Reviews with content warning for Excrement - Shift

Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Shift by Hugh Howey

9 reviews

jomojobo's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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bookscatcoffee's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I loved this sequel! It’s so rare for an author to explain the origins of the dystopian world, and to have that be the entire sequel was masterful!

“All it took was for a lot of seemingly decent people to put the wrong person in power, and then pay for their innocent choice.” It did take me awhile because the subject matter is grim, but I truly appreciate the craftsmanship! Definitely worth reading! 5 stars

Sequel to Wool, dystopian sci fi

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sbox's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It was great to get the backstory but I think it all ran a bit long. Generally a bit depressing. One line that stuck with me was “She was pretty in an uncomplicated way” lmao what a description — I don’t think women characters were the stars in this one.

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maddie_can_read's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved the first novel in the series and felt like I couldn't put it down. I still enjoyed this novel but it did not feel as gripping as the first one did.

After about the 40% mark, I felt like it started to drag, get a bit convoluted, confusing, over-explained (but also some parts not explained enough). I feel like it's better to leave some mystery if the explanation is confusing/ murky/ not great. I think the difference between Shift and Wool might be because the first novel was originally a collection of several novellas combined? I think Shift would have benefited from being a lot shorter/ tighter. Shift just didn't fit together as nicely as Wool did.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Dust does to wrap things up.

The Jimmy/ Solo parts really reminded me of the Jimmy/Snowman character from Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, but going into this detail about Jimmy made me wonder why Jimmy wasn't completely unhinged in the first novel when he met Juliette. He has been all by himself for 30 years.

I enjoyed the Donald/ Troy reveal but while interesting it wasn't surprising.

I wish the love between Donald and his wife had been more detailed/ believable because it didn't seem to make sense why Donald was so upset at loosing her (enough to kill) when it seemed like he was almost about to cheat on her at the beginning. I feel like I didn't understand why Donald was angry enough to kill, especially like the only ally/ person he liked from the before times. This was disappointing because I thought the depiction of romance in the first novel was pretty good.

I also wished we had seen more of the impact that murdering had on Donald and Jimmy. Especially Donald because he seemed so blase about it!

Also wished the Mission plotline had connected more? While I absolutely loved seeing the twist of them being reset, it felt like it should've connected more? Also did not get how they were reset.

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