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A review by h3dakota
First Shift: Legacy by Hugh Howey
2.0
Let me just start off by saying that I love this series and I think that Howey is an unbelievably talented & imaginative writer. That said, I must admit that I was very disappointed with this book for several reasons. While it retained the same flavor as Wool, the story felt rushed and a bit disjointed. I would rather have waited another year & gotten a better story than this story.
My biggest issues with it are much weightier than that, however.
First the deep freezing of the women & children while the men do all the work & take over all the leadership of the silos... sexist much?! *death glare* Anna trying to replace Helen as Donald's wife also pissed me off - she was a talented woman, but in the end, she wanted nothing more but to be Donald's wife. Really? Humph.
The part that pissed me off even more was putting the politics into the story. Why have the Democrats destroy the world while putting just "their kind" into the bunkers/silos? Why explicitly name one party over the other (BOTH parties have whack-a-doodles!)?? It takes place in the future - MAKE UP a party. Someone not trying to make a political statement would have called it the XYZ party & pinned the blame on that party instead of the Democrats OR the Republicans. Howey doesn't do that, however.
It smacks of the author trying to force his political beliefs & fears on the reader & I hate that. Obviously, I do not know Mr. Howey nor his political beliefs - and he may not have intended to give this impression - but it IS the impression that I got out of it & I'm positive I won't be alone in that. Especially given the timing of this novel - right in the throes of reelection time in an already horribly divided country. This is such a fantastic series, but this aspect left a very bad taste in my mouth. :(
My biggest issues with it are much weightier than that, however.
Spoiler
First the deep freezing of the women & children while the men do all the work & take over all the leadership of the silos... sexist much?! *death glare* Anna trying to replace Helen as Donald's wife also pissed me off - she was a talented woman, but in the end, she wanted nothing more but to be Donald's wife. Really? Humph.
The part that pissed me off even more was putting the politics into the story. Why have the Democrats destroy the world while putting just "their kind" into the bunkers/silos? Why explicitly name one party over the other (BOTH parties have whack-a-doodles!)?? It takes place in the future - MAKE UP a party. Someone not trying to make a political statement would have called it the XYZ party & pinned the blame on that party instead of the Democrats OR the Republicans. Howey doesn't do that, however.
It smacks of the author trying to force his political beliefs & fears on the reader & I hate that. Obviously, I do not know Mr. Howey nor his political beliefs - and he may not have intended to give this impression - but it IS the impression that I got out of it & I'm positive I won't be alone in that. Especially given the timing of this novel - right in the throes of reelection time in an already horribly divided country. This is such a fantastic series, but this aspect left a very bad taste in my mouth. :(