A review by serenhybrid
Shift by Hugh Howey

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I was disappointed by this after the strong start of Wool and think it suffers from "middle book syndrome". The political machinations and world building are excellent, as they were in Wool, but there are too few characters for such a long book, and sorely lacking in female characters. 

A large part of the book focuses on a character and story we knew a lot about from Wool, and that I didn't need to know any more about. Cutting that entire section would have made for a much better and easier read, rather than slogging through decades of grief. 

The time span of the book is hard to comprehend but generally well managed, although I did a lot of checking back to Wool when I had forgotten character names and Silo numbers. You don't want too much of a gap before reading Shift after Wool! 

Shift has definitely got me excited for the third book, Dust, and I'm still so invested in the characters and plot. How on earth will this end?!

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