I'm not sure what took me so long to read the second book, but I regret waiting! This book takes place in the same time/world as Oryx and Crake but it has a much different vibe. The first book and its corporate/gated community setting felt so depressing, and while The Year of the Flood is NOT uplifting, it certainly had more emotional resonance for its setting in the pleeblands and its main characters Toby and Ren - who were far easier to empathize with than Jimmy/Snowman/Crake.

Perhaps part of the reason I didn't continue right away with book 2 was that I'd heard it wasn't related to Oryx & Crake though it took place in same universe. Um, that was wrong. I loved seeing some of the same events and characters from the first book through another perspective. Atwood's dystopias are BLEAK but her characters are so wonderfully three-dimensional and resonant.

I've already started Book 3, MaddAdam, because I'm not going to make the same mistake again. Atwood is just the best.

A note to say that I finished this book on the day that Trump announced the U.S. would pull out of the Paris Climate Accord; which definitely makes Atwood's dystopia seem just a little more closer to reality. I mean, she's very blatant about it in certain parts, but the overall themes about corporate greed and environmental destruction are very much part of reality these days. Let's hope our future doesn't rely on Secretburgers!