Jordan Colley

I came to this series first by watching the show, Silo, on Apple TV. After burning through the first two seasons, I was itching to know where everything was going. So I dove into the books.

The first two seasons of the tv show stay true to the first book, Wool. There are some small differences in characterizations, but the general plot is mostly the same. The third season is loosely following Shift, the second book, though they've diverged a bit to keep some of the main characters' stories progressing. It's been an interesting journey, as it's one of those rare cases where I think the book series and the tv show adaptation are different but both really well done. Anyway, back to the last book.

I don't want to give away the plot, as a lot of the fun is in the plot-driven narrative of the Silo series. I found myself constantly wondering how a character would get out of a jam or what they were going to do next. Dust moves at a pretty quick pace, like the other two books, and the chapters are short. That keeps the rhythm up, and I was often convincing myself that I had time for just one more chapter.

Two timelines are converging toward a collision point. How will it all tie together? It's a book that defies expectations in smaller decisions, but ultimately stuck to a pretty safe ending. That was my only disappointment. I loved the ride of going through the series but felt that the ending was a little too expected. I didn't hate it. I just didn't feel like it quite lived up to the potential of the previous storytelling.

Ultimately, Dust is about the necessity of finding hope. It explores the terrifying idea that taking risks when the pathway forward isn't clear is the only way to survive. Safety is a prison and the true human experience lies in the uncertainty of the unknown. I really enjoyed all three books and am excited to see how the tv show continues to progress!