Shift by Hugh Howey Buddy Read!

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Zoe, Jeann and I are starting a buddy read of the second omnibus in Hugh Howey's Wool series on Thursday, November 28th! Everyone's welcome!

As usual, it's read at your own pace and use spoilers!! And most of all, HAVE FUN ;)

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

I will try to join in, just have to finish Wool first!

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence)]

Sounds amazing! I'll pick it up soon, can't take my eyes off sitting on my desk lol

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Woot!

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

Has anyone started this yet? I will finish up Wool today!

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Lol I was wondering when someone would post! I'm still working on Inkheart, so haven't started Shift yet. It's up next for me though!

[Karen’s Library]

I just reread these not too long ago so I'll pop in and chat!

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

Okay, I finished part 6, and am now 31% into the read. Overall, I didn't enjoy it as much as Wool (so far), but things picked up by the end of this story. The politics thing was a little strange and boring, but once things got going--wow!! I'm pretty sure that Anna (view spoiler)[is the reason why Helen was still in Tennesse. What a vindictive witch!!! In fact, I have a feeling that the reason the Donald was even on the project in the first place was Anna persuading dear old dad. UGH And then when Toby finally remember he was "Donny" and that his wife died in Tennesse without him...just heartbreaking! (hide spoiler)]

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

I was also a little annoyed (view spoiler)[ with Helen acting all jealous about Anna throughout the thing, but she must have had a sixth sense about Anna! Helen was right all along! (hide spoiler)]

[Karen’s Library]

I liked Wool better too, but Shift explains it all with Dust really bringing it all together!

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Ahh, I'm not getting enough reading time to finish Inkheart! I really want to get to this one soon :)

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

No worries, David, I'm not going to be reading this fast, I have so many other books I need to get to as well :) I will be reading like a speed demon the next couple of weeks! One week till my read-a-thon! WOOT!

[Zoe]

I'm at 10%, but will probably be getting through this one slowly - I also need to reread Hunger Games and Catching Fire so I can go see the movie! I'm finding it much easier to get into Donald's sections than Troy's so far, but that will probably change once I get more used to the Troy sections. Also, I suspect that (view spoiler)[Troy and Donald are the same person (hide spoiler)].

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Ahh, I'm behind! Should finish Inkheart today and then I'll start :)

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

Are you enjoying Inkheart?

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

YES!! Inkheart was really good! I felt maybe it was a bit too long and descriptive, but I was pretty blown away by it :) I just finished, so I'm ready to join you guys on Shift!

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

Woot! I'm so happy you liked it. I agree somewhat on the longishness, but it was easy for me to get absorbed in that world, really the author could keep me there as long as she wanted :) The second book isn't quite as good, but I really LOVED the last book--for that one, most of it is inside the fantasy world itself.

Woot, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the first part of Shift. Its starts off slow, but really picks up by the end.

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Oh, it was definitely worth the read, I just thought as a middle grade it would be more like the length of The False Prince. But I definitely got lost a few times in the story!

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

Yeah I think of it more as a YA series than MG...seems a little more adult to me. I can never figure out why some things are labeled MG, they seem so much like YA..marketing thing I'm assuming!

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Yeah, I'm with you! I have trouble too, but I guess the lines get more and more blurred these days :)

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

11%! I have a pretty strong feeling that (view spoiler)[ Donald and Troy are the same person. Or Troy could be Mick. But my money's on Donald ;) (hide spoiler)]

Jenny, I've actually found myself really engaged by the beginning. I think it's because I've really been itching to see the world before it became the way it was in Wool, so getting the Then and Now chapters is really working for me. But I definitely get how you think it started a bit slow...not much happens, it's more of a slow build up :)

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

I read through it pretty quick, but yeah, it was a pretty slow build up. But I loved the last half of that part, it gets really good and very intense! And we get to learn a lot more about the whole system. The world building is really well done in this series, I love that!

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

I knew it!!! My prediction was right! Done with the First Shift :) Really loved it!

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

Yup you were :) I really loved it, too!

[Karen’s Library]

I think Second Shift was my favorite of the 3 Shift novels! And you do realize you can count each part as a book read, right? Including Dust, you will have read 9 books! :-)

I read them all individually the first time through and then counted each omnibus as 1 the second time through.

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

Yay, good to know Karen, I'm going to start Second Shift in a little bit!

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

LOL! I'm including them as 1 for each omnibus, but then I include all my novellas as 1 each, so it balances out :)

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

I've started Second Shift, but just barely. Really looking forward to seeing where this all goes!

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

Yes, I've just been doing the Omnibus as well, but I did that for all the Delirium stories. Its not like I need to really add books at this point, I made my yearly goal a long time ago!

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Ha! You definitely don't need the extra books, superstar!

[Zoe]

Finished the first novella! I'm not sure how I feel about it yet - a lot of the origin stuff just didn't quite ring true for me, and the way the memory drug worked seemed implausible. The writing was good though - Hugh Howey has a very distinctive style.

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

But what about (view spoiler)[ the nanos? I thought that was the coolest explanation for everyone being forced into the silos. I don't think it's that farfetched either, machines are getting smaller and smaller! (hide spoiler)] I must say, things are getting even more interesting in Shift 2, hope you like it a little better Zoe!

I'm at 50% overall, which I'm assuming is about halfway through Shift 2 as well as the Omnibus (view spoiler)[ One thing I haven't quite understood is whether there was just a single nuke exploded by the U.S. government or did they explode nukes across the entire world population? They said they wanted to "reset" the world, but how could they ensure they killed all the nanos outside? And wouldn't all the other countries just continue on as is? Hmmmm Something's not adding up and I'm hoping it'll be explained at some point.

And oh my gosh, what about Helen and Mick? Ahhhh! And they have kids and grandkids together!! Reminds me slightly of Tom Hanks in Castaway, how he came back and his wife was remarried...but this is even worse in a way as she's already dead and so many years have passed. Cray cray! (hide spoiler)]

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

Oh, David that was so so sad, I felt so bad for Donald!! I just finished Second Shift....it was crazy good, LOVED it! I'm 61% through the Omnibus right now!

THE ENDING OF SECOND SHIFT...OMG! (view spoiler)[ I can't believe that Mission and the girl (already forgot her name!) were reset!! And he forgot his birthday! An amazing ending to the novella! (hide spoiler)]

[Karen’s Library]

Can you believe this world Hugh has created!!?? Scary, so scary. It makes you wonder if we'd just accept that life as the norm?

[Karen’s Library]

Keep going guys. I was very satisfied by the end of the series! ;-)

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

I KNOW!!! The world building in this is AMAZING, I have no trouble picturing any of it! The characters feel so real...I am really loving this series! I'm holding tight till the end!

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

SO GOOD!! I'm getting almost zero reading time right now as I'm struggling just to fit in writing time, but I'm up to 58% now on the Omnibus! When Donald (view spoiler)[ went OUTSIDE, I was like AHHHHHHHH!!!! But then he was fine and Thurman came out with NO SUIT! What?

Oh, and I'm really starting to like Mission, great idea pretending to be a corpse!

Oh, and when it was Rodny who became the leader of Silo 18? I was really surprised! (hide spoiler)]

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

OMG YES!!! (view spoiler)[ My guess is that maybe because Donald and Thurman had those nano treatments things back before the world ended? Maybe they are resistant to the air? I really like Mission, too! Things are so grayish in this series, sometimes I'm not sure who I should be rooting for! (hide spoiler)]

And David, you are almost done with Second Shift, the third novella starts at 61% in the omnibus!

[Karen’s Library]

David wrote: "SO GOOD!! I'm getting almost zero reading time right now as I'm struggling just to fit in writing time, but I'm up to 58% now on the Omnibus! When Donald went OUTSIDE, I was like AHHHHHHHH!!!! But..."

That part pretty much blew me away too, David.

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Ah you've got to be right, I'm surprised Donald didn't think of that actually. If he didn't die, I guess that means (view spoiler)[ the nanos haven't mutated. (hide spoiler)] Ooh cool, I'm ready for the Third Shift!

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Karen wrote: "David wrote: "SO GOOD!! I'm getting almost zero reading time right now as I'm struggling just to fit in writing time, but I'm up to 58% now on the Omnibus! When Donald went OUTSIDE, I was like AHH..."

Lol! It's such a fun read :)

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

It really is a fun read, hoping to read some more tonight yet!

[Karen’s Library]

Soooooo, have you ever built a Lego kit, like a scene from The Hobbit, or a Star Wars ship? (Yes, that's what I build with my grandson!) When you start out, there are tons and tons of little pieces. And then when you get into the middle, you start seeing it coming together, and then by the end, as you snap and click the pieces into place, the pieces literally click, snap, snap, and click into place. That's what happened for me with this series. Just click, click, snap... all the pieces fell right into place. ;-P

(Yes, I'm sure that's a terrible analogy, but my brain is tired!) hahahahh...

[Jenny, Always smiling! :-D]

That's actually a really good analogy, Karen! Makes total sense! I never built from a Lego kit, by the way, I always did free form :) And I usually made really funky houses!

[Zoe]

Gah, I'm so behind! I haven't started Second Shift yet - I'm trying to reread Catching Fire first so I can hopefully go see the movie sometime this week...

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Karen wrote: "Soooooo, have you ever built a Lego kit, like a scene from The Hobbit, or a Star Wars ship? (Yes, that's what I build with my grandson!) When you start out, there are tons and tons of little piece..."

I agree, that's a really GOOD analogy! I was watching a kid work on a Lego Star Wars set a week ago in Kuala Lumpur, and I couldn't help being jealous of him! I'd love to go back to my lego-building days!

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

Zoe wrote: "Gah, I'm so behind! I haven't started Second Shift yet - I'm trying to reread Catching Fire first so I can hopefully go see the movie sometime this week..."

That's OK, Zoe! I haven't been reading anything but Shift and I'm still plodding along because I'm only getting in 30 minutes a day before bed. But it is SO GOOD! I'm obsessed with this book :)

[Zoe]

David wrote: "Zoe wrote: "Gah, I'm so behind! I haven't started Second Shift yet - I'm trying to reread Catching Fire first so I can hopefully go see the movie sometime this week..."

That's OK, Zoe! I haven't b..."

Hugh Howey is such a good writer! It's tough going back and forth between this book and the Hunger Games series, because they're both so good and yet they're so different. It's more than a little jarring to go from Donald's voice to Katniss's voice or vice versa :P

[Karen’s Library]

Zoe wrote: "David wrote: "Zoe wrote: "Gah, I'm so behind! I haven't started Second Shift yet - I'm trying to reread Catching Fire first so I can hopefully go see the movie sometime this week..."

That's OK, Zo..."

Ohmygosh, Zoe! Two completely different voices and worlds! Both are such incredible stories too!

[David, Mr. Blue Eyes; He's the Best--Ain't no lie!! ;)]

LOL that would definitely be weird! I can never seem to focus on more than one book at a time :)