This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Shift

In Shift, readers will follow Donald. A politician skilled in architecture, who takes on a peculiar but at the time unalarming job. After all, planning new structures isn’t completely out of the way for political figures. But as the project progresses and Donald realizes what he has helped build, the chain of events will already be set in motion. As the remaining population is given medication to forget, there are some whose memories can never be erased.

As a prequel to Wool, Shift will reveal the origin of the Silos and the reason behind their creation. This is explained through the eyes of selfish and biased characters. Both Donald and the reader will be horrified at the slow-dawning discovery of what happened to the world and the utter manipulation that takes place. Not to mention the devastation and true intentions behind the entire plan. Donald may very well lose all he knows and loves, just to satisfy the goals of humans seeking power. The emotional impact Shift will have on readers is much more in-depth than Wool.

But Shift doesn’t just tell the origin story of the silos, it also gives readers an exploration of Solo’s story. When readers encounter him in book one, he’s been alone for years. But what happened to his silo? As Donald struggles in his storyline, Solo deals with the loss of his loved ones and the only life he grew up knowing. Readers will be brought back to the very moment Solo’s silo began to break apart, and the ensuing chaos he found himself barely surviving. Solo’s storyline shows the downward mental spiral isolation can inflict on the human mind.

Readers who enjoy post-apocalyptic stories should give the Wool series a try. This series focuses on the people living in the aftermath of an apocalypse and its effect on entire societies. When the remaining population has their memories erased and is forced to restart with a created doctrine and history, it is only a matter of time before something goes awry. ( )

It runs on and on forever. When will this boring book end?

And there are problems that start small but after 600 pages become really irritating.
The tedious non-descript characters have the same voice and dialog as each other. It's mind numbing. It just rambles on and on. A good editor could have helped a lot here. Some things you can't fix by editing- plot holes, annoying characters, and god-awful metaphors. I cursed the author throughout the book, sometimes in my head, sometimes out loud.

The author likes to leave some things vague and sometimes you're supposed to be in the dark by design. But he also uses allusion a lot seemingly with the intention of making a connection or a surprise revelation. Sometimes this means scrambling back dozens of pages or even back to the last book. You're in the predicament of trying to figure out if this is the former or latter. It leads to a lot of wasted time tracing back a reference only to find out it doesn't exist. Eventually, over time, you just stop giving a shit.

The crying and the tears every 10 pages. Honestly, there's somebody weeping or sobbing all the time. It's like the Hollywood gimmick of having characters vomiting all the time to show extreme emoting. The incessant crying and tears make you want all the characters to die. My favorite part of the book is when someone dies. Good riddance loser character number #. If they all die maybe this crummy book will end.
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This is the 2nd book in a dystopian trilogy. It is the future and people are living underground in silos. This is all in the future, but there is some back and forth in time for about the first half (before time catches up). In the earlier time frame, Donald is one of the people planning and building the underground silos. In the later time frame, Troy is newly on shift (for 6 months), in a higher responsibility position than he thought he’d have. He is pretty much responsible for making sure everything remains running smoothly (I think). If something goes wrong in a silo, it is simply shut down (and people fend for themselves). Later in the book, one of the silos has been shut down and a boy, Jimmy, is trying to stay safe and alive.

I’m not making this sound very interesting and I’m only rating it “ok”. I did manage to miss parts of it because I was listening to an audio. There was a big thing I missed in the middle, unfortunately. I figured out what had happened; I just missed how we got there. Parts of the second half got a bit more interesting with Jimmy trying to survive in the shut down silo.

Interesting, as I read some of the other reviews, it turns out this is a prequel. I had no idea. But then, it’s been 6(?) years since I read the first one, and I really have no memory of it, anyway. Despite my lukewarm reception to this one, I do plan to read the 3rd book, as well. ( )

I read this one out of turn (couldn't wait to find out the resolution to Silo #1, Wool so I skipped ahead to Silo #3, Dust as I had heard that this one, Silo #2, Shift was a sort of prequel).
I think reading Silo 1-3-2 or 1-2-3 could have worked either way, but I now see how 1-3-2 was more gratifying.
I loved experiencing the unimaginable psychotic Silo world building of #2, seeing the backstory of Donald, Thurman, and Jimmy/Solo. Solo's backstory was particularly heartbreaking. ( )

Enjoying it. Nicely integrated with the first set of books... Looking forward to the conclusion.

First read 2 March 2013 ( )