Shift - BookWyrm.World

Ian Brown reviewed Shift by Hugh Howey (duplicate)

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.

Otts reviewed Shift by Hugh Howey (duplicate)

Apathy gets you power

2 stars

Part 2 of a trilogy, this one depicts how we got to all of the events in Part 1. More of a near future scenario with white guy protagonist™️ constantly failing up until he has the power over all of our lives. None of the characters are particularly sympathetic, and like the first book, some parts went on too long: could’ve been a full third shorter at least. Curious if the TV show is any good.

Anthony Burgess reviewed Shift by Hugh Howey (duplicate)

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.

xian reviewed Shift by Hugh Howey (Silo, #2)

Review of 'Shift' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Excellent continuation of the Silo series.

coral reviewed Shift by Hugh Howey (Silo, #2)

None

1 star

I'm not buying the third book in this series, though I'll probably borrow it from the library, because a friend of mine wants to discuss the series.

I won't put any more money into Howey's hands, because I am PISSED about the way Howey, who wrote a fairly gender-balanced first book, silenced and disempowered the women in this one.

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*** SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER ***

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So, in one of the timelines, all of the women are asleep. Literally asleep. I kept reading, though, thinking "Well, maybe this is necessary for some kind of narrative device." But, no, it's only necessary so that we can be surprised by the villainy of one of the only two women who get to wake up, the whore in the classic virgin/whore dichotomy that so many male writers rely on.

One timeline has to be from a male …

I'm not buying the third book in this series, though I'll probably borrow it from the library, because a friend of mine wants to discuss the series.

I won't put any more money into Howey's hands, because I am PISSED about the way Howey, who wrote a fairly gender-balanced first book, silenced and disempowered the women in this one.

.

.

.

.

.
*** SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER ***

.

.

So, in one of the timelines, all of the women are asleep. Literally asleep. I kept reading, though, thinking "Well, maybe this is necessary for some kind of narrative device." But, no, it's only necessary so that we can be surprised by the villainy of one of the only two women who get to wake up, the whore in the classic virgin/whore dichotomy that so many male writers rely on.

One timeline has to be from a male point of view; fine, that was set in the first book. His murder of the pregnant woman, unknowing as it was, was unnecessary, but ... fine. OK.

And there was a third timeline, a timeline that continued forward from one told largely from a woman's point of view in the first book. But, no, this one, too, was given to a male voice, and ended with the violent death of a woman.

Ugh. Just, ugh.

LC

rated it

Nov. 19, 2013

pinkpusheen

rated it

May 16, 2018