Silo - Hugh Howey

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

There would be absolute spoilers for Wool if others were read first. If you don't mind spoilers, that's fine. But publication order is almost always best. It's how the world came to love them after all. Why second guess the way the most people had no choice but to read them?

Fair enough. Personally, I didn't think the spoilers were that much of a big deal. We know through Wool roughly what happened, the "Spoilers" in Shift really just confirmed it. There was no "Oh my God, can you believe that!!!" moment with any spoilers.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Besides... stories told strictly linearly are terribly overrated. I compare them to being spoonfed oatmeal.

For me, I struggle to read any other way. Must be an OCD thing...
I need to start at the beginning of the timeline and work my way through.
As you might recall, I read the entire Dune saga recently. Now, imagine trying to read that in publication order. You would be all over the place, and working that extra bit harder, trying to make it all fit the events already happened, or are to happen in the future.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm curious what your definition of a "true prequel" is? I don't really recognize different grades of prequels myself, and your definition of prequel seems to differ from mine.

Bad wording.
The entire book is loosely called a prequel, which it is not.
I was simply trying to distinguish between the real prequel parts of the novel, and the part that runs somewhat concurrently with Wool.

I guess if you are going to binge read this, I firmly believe that Publication order will ruin the flow.
You can't get past the fact that Dust is a direct continuation of Wool which you break to read Shift.
If anything, then read Wool, followed by Dust. Then go back and read Shift. But you might as well just read Shift first.

[DiapDealer]

I'll gladly defend your right to read a series in any order you like. But I'm afraid no amount of reasoning/explanation will make me understand why anyone would willingly change from the release chronology. But the good news is, is that I don't have to understand it.

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'll gladly defend your right to read a series in any order you like. But I'm afraid no amount of reasoning/explanation will make me understand why anyone would willingly change from the release chronology. But the good news is, is that I don't have to understand it.

haha, thanks

Each to their own, and I agree with you that everybody has a right to read anyway they like. No problems with any of that.

Can anyone point me to a statement by an author that states something along the lines of "as the author of this series, I urge all readers to read the story in the following order..."

Is it possible that an author has written a novel, and then become surprised by its success and popularity?
Is it then possible that readers and/or publishers have then pressured for more? Maybe pressured for answers on how the world became dystopian?
Is it outside the realms of speculation that had the author know of the success that s/he may have written the books in a different order (obviously adjusting the text to suit).
Just because a series of novels are published in a certain order, to me it does not mean they are meant to be read that way.

Sure, if you read as they are released, you have no choice to read in publication order. But if you read after the series is complete, it makes sense (to me) to read in timeline order.

[haertig]

If I had read Shift first, I would never have read Wool. Shift wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as Wool. Reading Wool first, I gladly moved on to Shift, and then Dust (publication order). Wool is still my favorite of the trio. But if I had started with Shift, Wool and Dust would never have been read. I think the main thing that kept me reading Shift and not abandoning it, was the occasional "Ah ha!" moment where I realized how something being told related to Wool.

I think reading series in timeline order (vs. publication order) is a concept that was developed by engineers (of which, I happen to be one). Everything neat and tidy and ordered chronologically. But I don't necessarily like that. Can you imagine if Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" had its story re-arranged chronologically by engineers? That would have ruined the book. I like the revelations of later finding out how something came about after you've read about it initially, wondering at the time what was going on. This is fun when the author does it right.

[kyrilson]

I like linear timelines, so I usually try to read stuff that way. That is how I’m doing the Dune readthrough and it’s how I read the Asimov Robot/Foundation series(Fantastic experience!). So I’ll likely do the same here.

[Lukusaukko]

I realize I'm a bit late to the party, and great that Karellen liked the series, but I'll just add a contrary voice in case someone else is looking for more opinions on the series - I hated it. Paperthin and unlikeable characters, and I developed even more massive muscles suspending my disbelief while reading as the entire concept requires suspending several tons of it single-handedly. But others seem to like it a lot, so it's probably one of those books... (like McCarthy's The Road or Pynchon's Against the Day).

[John F]

Originally Posted by Lukusaukko

I realize I'm a bit late to the party, and great that Karellen liked the series, but I'll just add a contrary voice in case someone else is looking for more opinions on the series - I hated it. Paperthin and unlikeable characters, and I developed even more massive muscles suspending my disbelief while reading as the entire concept requires suspending several tons of it single-handedly. But others seem to like it a lot, so it's probably one of those books... (like McCarthy's The Road or Pynchon's Against the Day).

Or Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or ...

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Lukusaukko

I realize I'm a bit late to the party, and great that Karellen liked the series, but I'll just add a contrary voice in case someone else is looking for more opinions on the series - I hated it. Paperthin and unlikeable characters, and I developed even more massive muscles suspending my disbelief while reading as the entire concept requires suspending several tons of it single-handedly. But others seem to like it a lot, so it's probably one of those books... (like McCarthy's The Road or Pynchon's Against the Day).

I'm just the opposite. I loved Wool (the first one). I have only a handful of books that I have marked as "5 stars" in Calibre, and Wool is one of them.

Now when it comes to "The Road", I didn't make it very far in that one. I don't I even made it out of the first chapter IIRC. I knew right off, "This isn't for me".

It's funny how we are all so different in what we like. But that's a good thing - we have so many choices available to us because of this.