The second book of the Silo series, Shift, is aptly named, and it subverts expectations with a, uuuumm, shift in the story–one that deftly expands on the world.

In broad, non-spoiler terms, it explores big questions such as: how does a closed-loop society operate? What could go wrong? How did we get there? Who’s really in charge? Howey decides to tackle these and other sticky issues in book 2. It’s a bold move that works incredibly well, creating a memorable allegory of how ultimate power does indeed corrupt. 

The story gets major bonus points in how it handles “survivor’s guilt,” not shying away from the messy trauma. It examines the moral fiber of a society that attempts to outrun ethics and replace the human soul with technology (figuratively speaking).

Focusing on some established characters and introducing major new ones, the narrative centers on the unfolding end of the world and those who inherit the new one.

Yes, it’s a survival story about individuals. But equally necessary is the expansive society-building in book 2. The revelations sink in over the course of the tale, and at some points I wanted to curl up on the floor of the silo and cry, just like Donald. My favorite parts ultimately are about the characters who are complicit in undoing the world. Understanding how “it” happened in the first place becomes a very compelling part of the story. 

I left like a resident of the silo when reading Shift. There’s so much that we don’t know, aren’t allowed to ask, and is ultimately out of reach. But what we do learn about our friends closes an emotional loop from book 1 that’s incredibly satisfying. I didn’t know I needed that closure, and when it came, there was this flood of emotion that just hit me.

Thanks to Howey for tackling the big questions, providing an impressive world expansion, and setting up the tale for what I hope is a firecracker of an ending in book 3.

4 of 5

-Josh

SPOILERS:

Family Legacy

There’s sacrifice and bravery in these stories. There are the obvious heroes, but there’s also an equal number of those with quiet courage and fortitude. One of the most emotional moments early on from book 1 is when Allie goes out to “clean”. Once the reader understands the magnitude of this decision, the weight of it is almost too much to bear. It’s disorienting to find out that this society subdues unrest by exiling, and thereby executing, citizens who simply say they want to leave the silo.  

Howey writes a beautiful story of a couple in book 2 whose courage shows through during an uprising that almost forces Silo 1 to shut down Silo 18 (aka kill everyone). We find out this is an earlier generation of Silo 18, the forebearers to Juliette’s generation that averted a total loss of life. And when we last see them, the wife is pregnant. The husband, Mission, a former porter, and his wife Allie, decide to give their baby girl the name of Allison, which has been in her family for generations. This unborn Allie is the very same woman who we meet years later right before her death in an act of defiance like her parents. I think I shed a tear.

Time

There’s lots of time-jumping in this book. It’s an effective technique to show the plausibility of the Silo 1 generation, who lived before the fall, managing all the other silos. There is a slow erasure of all their collective pasts, either done chemically or by law, and it’s really interesting to see what effect that has on the human psyche. 

I believed the struggle Donald was doing through and I felt for his plight. He lost his wife, who lived out her natural life only one silo over. He lost his humanity as time went on. He was as much in the dark as everyone else, but now, at the end, he has a decision to make. Does he become the monster Thurman was, or find a different way forward for humanity’s future? It might not be up to him if Juliette has any say!