I Changed My Mind

I'd said I was going to re-read the Wool series by Hugh Howey once I'd finished Thrall, but as I was flipping through my Kindle last night, I found this book that I'd started and for some reason I'd set it aside after only three chapters. 

I decided to read it instead.  I went ahead and started over, since I was still so near the beginning, and quite frankly, I'm not too impressed so far.  Honestly, it reads like the store brand version of The Hunger Games. 

Let me know what you think.  The story is set in a typical post-apocalyptic world, in which 98% of the world's population was killed in a war.  The surviving 2% are divided into two groups:  the Elites --who live in opulence in a city called Olympus, and the Producers--who live in abject poverty in numbered districts -- each district producing a specific thing.  Our heroine lives in District 9, the agricultural district. 

Each year, the producers accrue points based on how hard they work, and on a day called Selection Day, the district which has the most points gets chosen to participate in a lottery, in which one person will be chosen to move to Olympus and become an Elite.  

This year, our heroine whose name, oh by the way, is Silverstasia Blackwood (how's that for a ridiculous name?) has just passed her seventeenth birthday (of course), and is eligible for the selection for the first time.  Miraculously, she is chosen, but refuses to go.  A couple of days later, the district commissioner comes back and tells her she has no choice, and basically takes her into custody and transports her to Olympus. 

That's as far as I've gotten, and I hope it gets better so far.  There are five books in the series, and I don't see myself paying full price for any of them.  Maybe they'll get put on a daily deal, because that's the only way I'm going to buy them. 

This is going to be short tonight, because I have me a case of the epizoodies.  I don't really feel that bad, just fatigued, with a bit of nausea, diarrhea, and a cough.  No fever or body aches or anything like that.  In fact, I wouldn't even have noticed it if so much stuff hadn't been been going around the plant:  flu, COVID, Strep -- you name it, someone probably has it.  It's a veritable primordial ooze of germs out there. 

Heck, they've got so many people out sick that they've started bringing back some of the ones they'd laid off last fall.  

Not really.  I'm pulling your leg.  I mean, they are bringing some workers back, but not because of people being out sick. I'm hoping that means work is picking up some.  Or maybe they're just replacing people who'd retired or quit....I don't really know. 

Speaking of retiring, Nick Satan has announced he is retiring.  That ought to shake things up in the SEC. 

I guess that's about it for today.  I'm going to go curl up in the recliner and watch some TV until time for bed.