I'm struggling with the number of stars for this one ... 3.5 stars would be my choice. I finished a couple of days ago and I've been struggling with how I feel about First Shift.I devoured Wool Omnibus, loved it. The characters were real, they felt real. Wool-O is one of the best science fiction stories I have ever read (and I've been reading science fiction since 1966 -- I'm OLD!) I believed the sociology and psychology of life in the Silo. And I love all the other Howey stories I've read. I wa...

I've read a review that states that this book is better than "Wool - Omnibus Edition" but I don't agree. I do however believe that the book is fantastic. It's twice now that Hugh Howey was able to delight me to the point that I just didn't want to stop reading. It's possible that I found the Omnibus better as that story while connected to this one seems complete while "First Shift" will be followed by "Second Shift" and "Third Shift"? The only thing to do now, is to start on the Molly Fyde books...

Reading this series is like working on a very detailed and intricate jigsaw puzzle. You start reading and a few of the puzzle pieces fit together and you can see a small section of the puzzle. But it is enough to have yearnings to understand this place and people. Then additional puzzle pieces come and you are delighted to see bigger sections of the whole, yet you are always left with curiosity for more. This most recent work of our friend Hugh brings more clarity to this world by answering one

Although it's interesting to get the background of how the Silos came to be and why the history is lost, a lot of this just feels like the Exposition Fairy went on a bender. But as usual Howey's characters are fully realized people and the writing is engaging. The end pulled this from a 3 to 4 to me because of how it ties to the original 5 stories.Now for the nitpicks.(view spoiler)[I didn't fully realize it until this book, but there are no gay characters in the Silos that we know of. Then this...

4 StarsIt has been a while since I read the wonderful books that compose Wool(Silo#1). I enjoyed the world, the plot, and the writing of Hugh Howey. First Shift: Legacy really would be a great launching point for this whole series minus the fact that it would create some early spoilers.This novel and series for that matter is a near future post apocalyptic story. Howey has split this book into two separate points of view that are nearly 200 years apart. This makes it easy for us to get to know t...

This is a really interesting series, both in terms of actual content and in terms of the way it's been written and released. In some ways it feels more like a TV series than a series of books; it's clear that the author is discovering things about his world and his characters as he writes. The books are self-published on Amazon, but they're not at all amateurish. They're certainly of higher quality than a lot of traditionally-published mass-market SF paperbacks - the writing is solid, and they'r...

Once again, here I am in the minority. Apparently, Howey is a self-publishing god of sorts, with Ridley Scott optioning film rights and Random House giving him an incredible traditional publishing deal. Howey has made huge amounts of money from ebooks and has many, many fans.You know, I could be one of those fans. There's something about his writing that attracts me -- that wanting to know more. However, what I've read just hasn't attracted me enough to want to spend more money.After hearing abo...

I'm halfway through this installment to the silo series and I'm hooked! I'm trying to make it last but cant wait to get through it either.update: Just finished "first shift"! loved it and it's a great addition to the series and just makes me want more. I loved the political aspect and how plausible it seems. I'll admit, I love a good conspiracy so I'm biased, but the realism of this story kindly hits u.

I have very mixed feelings about First Shift.I was immensely surprised to find out how much I liked the first five Wool volumes. I bought into the mystery; I felt it and the exposition were handled just right by an amazing talent. I was completely satisfied by where it began and where it ended. I did not require answers to questions I considered superfluous.When I noticed First Shift, I circled for a time. I was loath to find out whatever secrets it might yield. But curiosity won out.I do not qu...

I was a fan of the Wool series, even before I was privileged to enjoy a bit of ongoing banter with the author and some other readers. This book is a good addition to the series. It is worthy of 5-stars for its originality, 4-stars for writing, but only 3-stars for length. As a standalone it is almost amazing. Like a five star book that just needs to be a bit longer, a bit fuller, pack a bit more of a punch. There was a love triangle, but it didn't hook me. There was a great ending, that didn't q...

While I liked the Wool series, the Shift sequels were more a return to the form of Hugh Howey I saw in the one Molly Fyde novel I drudged through. Pretty uninspired, slow storytelling, focusing on the wrong things. With a lot of cumbersome dialogue thrown in for good measure. If you liked the pacing and imagination of Wool, you'll probably be disappointed with Shift. For one thing, Howey spend far too much of the Shift novels on a pretty unbelievable and boring prequel story, which explains in d...

Read this follow-up to "Wool" for post-apocalyptic book club. 'Shift' contains three parts, 'Legacy,' 'Order,' and 'Pact.' Each is also available as a separate publication, but I recommend the omnibus edition. I also recommend reading 'Wool' first, even though the events here precede it chronologically. If you've read 'Wool' you know the scenario: survivors of a mysterious apocalypse living in massive underground silos, struggling to survive in the face of social oppression, dwindling resources

I loved Howey's first Wool stories, collected into the Omnibus edition. I gave that book a five-star rating, but this one left me less delighted. The other stories happen in a world of Howey's creation, and it's a leaving and breathing world that (mostly) makes sense. This book, by contrast, happens in our world (or the world of 2049, anyway) and it is full of nonsensical situations. Where the rest of the Wool series seems anchored in reality, this one required several leaps of faith that I was

I simply cannot get enough Wool. The one complaint that I have with post-apocalyptic fiction, generally, is that it tends to be very depressing. That's understandable, given the nature of the genre (something really bad happened, a bunch of people died off in really horrible ways, and now let's begin our story!). The Wool series is no different, and all of these books can be really depressing, but for some reason, I just don't care. The stories are just that good. That was true for Wool 1-5, and...

It has come to my attention that perhaps I was a bit hard on Hugh "I'm not a misogynist, some of my best friends have ovaries!" Howey. Thus, a friend lent me First Shift so I could review the book, not the author. After all, don't I know that Hugh Howey is one of the preeminent science fiction authors of our time, if not ALL TIME?!?!?So let's review. In the year 2049, a neophyte Congressman from Georgia, Donald Keene (whose intellect is anything but), comes to Washington and does absolutely noth...

I liked this addition to the Wool universe. I was unable to put it down. Once again Mr. Howey draws us in with lifelike characters that emotionally resonate, like this story has already happened and he's just explaining it to us. It's an amazing gift to make the future seem so close. It's gripping and fast paced, but still manages to retain the same poignancy we all loved in the Wool series.We begin in 2049, following around Congressman Donald Keene as he is given a project to design a skyscrape...

Let me just start off by saying that I love this series and I think that Howey is an unbelievably talented & imaginative writer. That said, I must admit that I was very disappointed with this book for several reasons. While it retained the same flavor as Wool, the story felt rushed and a bit disjointed. I would rather have waited another year & gotten a better story than this story. My biggest issues with it are much weightier than that, however. (view spoiler)[First the deep freezing of the wom...

What can I say? I guess not as exciting as Wool (there's no comparison here) but still kept me intrigued enough to know the backstory of all Silo world. Got to read what happens in second 'Shift' installments and then I can figure out how I actually like(d) it. Quite depressing though. Instead of that whole hope theme in Wool, we can find only mystery here....Well...Well...Well...I shall move on to the next one and see if anything changes? Yes, I shall.

I wanted to like this book more than I did; Wool is a great series and I was excited to jump back into that world. Much as I wanted to love this prequel, it just doesn't stand up to the other stories.First Shift switches back and forth between two separate timelines. In the immediate future, a junior Congressman and former architecture student named Donald is (largely unwittingly) roped into designing parts of what will become Silo 1. In the more distant future, Troy is the leader of Silo 1, wor...

I stretched this prequel out for seven whole days and I consider this to be an amazing feat of self restraint. The whole time the story nagged and pleaded with my subconscious, begging me for another hit, whispering promises, and saying "just one more".Hugh Howey is a crack dealer, but it's a sweet, sweet, addiction.