Shift By Hugh Howey

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 Alert

This 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!

The shift continues the story, it fills gaps but still takes you along on an adventure of discovery. Emotional and yet thrilling, the story raises questions. Would I do things differently? I’m in a hurry to download book 3……

Hacía mucho tiempo que no me metía tan dentro de un libro. He leído el primero de la saga y este. Durante 3 días he estado enganchado, no podía esperar a saber más sobre cómo avanzaban los personajes y el misterio detrás. Casi me cuesta una discusión con mi novia y el trabajo, pero ha merecido la pena.

En concreto, Shift es una precuela de Wool, pero muy necesario para entender el origen de todo y preparar el terreno par el desenlace en Dust.

First of all, it is a prequel. That can be disappointing to some people because Wool finished with a suspenseful situation and all you want to know after reading Wool is what the hell happens next. But on Shift that time line is suspended, and we are presented with two parallel time lines that date before the events of Wool.

I enjoyed the first third of the book because it was fast paced and puts us right into the moment when the silos were being built. I thought that was great, because I also wanted to know how the hell those silos got there. We are not presented with the full explanation of the project at first, but little bits and pieces are being told throughout the chapters. We get to know this side of the story through the eyes of Donald, an architect who becomes a congressman without never wanting to be one. In my opinion he is a depressive character because he actually doesn’t question the reality enough. He innocently goes along with the construction project of the silo, which he was told at the beginning to be only an emergency facility. Later on the finds out that they build 50 of them, all buried. And he had no idea of the real purpose of the project.

One thing that stills bugs me is the explanation of why the silos were built. Actually, we get to know that Mr. Thurman is probably the creator of the idea of the project: in order to combat a powerful threat (something about a nano-weapon that contaminates the air and kills humans) the solution was to blow everything up (throwing bombs) and house the remaining humans into the silos. That was something that pushed me to continue reading chapter after chapter, because I really wanted to know the real purpose of the silos and, above all, what exactly happened outside! Is the air contaminated? Is there still green grass? What happened to the other humans? Are there humans left? What happened in other countries? Many, many questions…

One thing I enjoyed in this book was the delicious short chapters. It may be a characteristic of Hugh Howey, as I could experience in the first book. I think the short chapters helped me devour this book, because when the third part begins (Third Shift – Pact) the pace of the story is slowed down, and Donald gets even more depressing. I can say that my favorite character plot was that of Jimmy (aka Solo). It was depressing too, because, well, the guy is left alone locked inside the server room, while their parents got killed and he stays inside to wait for things to get better. But I think that as the character grows and develops we understand his misery and loneliness and, in consequence, feel for him.

By the end of the book I got slightly annoyed with some decisions Donald made, [like murdering Anna and Thurman without getting more information from them. But I think I can imagine that Donald was already completely out of his mind after all the things he went through. After all, the guy was woken up from the deep freeze at least three times and with scrambled identities.

The last chapter annoyed me even more with the introduction of Juliette (the engineer from Wool) making the connection with Wool, and then the abrupt ending, just like that. At the same time that I was excited for the story to go on I was a little tired of knowing what happened with Solo up until that point.

One thing that fascinates me in the Silo world is that humans beings started living in a confined space, with rigid rules, methodical chores, social stratification and they could be happy living there, without questioning much. Of course, there were ways of manipulating and controlling them, like the chemical or equivalent that was put into the water they drank. What terrifies me is that at the same time that it seems a highly improbable reality it could be true.

The minute I finished reading “Shift” I started reading the third book in the series (Dust) because, well, I am an extremely curious person!