The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability. Adam One, the kindly leader of the God's Gardeners—a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion, as well as the preservation of all plant and animal life—has long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth as we know it. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women have survived: Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails, and Toby, a God's Gardener barricaded inside a luxurious spa where many of the treatments are edible.
Have others survived? Ren's bioartist friend Amanda? Zeb, her eco-fighter stepfather? Her onetime lover, Jimmy? Or the murderous Painballers, survivors of the mutual-elimination Painball prison? Not to mention the shadowy, corrupt policing force of the ruling powers . . .
Meanwhile, gene-spliced life forms are proliferating: the lion/lamb blends, the Mo'hair sheep with human hair, the pigs with human brain tissue. As Adam One and his intrepid hemp-clad band make their way through this strange new world, Ren and Toby will have to decide on their next move. They can't stay locked away . . .
By turns dark, tender, violent, thoughtful, and uneasily hilarious, The Year of the Flood is Atwood at her most brilliant and inventive.
"Starred Review. Another win for Atwood, this dystopian fantasy belongs in the hands of every highbrow sf aficionado and anyone else who claims to possess a social conscience. " - Library Journal
"This is a gutsy and expansive novel, rich with ideas and conceits, but overall it's more optimistic than Oryx and Crake...Each novel can be enjoyed independently of the other, but what's perhaps most impressive is the degree of connection between them. Together, they form halves of a single epic. ..." - Publishers Weekly
"Another stimulating dystopia from this always-provocative author, whose complex, deeply involving characters inhabit a bizarre yet frighteningly believable future." - Kirkus Reviews
"As an artefact, her novel is a remarkable feat of the imagination, as well as a salutary warning. As a record of the best qualities of the human spirit, it is curiously untouching. One is sufficiently engaged to want to finish the book, but if it ended with everyone eaten alive by liobams, one would hardly care." - The Telegraph (UK)
"The personality and feelings of characters in Oryx and Crake were of little interest; these were figures in the service of a morality play. The Year of the Flood is less satirical in tone, less of an intellectual exercise, less scathing though more painful. It is seen very largely through the eyes of women, powerless women, whose individual characters and temperaments and emotions are vivid and memorable. We have less of Hogarth and more of Goya." - Ursula LeGuin, The Guardian (UK)
Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Angela W. (Bronx, NY) The Survivors “The Year of the Flood” offers a parallel view of the future world depicted in “Oryx and Crake”, but from a decidedly female perspective. We meet the two main characters – Ren and Toby - each living in isolation after most of humanity has been... Read More
Rated of 5
by JD (NY librarian) Compelling Margaret Atwood describes a chilling future where science and corporations have run amok. I found her description of this world rich and her main characters well developed. It was both an intellectually stimulating book and an enjoyable read. I... Read More
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of 5
by Angela W. (Bronx, NY)
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