Shift Omnibus and Dust by Hugh Howey (4.5 stars)

Wow, what a ride. I read Shift and Dust back to back so I'm going to review them together since it is hard to separate them in my head. I re-read First Shift since it had been a while, and now having finished all the books I think the explanation for the creation of the silos, and the story of the Democratic convention is the weakest part of the whole series, you can read more of why in my original review of First Shift.

Shift is chock full of revelations and surprises. I loved getting Solo's back-story, his poem scrawled on a blackboard in the dead silo is a deliciously creepy moment:

The ghosts are watching. The ghosts are watching. They watch me stroll alone. corpses are laughing. The corpses are laughing. They go quiet when I step over them. parents are missing. My parents are missing. They are waiting for me to come home.

SUPER DOOPER GIANT MEGA SPOILERS.

Anna's subversive action to pump good nanobots into Silo 17 when it was supposed to be shut down with the killing kind was a brilliant twist, and a great explanation for the mystery of how Solo survived that I'd been pondering for a few books.

Donald waking up as Thurman was a stroke of genius from Howey, exploiting the drugged caretakers of Silo 1's complete trust in the system and power hierarchy. Donald's misguided murder of Anna wasn't a complete surprise, but it was still shocking, and made me want to yell STOP! DON'T DO IT! as I was reading. And Thurman rises from the dead! So many great ideas in this book.

I found Mission's story fairly uninteresting, but I think Howey made an excellent point with the Crow: just one person off the drugs who actually remembers is a very powerful thing, and a seed for revolution.

Donald's despair and frustration is palpable as he struggles to discover the secret of the silos.

Sleep was a vehicle for passing the time, for avoiding the present. It was a trolley for the depressed, the impatient, and the dying. Donald was all three.

The ending felt a little rushed, but I think it was actually quite fitting, the survivors needed to do something drastic. The prospect of fighting for survival in a decrepit silo was understandably horrifying. Howey didn't attempt to tie off all the loose ends, like the other dark silos, or whether Juliette and crew would go back and try to rescue others, but I think that was fine.

Easily one of the consistently strongest sci-fi series I've ever read. Kudos for finishing strongly and not dragging things on into mediocrity. I look forward to seeing what Howey does next.

4.5 stars.