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Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite
Wilma Dunn: Plumber of Crate by Nathaniel Hicklin is a refreshing, brainy sci-fi gem that trades lasers for leaky pipes and robot battles for rusted bureaucracy. In the deceptively peaceful town of Crate, Wilma inherits a job she barely understands—maintaining the delicate plumbing network beneath a society that runs on denial as much as water. With only her wrench, wit, and a growing sense that something is deeply off, Wilma slowly uncovers the cracks in this utopian veneer. Hicklin uses this quiet, slow-burning premise to explore big ideas: the hidden labor that holds up society, the cost of unquestioned order, and the bravery of asking uncomfortable questions.
Author Nathaniel Hicklin has a knack for making characters who are instantly easy to embrace, and he imbues Wilma with a rare and wonderful mix of weariness, curiosity, and understated courage that is easy to love and hard to forget. I was deeply charmed by the way her job becomes not just about fixing pipes, but about waking up to the deeper systems that shape people’s lives, and everything is explained with such natural context and dialogue that it's easy to get into her world. The humor is sly, the worldbuilding elegantly subtle, and the emotional payoffs surprisingly moving. Wilma’s journey is less about changing the world and more about deciding whether she is willing to see it clearly, and that question sticks with you. Overall, Wilma Dunn: Plumber of Crate is a quietly profound and sneakily funny sci-fi tale that finds power in the ordinary and courage in the curious.
