The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (2009): A Review

Title: The Year of the Flood

Author: Margaret Atwood

Publication Year: 2009

Pages: 431

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genre: Dystopia, Post Apocalyptic, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction

Awards: longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award; shortlisted for the 2010 Trillium Book Award; banned by Orange County Public Schools

The Year of the Flood, book two in Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy, picks up where Oryx and Crake left off—but don’t expect more of Snowman’s lonely end-of-the-world brooding. This time, the spotlight shifts to God’s Gardeners, a green-thumbed religious sect, and a new batch of apocalypse survivors. So much for Jimmy the Snowman being the last human standing! (Honestly, I was rooting for a truly exclusive end-of-the-world club, but Atwood clearly had other plans.)

As the trilogy unfolds, the connections between the books become a puzzle worthy of a literary scavenger hunt. Tracking references, piecing together overlapping timelines, and spotting familiar faces popping up in unexpected places—half the fun is realizing just how intertwined these stories are. (And yes, it’s all happening in the same wild, dystopian universe—no parallel worlds here, just parallel plot twists.)

I’ll admit, the heavy-handed religious and cult motifs sometimes made me miss the tight, eerie focus of book one—give me one traumatized Snowman over a dozen new survivors any day! I prefer my dystopias with fewer names to memorize. That said, The Year of the Flood fills in plenty of blanks from Oryx and Crake, even as it throws a few new questions (particularly who the hell is MaddAddam!) into the mix. While book one remains my favorite for its lean, haunting atmosphere, book two is still packed with sharp social commentary and existential questions—enough to make you wonder if humanity really is worth saving. Just don’t expect all the answers… or a survivor’s club with limited membership.