine actress, there were just too many mispronunciations (three when I quit counting) for me to get past. These were not terms or character portrayals, just things a director or audio editor should have caught. What a bust, the two star rankings are only because I think there was potential for both the story line and the acting, but it just didn't cut it.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something other than scifi/fantasy.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Mispronouncing common terms that had nothing to do with the story line or characters. She just blew it on the read and no one seemed to catch it.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Emptiness...why should I care what happens next?

Any additional comments?

Skip this one unless it's on the $4.95 sale rack and you can't live without knowing.

Nothing Here to See...uh Hear

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Better characters, plot, premise.

What could Hugh Howey have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

To be honest I stopped listening after 3 and 1/2 hours. The story went no where and I did not care about the characters. Also, way too much pontificating about the hardships of life. It is so difficult to imagine that he wrote the Wool series which is just spectacular.

What aspect of Karen Chilton’s performance would you have changed?

It wasn't bad given what she had to work with.

What character would you cut from Sand: Omnibus Edition?

All of them. I cared for none of them.

Any additional comments?

Well if you are like me and just assumed authors of great books (i.e. Wool) always write great books, well this is proof that not everyone who writes a great series can be a Brandon Sanderson.

Almost a 5 star

I almost gave up on this book and asked for a return credit but I kept listening and in the end I'm glad I did. The first half of the book was confusing and irritating because of the constant introduction of a huge cast of characters and the constant jumping around between time periods and characters. I had a hard time keeping track of everyone and ended up starting over several times just to figure out who the characters were. Some books you can let the words flow through one ear and out the other and you still know what's going on. Not so with Sand. One must pay attention to everything. About halfway through the story all of the pieces came together and I was totally hooked. This was my first Hugh Howey book and I am going to try another.

Awful

I am very tolerant of mediocre writing if the story is a good one. But I could not get past the grade school prose to find out if there was a story at all. Lazy and hackneyed. I cannot believe this is some kind of series. I cannot imagine suffering through it.

Gritty tasting

This was lack luster at best. I couldn't grasp any interest in the characters at all. They seemed boring and flat. The story dragged two chapters later and she was STILL describing the same scene the same concept... the same. It could of been a four hour book. The narrative was blasé and I kept falling asleep. Then I'd have to go back just to see what I had missed except it was nothing and i wasted my time. This is the third Hugh Howey book I've tried and the third one I haven't thought wow what a book! Next time i'll skip mr Hugh Howey.

Interesting idea for a story

I bet it would be hard to follow up Wool and the rest of the Silo series. Though it may not be as good as Wool, Sand is a very interesting concept for a book, I just wish that Howey would expand on the story a little more....and he just might.

Awesome!

This latest book by Hugh Howey is well-written, and extremely well-narrated. Karen Chilton's voice matches the landscape of heat and sand, I honestly could not imagine a better narration. As far as the story, words don't describe how well Hugh Howey makes the people and environment so real you feel you are there. I LOVED this book.

Texture and Nuance

Long after an extreme ecological disaster, survivors in what was once Colorado dive through a sea of sand dunes to unearth artifacts and some clue as to how they got there and what future they face (if any). Hugh Howey's second post-apocalyptic series after Wool/Silo is similarly nuanced and textured, but less concrete, lacking the kind of answers we come to expect in this genre.

That's not a bad thing at all. There is great artistry here, and the answers to what happened and what is to come are not the point. If you're a fan of Wool and expect that kind of writing, you will not be disappointed -- although, as Howey has said in an interview, the two series are in a sense opposites, Wool being about totalitarian rule, this one being about the absence of any social order.

If on the other hand you're looking for a more straightforward cautionary tale, you have to look elsewhere. And even though I knew what to expect and enjoyed it for its nuance and poetry, I was still left feeling that I wanted to know more about what happened -- hence the four-star rating. I am a fan of ambiguity in art, but this one, despite the presence of both style and substance, was perhaps too opaque in that one respect.

This is an omnibus edition, collecting a series of stories previously published on their own, which is a key element in the texture of the tale. Early entries are told from the point of view of different members of the same family of sand divers, later entries jump around between them. That too figures into the ultimate whole, which turns out to be greater than the sum of its parts.

very nice story, interesting and good characters.

What made the experience of listening to Sand: Omnibus Edition the most enjoyable?

i felt that it was a fine listen. the story was fun and innovative and the narration was fantastic.
it was like it could have taken place in the far west of the same world as wool.
good book

What about Karen Chilton’s performance did you like?

smooth and easy with good pacing