A companion to Oryx and Crake, we get a parallel story of women involved in God's Gardeners. This story seemed to go faster than the other, though I listened to Oryx and Crake while reading this one. I enjoyed seeing Adam One's skewing of the Bible lessons. I liked Toby. I was curious how Ren ended up at Scales and Tales. The interweaving of the stories was well done. I don't think you'd "get" The Year of the Flood without reading Oryx and Crake, however. There's just too much that happens unexplained in this book, though some curious things are spelled out. And yet, just like the first, we get no real ending. Are there any parties yet unheard from for a trilogy? I wouldn't think so, but then I wouldn't have imagined The Year of the Flood as existing, either. 
 The only irritant for me is that in such a vast world, these people find each other over and over. I suppose that does happen and it has to happen for a novel, but it bugs me.