There are some books that immediately haunt you, ripping through the shell of fiction, slamming you emotionally against a wall and burning vivid images into your dreams. Then there are some books that you pick up and from the first page it’s hard work; you feel you ought to finish but just can’t summon the willpower.
What’s especially interesting is when the same author writes two books in the same sequence which peg the scale at opposite ends. In this case it’s the new e-book self-publishing sensation: Hugh Howey’s Silo Saga, comprising Wool and Shift. (The third book in the trilogy, Dust, has been released this month, and I’m probably going to read it, if only to find out how the story ends. However, I’m not expecting it to thrill me as much as the five-star Amazon rave reviews suggest.)
This is a spoiler-heavy review, and it will be long and meandering. If you haven’t read these books, I would suggest you click away now.