Shift Collectors Edition

The first 2 paragraphs don't have spoilers, but the rest DO. Before that, I just want to announce that everyone should read this book. It's utterly fantastic.I'm not kidding when I say that this book was the best read of the year for me... Possibly one of the best books I've ever read. Here I was thinking Hugh was going to keep going with the type of story and feel that he wrote in Wool, but then we came out of left field with something so unexpected, lovely, intense, and heartbreaking.(Oh, and Hugh, because I know you like to read these reviews, I just wanted you to know that I read chapter 99 with my Black Cat laying on my chest, making it feel like I got hit by a train. So thanks for that! But in all seriousness, chapter 99 was one of the best few pages I've ever read, hands down. Sometimes the thing you never knew you needed is the thing you needed most.)Spoiler AlertThis book was incredibly well-written. First of all, I love that he stuck with the "book in parts" structure. Wool was accidentally written that way, so Shift felt like it belonged, even though it wasn't written in separate parts like Wool was. The 3 silo stories he told within 1 book, with Donald as the backbone, were brilliant and made the book flow so fast.But the writing itself, down to each paragraph, was absolutely beautiful. Chapter 99 was one of the best-written few pages I've ever read. Not too far before that was a beautiful paragraph about saving birthday candles and what that symbolized. And there were countless other examples like this: short passages containing flashbacks or references that were so much more than just the reference, but a philosophical metaphor to leave you thinking. My wife kept asking over and over why I was randomly staring into space while reading, and I had to keep telling her that it was because Hugh kept making me think and reflect!I'm not sure how anyone could rate this book anything but a 5. The only negative feedback I've seen is in regard to the character development. But what these people have wrong is that the story isn't about the characters, it's about humanity, the silos, the legacy, and the future. Donald himself realized that typical extinction-level events wipe out the people, not the culture, and that the silos were doing the opposite. Donald's realizations in part 3 showed him that this project was so much bigger than him or Thurman or anyone else. None of this is about them, it's about humanity, what they have the power to do or not to do, and whether they have the strength to do it when it counts the most. So anyone who says that there isn't enough depth to the character clearly hasn't broken the surface of the story that Hugh is trying to tell. The fact that the story isn't undermined by character development for everyone is the very reason this book is so good.That being said, I'm going to play devil's advocate here and talk about how phenomenal the development of Mission and Jimmy was. We got Mission for all of part 2, and he was a somewhat standalone story that did inform the larger story. But his development, actions, and ending were beautiful and tragic. Jimmy, on the other hand, was the story I didn't know I needed. Honestly, I felt like I had enough of him after Wool. He was a mysterious character who satisfied me with enough of his backstory to assume we were done with him. He was only there to aid Jules' story, right? So when I was gifted an entire 3rd of the book to him, I was surprised but thrilled. We followed him for almost a lifetime, so much so that I felt like I WAS him. Hugh went above and beyond, even changing the way he wrote to be more ignorant, innocent, and immature, exactly how someone would be if they were forever a child. My favorite thing Hugh did was the way he brilliantly switched between "Jimmy" and "Solo." How Jimmy slowly became Solo, that realization sinking in over time, until he allowed the Solo persona to consume him. But then we got Jimmy back when he was no longer Solo: when he found his friend. And, as we all expected but hoped would never happen, Jimmy became Solo again, years later, when he lost Shadow. And, of course, we all know that once him and Jules got close enough, he became Jimmy again. Gosh, what a fantastic character.I'm sorry, I feel like I'm just rambling, but this book was just so damn good. Everyone should read it. I'm so pumped to start Dust tonight, but terrified of the story ending. But at least I have the Apple + show to look forward to!

I admit I did not read Wool as I'd already seen seasons 1 & 2 of Silo on Apple TV and figured I'd already seen most of Wool on TV. Knowing that the next season of Silo is years away I couldn't wait so I got Howey's next 2 books. This one starts off in "the before time" when normal people in the US Congress play their political games. It gives you the how we got here background for the silos we're all so familiar with.This sickening plot darkens as you read how the masterminds not only deliberately destroyed human kind on earth but callously have no restraints to destroying an entire silo of people because they begin to see through the façade. Even "the good guy" Donald isn't all that good being responsible for wiping out entire silos full of innocent people who just naturally want to know why.Eventually Donald's conscience gets him to conspire against the creators of silo life and he begins to see through the evil they intend. Silo 18 is at risk of being wiped out, a cleaner "Jouliet" has gone missing, and what will the evil rulers do about it all.This is a real page turner but don't expect to find many "good guys" in this series, they are hard to come by. A dark look into human nature and how easy it is to go from hero to monster at the press of a button.

I absolutely loved "Wool", the first book / omnibus in this story series. "Shift" is a great follow-up to "Wool" for a multitude of reasons, and Hugh Howey approaches the story with his signature mix of metaphorically rich narrative. He has seemed to tone back the descriptions and the more poetic nature of his story a bit, but it's still a perfect balance of symbolism woven mystery drama built on a captivating post-apocalyptic tale. All that said, however, there are some short-comings to this second installment, though not necessarily enough to warrant the loss of a star.---- WARNING: MILD SPOILERS FOR "WOOL", THE 1ST BOOK, FOLLOW ----In "Wool" the story centered almost entirely around the events at Silo 18, and then later, Silo 17. Towards the end of the book, it was insinuated that there was a central, controlling headquarters of sorts for all of the Silos. In "Shift", we find out that, appropriately, it is another Silo known as Silo 1. The story in "Shift" occurs in 3 sets of two halves each. In the first third or so of the book, the story hinges back and forth from "the past" (which is 2039 or thereabouts) and "present day" (in the context of this story, which starts at around 2330 or so). This part of the book is excellent, as it follows two different characters, one involved with the original design and implementation of the Silo project, and the other involved with the current oversight of the Silos, post-apocalypse. While the story could have easily devolved into a paint-by-numbers obligatory long-form exposition, the past-era sequences are compelling on their own, as they're fully developed with their own characters and climate, but also add, in bits and pieces, context for the events of Howey's Silo-centric world. And the present day sequences are excellent as a way to see past the veil created in "Wool" ... and brings a surprising amount of humanity to what was assumed to be a group of complete sociopaths.The next third of the book swings back and forth between two different "present days" (although now in the future relative to before ... you have to read it for it to make sense), where we see events from the previous Silo 1 character's perspective, but also from a young man at one of the many other silos in existence. This part of the book is pretty good as well, but ultimately feels a bit empty and unsatisfactory relevant to the first and last thirds of the book. Also, there's a certain plot point from this part that never really gets answered ...The final third of the book hinges back and forth from "present day" Silo 1 (now further, again, into the future) and a character known as "Jimmy Parker" in the past. It took me awhile to remember who this "Jimmy" was from "Wool", but once I did, this part of "Shift" provides some excellent context to events at Silo 17 and what occurred there. These sequences are also, of course, very poignant and at times, damn near soul-crushing.Overall, this was an excellent book. Hugh Howey knows how to weave a very compelling narrative through a mix of mystery, style, symbolism, and characterization. And while quite a few Silo Series level questions up to this point were answered, making this book feel like a (more or less) complete story on its own, he tactfully left a number of major plot points unresolved, drawing you forward into the next book. And of course, while it wasn't really a cliff hanger or anything, Howey ends this book on a very nice tie-in from "Wool", giving a hint on where the next book might go.Only a couple of things I didn't like: first, the narrative in this book, even after considering the clever time-period and character perspective switching, is a bit jarring. At times, it's a bit hard to follow, but Howey did his best to mitigate this as much as possible with clear references at the start of each chapter, and time / location stamps. Also, the narrative in this story tends to swing a little harder between "extremely clever and smooth flowing" to "somewhat repetitive and dull". There were sections in this book where I found myself growing bored or detached, but they were few and far between. Finally, there are certain plot elements that don't make sense here. Like flies, for instance ... how and why are flies inside of the silos? Or cats? Or rats? This isn't the 17th Century, where you have a big wooden boat that just about anyone and anything could get on. This is a military grade bunker that was tightly created, controlled, and manipulated from the beginning ... and almost everything was vacuum sealed for storage. The only way flies could have gotten inside these things was if someone let them in ... but then why? And again, I find myself cringing in a strain of disbelief about certain machines or automated processes surviving decades, even centuries, without human maintenance. I mean, LEDs are fantastic, but even they are only rated for 25 years ...Regardless, I highly recommend this book, especially to any fans of the first book, "Wool".

This second story in the Silo series met my expectations. It gives a.lot of the backstory, continues the saga begun in Silo, and creates excitement and tension. I look forward to Dust!

I like the suspenseful details, agonizing plot twists and sense of “this could really happen.” At times , I couldn’t put it down and other times I wanted to throw it out the window. Probably wait a bit before I read Dust.