Back once more to our favourite unhappy place: the dystopian future. And yet again it seems that the authorities have been lying to us about the true nature of reality. This time – in Silo – the lie concerns the nature of the world outside the enormous silo in which our heroes and about 10,000 other survivors have been hiding for the past 100-odd years since some nameless apocalypse. Is it really as dangerous as the Powers That Be say? Or is this an illusion, maintained over a century of relentless official propaganda, designed to keep the enclosed populace frightened and in check?
Silo began life in 2011 as a self-published short story by Hugh Howey – called Wool, not Silo – which he put out through Amazon’s Kindle Direct. But his writing proved so popular that he landed a $500,000 print deal, as well, of course, as selling the film rights, which led to this all-star TV adaptation.
Is this Benny Hill-style slapstick or the Tokyo equivalent of Our Friends in the North social realism?
‘The books are SO much better,’ I’m informed by someone who has read them.
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