Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Shift by Hugh Howey

11 reviews

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved the first novel in the series and felt like I couldn't put it down. I still enjoyed this novel but it did not feel as gripping as the first one did.

After about the 40% mark, I felt like it started to drag, get a bit convoluted, confusing, over-explained (but also some parts not explained enough). I feel like it's better to leave some mystery if the explanation is confusing/ murky/ not great. I think the difference between Shift and Wool might be because the first novel was originally a collection of several novellas combined? I think Shift would have benefited from being a lot shorter/ tighter. Shift just didn't fit together as nicely as Wool did. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what Dust does to wrap things up. 

The Jimmy/ Solo parts really reminded me of the Jimmy/Snowman character from Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, but going into this detail about Jimmy made me wonder why Jimmy wasn't completely unhinged in the first novel when he met Juliette. He has been all by himself for 30 years. 

I enjoyed the Donald/ Troy reveal but while interesting it wasn't surprising. 

I wish the love between Donald and his wife had been more detailed/ believable because it didn't seem to make sense why Donald was so upset at loosing her (enough to kill) when it seemed like he was almost about to cheat on her at the beginning. I feel like I didn't understand why Donald was angry enough to kill, especially like the only ally/ person he liked from the before times. This was disappointing because I thought the depiction of romance in the first novel was pretty good. 

I also wished we had seen more of the impact that murdering had on Donald and Jimmy. Especially Donald because he seemed so blase about it! 

Also wished the Mission plotline had connected more? While I absolutely loved seeing the twist of them being reset, it felt like it should've connected more? Also did not get how they were reset. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Medical content, Murder, Confinement, Excrement, Genocide, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

sophieamreacher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Slow at times but intriguing, upsetting, and thought provoking. It will be interesting to see where book 3 goes. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Medical content, Abandonment, Abortion, Police brutality, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Mental illness, Alcohol, Drug use, Excrement, Vomit, Child death, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Rape, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Death, Misogyny, War, Body horror, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Genocide, Kidnapping, Gore, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

forestghouls's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

I didn’t like it as much as “Wool”. It definitely suffers from Second Book Syndrome. Although I thought the story about Solo was interesting, I don’t think it added much to the book overall. I wanted to learn more about the Silos, the purpose, and Donald’s reason for existing and his character development/ goals. Instead, the ending was padded with a backstory of a character seen at the end of the first book. I understand he could come back in the next book, but I think Donald’s story was more important for this one. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death and Animal death

ella_bibliophile_98's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Went deeper into the reason behind the silo in book 2 which is interesting but also hard to follow at times due to the introduction of a few new characters 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Death of parent, War, Animal death, and Suicide

jessy4550's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Vomit, Gun violence, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Confinement, Gore, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Chronic illness, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

tomnoor's review against another edition

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Minor: Animal death

ceryni's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Animal death

emilystewart's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Animal death

kirchnerkd's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment and Sexism

Minor: Animal death, Excrement, and Genocide

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Finally got up the courage to finish this one off!!!! It deals with one of my greatest fears, which is being alone, and I was not in the mental space to handle it there for a while. This is a solid continuation from the first book; it's actually a prequel that catches up with the timeline of Wool by the end. A lot of interesting political commentary and some deep psychological stuff in there too!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Animal death, Genocide, and Death of parent

Minor: Blood and Animal cruelty