This is part 8 of the Silo Series, which began with Wool.

    And then she met the stranger from off-world. He said he was a Crystal Singer - one of the unique ones of the Galaxy - and when Killashandra tried to find out what a Crystal Singer was the answers were vague, obtuse. All she could discover was that they were special people, shrouded in mystery, and danger, and beauty and something altogether incomprehensible. It was then that she decided she too must try and become a Crystal Singer - with all the dangers and gruelling demands made of the elite and glittering ones of Ballybran. This is the story, of Killashandra and the mysterious exploits of the Singers.

    Connell sends us through the complete experience of a man initially intrigued and then enslaved by art: a curious interest, a rapt fixation, and the becoming of a connoisseur. The Connoisseur trails the evolution of Muhlbach, an insurance executive on a business trip in Taos, New Mexico, who develops an obsession with pre-Columbian figurines after meandering through a curio shop. Entranced yet bewildered by his sudden affinity for a little figurine, Muhlbach succumbs to his intrigue and, thirty dollars later, begins his journey as a connoisseur.With superb delivery and subtle clarity, Connell allows us to see and feel Muhlbach’s emerging mania, with its impending tension and sudden exhilaration. He illustrates how a new fixation alters our lens on life and shapes our actions.