‘Wool’ had blown me away, and it had created a mystery to what had actually happened to mankind and destroyed Earth that wouldn’t stop gnawing at the back of my mind. ‘Shift’ finally delivers some answers… but it unravels them slowly, in an ever increasing, agonising tension that built and built, and when it finally all became clear, I had to put the book down, it was just too much. Howey has created a worthy follow-up (well, prequel, really) that is just as claustrophobic and gritty as ‘Wool’, with rich characters that are never 100% hero or villain, the catastrophic events and the following status quo of the silos caused not by sheer, polarised evil but flawed people in power corrupted and distorted by the forces of the type of realpolitik we see on the news today. Which is what makes it ultimately so terrifying. A few times I caught myself thinking “They are just being practical” or “they just mean well” or “they are just thinking long-term”, only to stop, shouting at myself “Jesus! Look at what they are DOING!” Thus Shift has almost become a political commentary, in a Black Mirror sort of way. But knowing what happened is not the end. There is a twist at the end that will leave you gasping… and clamouring for the next instalment, ‘Dust’. I need. I NEED.

After reading Wool I was totally hooked on this series. Shift gives the background to how the silos came to exist and is breaktaking in its vision of the future. Scary and so human at the same time. Highly recommended.

I leapt at the chance to read this as I loved Wool, the first volume in the trilogy, and it hasn't disappointed. Many questions that formed as I was reading Wool are answered and I now have a whole lot more! I look forward to the final part of the trilogy and recommending them all to just about everyone I speak to....

This is the second book in the fabulous 'Wool' trilogy. It is in a way a prequel as it takes us all the way back to the beginning of the world of the silos. We get the point of view of the architects of the new world order as the story centres around silo 1. The problem with prequels is, that the knowledge we already have detracts a bit from the wonder and surprise, also, this storyline covers a lot more ground and stretches well over 3 centuries so it doesn't feel as tightly plotted as 'Wool'. However, it's still a very good read and the world of 'Wool' is as compelling as ever. We meet new characters, new storylines, a lot of questions are answered, some new ones are popping up on the way and moral issues lurk around every corner. In some nifty time-shifts we arrive right where 'Wool' ended to set us up for the finale 'Dust' coming out in October. Can't wait!

Shift is a fantastic addition to the Wool series, taking a time before the silo world of Wool and bringing it through to the events of the first book. Lots of information about how Jules’ silo came to be is filled in. We are also introduced to a host of new characters, each of them playing their own key role in the creation and propagation of the world we find in the first book. Shift is a prequel of sorts, which jumps through the years leading up to Wool but never confused me, as each chapter is marked with the year in which the action takes place. Shift sets everything up perfectly for Dust; the timelines from books 1 and 2 eventually converge and characters from both books finally interact. I’m sure, like me, a lot of people will be wondering if it can live up to Wool. The answer is yes. Shift is full of those cliff-hanger chapter endings and jaw-dropping reveals that I enjoyed from the first book and more and more of the history of the silo is revealed and linked back to events in Wool. There are some fantastically claustrophobic and tense scenes towards the end of the book, too. Although not as frenetically paced as Wool, it is nonetheless an enjoyable and compelling continuation of one of the best new science fiction series.