Shift

by Hugh Howey

paperback, 576 pages

Published March 22, 2016 by John Joseph Adams/Mariner Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-544-83964-9

View on OpenLibrary

(17 reviews)

4 editions

technicat reviewed Shift by Hugh Howey

Continued great world-building and plenty of twists

4 stars

I had to read this book after the first volume in the trilogy (which I had to read after watching the pilot of the Apple TV series), but at over five hundred pages and introducing a bunch of characters and timelines it was a bit of a slog getting through it. Still entertaining and fills in much of the backstory that was purely speculation in the first book (probably from the author, too, as this all started with just a self-published short story that served as the first few chapters), but also feels kind of like a homework assignment completed. I'm ready for the final book, though!

Ian Brown reviewed Shift by Hugh Howey

Shift happens.

4 stars

Content warning Mild ones, really, but maybe read the book first.

Not quite as compelling as the first, but man, still a mind-bender. Mild spoiler here is it does travel into the past. One of the things that makes "Wool" so good is it is entirely in the future. That provides the prose some latitude and that can help make or break a book when it starts to get into the awkward drama around social mechanics and institutions we are already familiar with. Anyway, before you read this write down the Silo numbers from wool, and the names of the key characters. Also don't look up anything online because spoilers abound.

Anthony Burgess reviewed Shift by Hugh Howey

Don't know why people like this so much

3 stars

Don't get me wrong, world building is good and Hugh Howey does a good job doing just that, but I didn't get hooked at all. I was looking forward to finishing it. I personally know people that loved it and were happy to start with the next book as soon as they finished this, but that wasn't me.

The story is just dragging along, nothing that exciting going on, the plot is also relatively unsurprising. I started this book and it read like I'm just going through the motions. It's probably just not my jam, but I have to admit, it's well written in a way. I can see what people might enjoy about it.

I am not able to really recommend it, but I can also not recommend against it. I guess my opinion on this is just not interesting.