Andrew Smith's Reviews > Shift

I found the first book in this trilogy, Wool, surprising and exciting in a way I haven't experienced from a science fiction book in a while. Unfortunately I didn't feel the same way about this one.

But perhaps it's because most of the real mysteries were already uncovered in book 1? Well, to an extent that is the case, but there are things hidden in book 1 that are uncovered here. In fact, a good deal of the unknown from Wool is clarified in this book. No, I think it's primarily because this is a prequel, with much (but not all) of the action preceding events in book 1, and life in the world as we know it just didn't hold my interest in the same way. It's also because the characters here just didn't grab me in the same way either.

Don't get me wrong, I still worked through over 18 hours of audio without a thought of giving up on it. It's also set things up nicely for book 3, which I've already started. If you've just finished Wool, then I'm guessing, like me, you'll be desperate to know more. The background stuff is here, though I did feel that this one dragged a bit and maybe because I knew where it was headed some of it did feel a little contrived. Still, bring on book 3, where we're back to where we ended book 1. Now you're talking...