Wool

Five stories originally self published singularly, now collected into a 500+ page volume. Added to my reading list early on, but I held off when the next in the series was published. Now that the series seems complete, and televised, it's time to get to reading this.

I'd just abandoned a Hugo award winner that was bogged down in world building and politics. This book has those elements also, but incorporates them into the story and builds them with action. By comparison, these stories make up a much better book. While it didn't net a Hugo, it did collect a few people's choice awards.

The first story would stand alone, and maybe the third. The book (omnibus) stands alone, though I want to know more about this world where the rude computer geeks seem to have all the power. Class differences are emphasized. This would be less believable in an ordinary community of a thousand people, but having to walk up and down a long spiral staircase literally stratifies this community - a clever decision by the author.

Probably another thing that resonated with me are the engineers, especially Jules, who ends up being the main character of the collection. Will definitely read the rest of the series, and probably soon.