At A Glance: Author Hugh Howey returns readers to the ideas introduced in his hugely popular Wool series with the first of a trilogy of prequel novels. Alternating between the pre-silo days in the year 2049 and a six-month period sixty years later inside of the silo, Howey gives us the story of two men drawn inexorably into events far beyond their control. Donald Keene is a freshman congressman arriving in Washington, D.C. to represent the electorate of the state of Georgia. Troy is a man awoken from cryo-sleep for the first of his six “shifts” as the man who will be in charge of the ongoing silo projects for the next six months. Armed with the knowledge the reader possesses from the previous Wool series, Howey injects the novel with early suspense and deftly increases it as the chapters fall away and the mystery deepens.
Pros: Alternating storyline keeps tensions high; mystery is effective even with reader knowledge that the character’s don’t possess; skillful world building.
Cons: Best read after reading Wool Omnibus.
My Experience: I had been putting off reading this, wanting to savor my time in Howey’s universe after being knocked off my feet with the five volumes of his Wool series late last year. This was a welcome return. Howey’s prequel is masterful in the way that it capitalizes on the knowledge of the silo system that readers already possess. The reader naturally knows more than the two protagonists and Howey builds off of that, lulling the reader in while creating a growing sense of tension that results in a really first rate thriller.
My Rating: 9/10 stars
After a chilling prologue where we meet Troy, one of two main players in this unfolding drama, the reader is whisked back sixty years to Congressman Donald Keene’s freshman days in Washington, D.C. Keene ran for office with the same high political ideals that inspire many first-time campaigns but he is soon introduced to the power tactics of the government when Senator Thurman, senior member from the state of Georgia, brings him in on a special hush-hush project. Keene is asked to use his skills as an architect, the job he exchanged for political life, to design a special shelter being built in Georgia as a fail-safe in the event of nuclear or other disaster. Keene is suspicious from the start but knows that he owes his victory to Senator Thurman and so he embraces the project despite his qualms and the fact that the project will pair him with Thurman’s daughter Anna, a paramour in the years before he married his current wife, Helen.
Keene’s story is fascinating in large part because the reader knows more about the project than the character does. Howey has created a very likeable character in Donald Keene and that allows him to draw upon the sympathy of the reader as Keene is swept down the river of political machinations. Keene’s idealism is soon at odds with the secrets he must keep and the stories he must tell to allay suspicions.
Each lie would stick to the others, until one day he would find himself in a tight little cocoon, trapped and suffocating from the thousands of little fibs that living and working in that cursed swamp of a city seemed to require every man to ooze.
Keene’s mounting fears and the reader’s insight create a line of tension that is pulled taut as the story progresses.
Troy is also in the dark about the mysteries he has awakened to and despite knowledge gleaned from reading Wool, Howey keeps the reader off-kilter with Troy’s story. Troy is brought out of cryo-sleep and tasked with a job that he did not train for–overseeing the silo and ensuring that the orders of this underground society are followed explicitly. For the uninitiated, Wool begins with the reader being made to understand that a great apocalyptic event has occurred on Earth and that the survivor’s are living in a massive underground structured called a “silo”. In these early days the women and children remain in cryogenic freeze while the men are tasked with the day to day running of the silo. Each male is awoken to six-month shifts and given daily doses of medication to help them forget unpleasant memories that nibble at the corners of their mind and may eventually lead to their undoing. Troy knows that something is terribly wrong with this system but in order to survive he must do his job and do it well.
In juxtaposing the stories of Donald and Troy Howey paints two pictures that seem different and yet as the story unfolds we begin to see that each man is slowly being drawn into a very isolated existence despite all those around them. Their worlds become increasingly claustrophobic, Donald’s because of the secrets he must keep and the secrets being kept from him and Troy because of the physical confines of the space in which he lives and the routine to which he must comply.
Everything about his new life made him prone to distraction, made him think too much. It had all been perfectly arranged, but for what? Maximum apathy?
I have referred several times to knowledge acquired from reading Wool and have done so for a reason. Although this is the first in a trilogy of prequel novels (all of which are now out for your reading pleasure), Howey makes it a point to tell the reader that this is “part 6 of the Silo Series” on the title page of the book. While I do believe that First Shift – Legacy functions well as a stand alone novel it is my contention that it is a richer experience to read this after making the emotional investment in Wool. The delicious tension and suspense that will keep you turning the pages is greatly enhanced with the revelations of the first five parts of the series.
Hugh Howey is a self-publishing sensation and his financial and critical success may long be the dream towards which other self-published authors aspire. If so it is a deserved status. Howey is a capable spinner of tales. He draws readers into a post-apocalyptic world that is terrifyingly plausible and yet the indomitable spirit of humanity shines through his skillfully wrought characters. If you haven’t done so, it is time to discover the works of Hugh Howey.
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For another really excellent review that offers up a slightly different take on the ‘which to read first’ question, please visit Timothy C. Ward here.
I am so pleased you have returned to this series. I enjoyed it as well, despite the fact we don’t see any more of the characters we met in Wool. I want to be sure I avoid anything that might be a spoiler–I liked the way Howey wove in elements from Wool that fleshed things out a bit more, while still leaving us in suspense about what and why things were happening in this silo.
I completely agree with your assertion this title should be read after Wool.
I have the next Shift title and the third has just been released as well, but I have delayed reading more because I will be sorry when the story finally ends.
I am in the middle of a couple of larger reads and wanted to break away and read something shorter and First Shift was a perfect choice. I started reading it Saturday morning while waiting for my run to start and repeatedly went back to it through the day until I was done. Hard to put down. I right away ordered books two and three for the Kindle.
I too will wait for a little while…I think. Actually the books I’m reading right now are very good so it isn’t too big of a temptation to wait.
RE: potential spoilers, I know exactly what you mean and that is yet another reason while this one works best as Part 6 and not someone’s intro to the series. Happy that you are enjoying these.
Carl, Carl, you beat me to it. I’ll stop back by after I write my own review so that I’m not influenced by your fine craftsmanship.
Fair enough, I look forward to reading yours as well.
Phenomenal job in this review, Carl. I didn’t read it until after mine, and it discouraged me from trying to write a summary because of how well you did yours.
I wonder if First Shift would be better because of the hope that readers would have that the silos could be averted, and the greater shock at the end when they see what happens. I think it could stand alone on its suspense without knowing what happens in Wool. We’ll see how it goes as I’m still near the beginning of Second Shift (34%).
Since you gave it a 9, did you think “Wool 1” was better? Did you like the ending better?
Thanks Tim, I feel the same way about yours (which I now linked to in my post).
I think your points on why First Shift might be better are valid and I actually added some spoiler-warning commentary on your post to better reflect where I am coming from with my feelings on this one. I felt hampered in making a good argument for my position here because of the desire to not spoil and of these excellent books for readers who haven’t read them.
I think Wool 1 (and the entire Wool Omnibus) was better but that in part is because (with the Omnibus) it felt like more of a complete story. I think Wool 1 packed a much more impressive emotional punch and had he never written any more I would still consider it one of the best short stories (or novella?) I’ve ever read.
I thought the ending of First Shift was really strong too. I’m going to do some other reading before breaking into Second Shift so you’ll be beating me to the punch with that one.
Seems odd that a prequel is best read after the trilogy it is a prequel to.
Perhaps, but I actually feel completely the opposite in many cases. When an author writes a series of books and then decides to write a prequel they are going into it for the reason of wanting to tell you a specific story that ties into what they’ve already written. I think, for the most part, you get more out of the prequel looking at it through the eyes of what you already know from the first stories written. Especially since a really good author is not going to go back and recreate the world for you all over again. That would be incredibly boring for the audience if you hoped to get them to then follow you from the prequel to the stories you already wrote.
That of course is just my opinion but one I’ve been thinking about since reading this. Of course I think there are exceptions all over the place. I certainly made an exception when reading Andromeda’s Fall recently. I didn’t have any interest in going and reading 14 Legion of the Damned novels before being able to go back in time to find out about the girl on the cover of AF. It was meant as a jumping on point for new readers. I don’t think Howey’s Shift trilogy is meant as a jumping on point. I think it is meant to answer reader questions about how this whole silo thing got started in the first place. And for you to care about that going in you need to have made the investment in his first “novel”.
9/10 is pretty darn good. I was thinking this past weekend how many perfect novels I’ve read and I really couldn’t come up with a legitimate list. Then I realized that I didn’t have to. I’ve enjoyed so many books and perfection is, well darn hard. For me, as long as I enjoyed my time reading it, it’s a winner. I may have to delve into this world and see for myself.
I rated Wool at 10, I believe, because I couldn’t see anything at all wrong with the book. I thought the story was told as well as it could possibly be told. My ratings are weighted more towards my personal experience with a book though I do take points off for technical things I see. With this one the fact that I believed the story relies on having read the previous one means that I gave it a little ding, and while really, really good it is not Wool.
I’m not sure if you’ve read much post-apocalyptic science fiction but Wool would be a great start. The first short story (which essentially is part 1 of 5 parts that make up the first novel) is available free online through Amazon Kindle and possibly other places. That would give you a good taste of his writing style and this world.
Im in the middle of my great reWOT at the moment so am reading nothing but Robert Jordan books, but I do hope to get back to the Wool series and the rest of Howey’s work too. Good to hear that you enjoyed this one.
That is a HUGE commitment Fence and I hope you enjoy every bit of it. I’m very excited for Jordan fans that the last book is now out and that, from all accounts, Sanderson has done a bang-up job with it. You should check out the latest Sword and Laser You Tube show on Geek and Sundry as it features Sanderson and he talks about his involvement with Jordan. There were no spoilers but you may still want to wait until you are done.
And yes, do get back to the Wool books. They are so very good.
I can’t wait to read this one. I’m literally pacing the room in anticipation and as it’s not out here until almost the end of April I will have worn tracks into the floors well before then! What is this April date all about – most unfair! Repeat ‘patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue…’ much overrated if you ask me! LOL Fortunately I have plenty of other books to keep me occupied but I am a bit obsessive once I find something I really love.
Lynn 😀
Oh, that is very unfair Lynn. I hate that. I’ve had the same thing happen with books published by UK authors. I hear about them on Twitter and/or the author’s site and go to look them up and realize I have to wait months to get my hands on a copy. You would think they would release digital copies simultaneously around the world. It is ridiculous that it doesn’t happen that way.
Oh well – it’s not like I’ve got a shortage of books. So let me just clarify then – the next book is like a prequel to Wool but should be read after? And, it’s another omnibus??
BTW I’ve recommended this to a couple of people in work and they’ve really enjoyed it!
Lynn 😀
The Shift Trilogy (First Shift, Second Shift, Third Shift) is a prequel but it should be read (in my opinion) AFTER reading the Wool Omnibus. Each shift novel looks to be somewhere between 240-280 pages. My understanding is that an all-in-one volume will be coming out at some point but for now each volume can be purchased separately in print or ebook format.
Glad you are passing on the Wool love! I’ve been doing a lot of that myself.
I’ve got the WOOL OMNIBUS, but I need to finish a number of library books before I can read it. Have you ever noticed that if you own a book you can put off reading it, but if it’s a library book (and you’ve reached the RENEWAL limit) you’re forced to read it.
Would love to see you get to Wool, George, but I know what you mean. I am trying really hard this year to read everything I buy within a reasonable time of purchasing it. I’m actually tracking it with a Google doc to help motivate me. But with all that I have still been out collecting what I have time to read.
I started Wool Omnibus, and I also saw there was Wool 6 & 7. And now these prequels. Pretty cool. I like that you point out the prequels are best read after reading Wool. That keeps me from straying into something that won’t make sense.
Wool 6 and 7 (and now 8) are the prequels, actually. Wool 1-5 are in the Wool Omnibus and make up one larger story. Wool 6-8 are these three prequel trilogy novels. I agree with Tim’s ideas that he posted here and in his post that there may also be some value in reading the prequel’s first but I still feel like they are more powerful read in publication order. Enjoy!!!
As I read Second Shift, it is becoming clearer as events interlap with wool’s timeline that wool indeed should be read first.
I know you are just goading me into reading Second Shift right now. You aren’t fooling anyone! 🙂
That is interesting to know…and makes me tempted to…stop it, just stop it!