I gave you the background to this novel on Tuesday, but I wanted to spend a bit more time looking at it than I had available then.
As with book 1 of the series, The Year of the Flood sweeps backwards and forwards through time. There are key differences though: whereas in book 1 we see the world from a point of knowledge about what has occurred, this book shows how people removed from the science and power are able to survive.
The God’s Gardeners religion which was mentioned in book one is a large element of book 2. It sounds like an eco-cult, with strange saints and a hierarchy where the most senior members are all called Adam or Eve. There are odd songs and it is made to sound both fantastical and (in light of the world they live in) a compelling kind of fringe society, taking in the waifs and strays left behind by modernity.
It took me a while to get into those elements, especially the songs, because the structure was quite different to book one.
However what worked really well for me was to show the key characters – Toby and Ren – as their situations change over time. In marked opposition to Oryx and Crake and the pampered lives in the Compounds, Toby and Ren exist in the insecurity and danger of the Pleeblands. They are at risk, as women, in the world they inhabit, and the risk doesn’t end when the plague comes.
I enjoyed this book, and as part of a series it added intricacy to the world being created. I wasn’t sure about the God’s Gardeners sermons and saints days but looked at collectively they show how much of the world we know now has been lost to the future, and how mankind has damaged the world in order to keep the Corporations powerful.
I am not sure how well it would stand up on its own but for me that wouldn’t be the best way to approach the middle book of a series anyway!
I will tell you about the final book of the series next time.
Happy writing,
EJ
🙂
Becoming a writer 
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