Fantastic. ( )

4.4

Highlights

64
Highlight(yellow) - Location 4950
And so I ask you now, dear friend: was this world worth saving to begin with? Were we worth saving?
Note - Location 4951
Letter from Victor

Highlight(yellow) - Location 4952
And while I view the cleansing of the world as our defining achievement, this business of saving humanity may have been our gravest mistake.
Note - Location 4953
Letter from Victor

72
Highlight(yellow) - Location 5370
How meek this man. Donald reckoned he would feel the same way, knowing his world could be ended at the press of a button. Fear like that puts a man at odds with his ego.
Note - Location 5371
About Bernard

75
Highlight(yellow) - Location 5561
He might be all alone in his world, but his was not the only world.
Note - Location 5562
Jimmy

76
Highlight(yellow) - Location 5636
‘Hello, pineapples,’ he whispered. He bent his head toward his lap and punctured the can, listening closely. The pineapples whispered back. They told him they were safe to eat.
Note - Location 5638
Jimmy ( )

This third installment of the Shift trilogy, which is itself the second installment of the Silos Saga (so this is book 2, part 3?) brings the reader back to the time at the end of Wool. Third Shift sees Donald being woken from stasis but being called 'Thurman', and tells the story of Silo 17's fall and Solo/Jimmy's life in the remnants of the silo.

While I appreciated the need for this book from a timeline perspective, I also found that this book dragged in bits. The parallelness of Donald and Jimmy's existence (both are isolated and alone, and other people are to be kept far away to protect themselves) was poignant - especially Jimmy's situation which was so dire and disheartening at points - but also made for a book that seemed a few steps removed from me.

What I really did like was that we, the readers, finally get an understanding of the larger, insidious, picture of what exactly Thurman was planning, and why Donald was woken up.

Of course, Howey being Howey, this book ended on a cliff hanger, so I scampered off to buy Dust ( )

[b:Third Shift: Pact|16183060|Third Shift Pact (Shift, #3)|Hugh Howey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1359195368l/16183060._SY75_.jpg|22091874] doesn't really feel like an ending. Although I guess given that Shift is a prequel of sorts to Wool, it makes sense.

The stories this time around are split between Donny (who's taken Thurman's place ... somehow?) and Solo. Donny's storyline does finally answer a few more questions: what is the real purpose of so many Silos and why are the powers that be okay with entirely losing them from time to time. It also serves as closure for Donny's feeling of betrayal and loss of his wife--in rather a dramatic manner. The lack of fallout is a bit of a problem though.

The other half follows Solo, which is apparently a minor character in Wool? I honestly don't remember (I really should re-read those books). It follows the fall of a Silo over the span of years and one boy/man's survival all alone. It's a fascinating story that could easily stand on it's own and adds a bit more flavor to the greater Silo universe--even if I can't really see how it will matter to the greater timeline.

It appears that I have one book left: [b:Dust|17855756|Dust (Silo, #3)|Hugh Howey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1369522849l/17855756._SY75_.jpg|24576986]. And I'll have to re-read Wool at some point. So very many books, so little time. ( )

Clever close to the trilogy, capping off the first five with a larger, outside viewpoint. Quite satisfying, really. Now I've got to wait impatiently for 9 to be released and bite my nails and pull out my hair. One thing I love best about this series is how well-thought out it is, how self-consistent and especially how easy it is to follow. The pacing is as smooth as silk and has the confidence of a good young-adult novel. Perhaps it ought to be classified as one, despite the lack of continuous young characters. What we have here is a much more simpile string of tales than is normally seen in science fiction, where we've got a plethora of big ideas interspersed with a few pieces that qualify as great literature. In these novels we've got a great combination of great writing and great ideas and this is the kind of jem I'm always on the lookout for. Bravo, Mr. Howey, and long live your keyboard! ( )