Can I skip Shift and instead read Dust after Wool?

[Tina]

I just read Wool and then had a look at the reviews for Shift and Dust. I understand we skip back in time and get involved with the whole conspiracy and apocalypse in Shift, but I'm more interested in reading about Jules and the other characters from Wool and it also seems it gets very mixed reviews. Is it possible to skip Shift and go straight to Dust, or will that leave me with some holes in the story?

[Marianne]

I would read Shift first, you will be left wondering about certain things otherwise

[Marjorie]

Definitely read Shift before you read Dust. You learn a lot of the history behind the silos. This info will help you while reading Dust

[Paul]

Shift starts off in the past but works it way up to the end of WOOL.

[saradevil]

You can skip them, for sure, but Shift is really worth it. Shift explains the how and why and connects the dots for what is happening in Dust. It is well worth the read.

[Scott]

I agree with the others on this. The back story proves to be very useful/effective knowledge when the timeline returns to that of Wool/Dust. I doubt you would regret reading it if you enjoyed the story trajectory of Wool (and the characters therein).

[Katrina]

I got stuck in Shift. It is much slower, I'm hoping to finish it so I can move on. But I do think it is important to read.

[Cathleen]

No, don't skip Shift. One of the things that I like about the books is the different characters' perspectives and their evolution as they figure stuff out. Characters are introduced in Shift that answer questions left from Wool and they figure very importantly in Dust.

[Empress]

No. Shift looks into how the silos came to be, but also follows what happens after Wool and before Dust. You will skip part of the story.

[Robin P]

I loved Wool but hated Shift. The writing is much weaker in my opinion and the characters flat. There's a lot of suffering and I think the attempt to explain how the Wool world develops is unconvincing. I like the mystery of not knowing exactly what happened. I suppose I'll read Dust eventually.

[Lizzie]

I have found that when a first book is excellent the 2nd one is not as good. That experience carried through for Wool and Shift for me.

I just started Dust, but I think I would have lost too much of the story if I had skipped Shift.

[John]

Don't skip it. Shift was for me the lesser of the three books. But as others have stated you will miss certain nuances as the whole story comes together if you skip it.

[Fire Type]

Shift is a special case.

After reading Wool, I tried to start Shift, but found it too dry at first. The perspective of Donald is no doubt different from the tone the story has taken throughout Wool, but does significantly influence Dust. You can skip Shift, but to answer your question, it will leave holes. I would advise that you do read Shift, (view spoiler)[if only for Solo's character development (hide spoiler)].

I'd love to hear your opinion after you finish the series. I'm still trying to decide whether to start the spinoff series Going Dark by Ann Christy. Shift definitely kept me interested, (view spoiler)[and reveals quite a bit about the inner mechanics of Silo 1 (hide spoiler)].

[John]

Fire Type, I recently finished Going Dark. I thought it did a very good job of continuing the Wool story. Highly recommended. I have this new series bookmarked for future purchases.

[Fire Type]

John wrote: "Fire Type, I recently finished Going Dark. I thought it did a very good job of continuing the Wool story. Highly recommended. I have this new series bookmarked for future purchases."

Thank you, I hadn't found anyone who had actually read it. I'll have to find a copy somewhere.

[Lizzie]

In October 2014, I had obtained Going Dark for free. When I saw it was written for those familiar with the Wool series, I had set it aside as that was when I first started "collecting" ebooks to read. I am glad it was mentioned here now. After having read the Wool series a few months ago, I hadn't remembered Going Dark sitting on my kindle in my to read list.