Silo Series Box Set

You can safely read this commentary because there will be no spoilers here! I re-read Wool and now just finished the Silo trilogy books II and III. Wow! I think this may be the best Sci Fi story since Frank Herberts Dune! And, I'm including The Three Body Problem. The Silo Trilogy starts with a great story which launches you into a very different but totally understandable world. The author, Hugh Howey, does a fantastic job of creating a new world, like nothing we have seen before, but ultimately an understandable world. The details of Silo life, the details of Silo mechanical operation, etc. All so well done and described. But, the next two books in the series is where the author really shines. Book II is a prequel and explains how the silo and silo life came into existence. Book III is the sequel, and tells a story of survival. Hugh Howey keeps the story grounded. The problem I had with The Three Body Problem is that it became VERY huge. Too huge. Book 3 of The Three Body problem got so esoteric that it lost the story significance. (Author Liu Cixin, should have stopped with book II). Unlike that, the Silo story stays grounded. Still lots of good hard science and fun wierdnesses but it is always interesting and understandable from beginning to the end. The character arcs are very interesting and never obvious. And, if you like action packed sequences there is plenty for you. (Another problem with The Three Body Problem!) Hugh Howey does a really great job of sending us into the middle of this crazy silo roller coaster ride, then takes us back to the start of the ride in Book I and finally finishes up with the most dangerous part of the ride in Book III. Whoooopeee! BTW - I am a reader and think the written novels are better than the TV show. But, I really like the TV show too! The production values and the design of the TV silo is awesome!

I wanted to write a review of this excellent trilogy of novels. There is no postmodern nonsense in this. It's nothing but page after page of solid, professional storytelling. There is a ton of content, but there is no padding whatsoever. If you've despaired at the slow pace of the TV show they based on these books, don't worry: The book blows the TV show out of the water. Decades ago, when I was a kid, I would pick up a novel and spend an entire weekend reading it cover to cover. Believe me, I never saw myself doing that again! Until this past weekend when I abandoned all other activities because I could not put this down. Well done and a big Thank You to Hugh Howey

I read these books when they released on my Kindle and every one of them was a solid five star read. Top shelf dystopian sci-fi. Excellent books, storyline, character, development, pacing, etc. all fantastic. This reviews is about the box set. It’s a small thing and may seem a little petty but, the AppleTV logo is everywhere. It’s on the cover of every book. It’s on the box. When not just put sticker on the box? The only way that I feel comfortable displaying this is with the spines facing out, which is fine, but the art on the box is nice. They just put a stamp in the middle of it. Mona Lisa with a Nike swoosh on her cheek! Buy the books. You’ll enjoy them as long as you only want to display them spine side out.

This is a great read. What I like most about this book is the unpredictable nature of the characters. The characters he develops are complex, compelling, and highly believable. Most books I know exactly where it is headed after a chapter or two. and and plots. But Howey's charactors and plots act much like real people with there own beliefs but like us are seriously flawed and do a lot of unexpected things. The story is chilling, thought provoking, with lots of ups and downs. Howey is not afraid blend the very dark and light shades of his charactors and the stark contrast is both puzzling and beautiful. Great Job Huey.

I have never been more obsessed with books in my life. I am not a book reader, but I am an avid TV watcher. I enjoyed the silo series and I wanted to already know what happens next. I imagined that I would give up within a few days. That did not happen, and I am now reading too late into the night when I should be sleeping to find out what happens next. I really enjoy the back-and-forth of timelines and different locations/Silos. Sometimes as I am reading an entire five chapters I think I’m in one place, until the end of a chapter in the final line and I realized that I had it completely wrong. Wrong in the sense that the author did a great job keeping things secret until it was absolutely necessary to share, and continue to draw me into the next chapter. I look forward to watching the show with the book completed.

The Silo series is built around a strong and interesting idea, but over the course of three books it often feels like a short story concept stretched far beyond what it can comfortably support. While the setting suggests scale, mystery, and variety, the narrative repeatedly slows down with long, plodding passages that do little to develop characters or move the story forward. Hugh Howey creates a world with a lot of promise. A massive underground structure, generations living without knowledge of the outside world, and the hint that many silos exist should naturally lead to a wide range of perspectives and environments. Instead, the series tends to narrow its focus. It circles around a small group of characters and a limited number of locations, relying heavily on extended internal monologue rather than action or interaction to carry the story. Much of the writing feels padded. Scenes often linger well past their usefulness, with characters repeatedly thinking through the same fears and doubts. These sections slow the pacing and give the impression that the story is being deliberately drawn out rather than unfolding at its own pace. Wool Wool is at its strongest early on, when the mystery of the silo and its rules still feel fresh. As the book progresses, however, the pacing becomes uneven. Large portions of the story are spent inside characters’ heads as they reflect on control, obedience, and curiosity, often without adding new insight. Juliette’s time navigating the silo’s internal politics and mechanical systems is described in great detail, but many of these passages do not significantly change her character or advance the plot. The silo itself is vividly imagined, yet the narrative repeatedly returns to the same stairwells, workshops, and confined spaces. What initially feels tense and atmospheric eventually starts to feel repetitive, with suspense maintained more by withholding information than by escalating events. Shift Shift opens the door to a much larger story, introducing new timelines and revealing how the silos came to exist. While this expansion is welcome, the execution still suffers from the same issues. The book spends a great deal of time on internal conflict, especially Donald’s guilt and confusion, revisiting the same emotional territory again and again. Instead of allowing events to drive the story, the novel frequently pauses to explain how characters feel about what is happening. Even as the scope of the world increases, the storytelling remains oddly constrained, as if reluctant to fully explore the consequences of its own ideas. Dust By the time Dust begins, the series is clearly moving toward its conclusion, but the pacing problems remain. The story continues to focus on a small number of viewpoints, and many chapters are dominated by characters thinking about decisions rather than acting on them. Moments that should feel urgent are often slowed by prolonged introspection. The ending does bring the series to a logical conclusion and answers the major questions, but the journey there feels longer than necessary. Familiar themes of control, trust, and sacrifice are revisited yet again, even though they have already been thoroughly explored in the earlier books. Final Thoughts The Silo series has a compelling premise and a well-realized atmosphere, but it often struggles with repetition and overextension. The world is large, yet the storytelling remains narrow, rarely stepping outside the same emotional and physical spaces. What could have been a tightly paced novel or a shorter series instead becomes a trilogy weighed down by unnecessary length. Readers who enjoy slow, introspective science fiction may appreciate the mood and themes. Others may find themselves wishing the story had trusted its core idea enough to tell it more concisely.

The books feel nice and textured. The box they came in held the books a little too tightly, I had to turn it upside down and shake to get the books to come out. I have watched both seasons of the show on Apple TV and can’t wait to read the books!

A truly paradigm-shifting tale of what humanity is capable of doing... particularly towards one another, especially in the name of altruism, religion, ego, and/or idealism. I absolutely devoured these books and believe that fans of humanizing stories that never stop twisting, boring themselves into your mind like a corkscrew, will love this series as well. This is a story that hauntingly blurred black and white into gray, using powerful visuals of a post-apocalypic (maybe? maybe not?) someday that somehow still feels eerily like today. I am sincerely hoping that Hugh gives us more of this universe, it truly is captivating!

As is often the case these books are a better story than the TV adaption. Well written, pacy and full of detail. A they say, "a real page turner"! Recommended.

The boxed set came with slightly damaged corners (possible due to handling during delivery) but overall satisfied

Esta super bien el tamaño y el boxset! Me gusto mucho la edicion

These books are really good, presented in a box to keep them together, I couldn't be happier with this purchase. Thank you.

I've read the first 2/3 of the trilogy, so far, and my 5 stars are mainly for the opening entry, Wool. I've never read a book so fast in my life. The second entry, Shift, is entertaining enough, but it inverts a lot of what made Wool great, and I wouldn't have given it 5 stars, on its own. The third entry, Dust, is still TBD, but my early impression is that it's more like Wool than Shift (i.e., it's good). Wool revived my appreciation for books as entertainment. It cuts together its short chapters much like a TV show or movie would, keeping up a fast pace, and always leaving you wanting more as it alternatives between narrative threads. The action sequences are genuinely thrilling. The pacing is flawless. It is a very hard book to put down. Shift keeps the short chapters, but the intercutting is far less elegant, and for very long stretches (including the entire first half) I was bored. Howie writes well, but not in a showy way. I was never wowed by the artistry of the prose, and the vocabulary is basic. But that's an asset--a big aspect of what makes these books such page turners is how easy they are to read. I saw the first two seasons of the Apple TV+ series before reading Wool (seasons 3 and 4 will draw more from Shift and Dust, but are not out yet, at the time of this review). I was never bored to be experiencing the same story again in a different format. The TV show was useful as a visual point of reference, particularly because Howie is not a very visual writer--he leaves a lot to the imagination. I say "the same story", but there are actually quite a lot of differences. The TV show is much more slowly paced and has several side-plots and side-characters that are totally absent from the book. It also has makes some significant changes, but they keep the spirit of the story in tact. There are some ways in which I like the TV show better, others in which I like the book better.