Dust

The Silo Saga series MUST be read in order to understand the story. And it is a single story. Author Howey does a nice job of character development. The series of audio books takes 49 hours to listen to at recorded speed. I listened at 2X speed so my time commitment was 24.5 hours. Most of the series occurs about 100 years into the future except for the first parts of Wool and Shift which are about 20 years into the future. The same narrator (Tim Gerard Reynolds) narrates Shift and Dust very well. Get the Kindle version of Wool because the narrator of the novel is horrid.

My favorite post-apocalyptic/dystopian series is the Project Eden series by Brett Battles which takes 61 hours to listen to its 7 novels. How does the Silo Saga compare to Project Eden? Project Eden is much better, William Forstchen authored the three novel After series. Each of the three novels are better than Wool, Shift, or Dust. Still the Silo Saga series is worthwhile reading for fans of dystopian novels.

The Silo Saga enters its final book set up for success. Wool painted a picture of a bleak future where a dystopian underground society is all that manages to keep humanity on the right side of extinction. Shift then revealed who was behind the building of the silos and their published plan for delivering mankind to a better future; however, it also exposed that the official plan intentionally leaves out that a key decision will eventually made about who will and won't survive. All of this makes for excellent backdrop as the characters from both books converge to determine the ultimate fate of mankind.

Hugh Howey sets things up so that multiple factions are vying to determine what will ultimately happen. There is Senator Thurman who is one of the architects of the original plan and also one of the keepers of the final secret. He feels justified that he is doing what must be done to ensure that there is a future for humanity no matter how ruthless his actions are. There is Donald Keene, who now remembers his past and has decided that "doing the right" thing is the best course of action and does his best to counter Thurman's final secret plan. And finally you have Juliette, who has grown up in the silos and wants to now determine her own fate instead of letting either Senator Thurman or Donald dictate the outcome.

Things have certainly gone sideways and it is entirely possible that the actions of one or all of the main characters could cause mankind to go extinct and perhaps rightfully so. Yet each of the perspectives offered has its merits, even Senator Thurman's, and it is never clear which path is best. Thurman fears that if you let everyone determine their own fate then mankind will just return to the same brink of destruction that it was on when he enacted his bold plan. He is probably right but that doesn't prevent Juliette and Donald from doing what humans do as they fight for a different fate from the one Thurman has prescribed for them.

Although it felt like things wrapped up just a bit too quickly at the end it was still a satisfying conclusion to an excellent series. I certainly recommend this series to any fan of apocalyptic tales and I look forward to more from Hugh Howey. With Tim Gerard Reynolds once again doing the narrating the audiobook is an excellent way to experience this unique story and certainly worth your time.