I'm really tempted to take a cheap shot at Margaret Atwood and call her the George Lucas of literature since I was very disappointed in this follow-up to Oryx & Crake. 
 She built an intriguing world in O&C where corporations ruled and profited through genetic engineering and gene splicing animals in a way that would give Dr. Moreau some ethical concerns. And she tied that to the devastating story of how it ended along with the tale of Jimmy (Snowman), his mad scientist friend Crake, and the woman they both loved, Oryx. 
 The Year of the Flood centers around two women, Ren and Toby, through the course of their lives before, during and after the disaster that occurs in O&C. Tobey has been victimized by bad luck and a vicious man to end up having to hide with the God's Gardener's. Ren's mother fell for one of the Gardeners and left her husband, taking Ren from the cushy corporate compound they had been living. 
 God's Gardeners are a green religious group led by Adam One. By taking animal rights to a peaceful extreme and tying it to Christianity, they've attracted a small following despite the consumerist culture around them. Adam One preaches about the Waterless Flood, a disaster that will pay back humankind for all the injustices done to the animal kingdom, and those who have read Oryx & Crake know that Reckonin' Day is coming. 
 Ren is eventually returned to the corporate compound life, but never forgets her time with GG or her best friend, Amanda. Tobey is surprised to find herself becoming one of the respected senior members of the GG as time passes. Neither woman knows it, but they keep brushing up against the events and people who will eventually cause the Flood. Especially Ren who's first real boyfriend, Jimmy from O&C, breaks her heart and leaves her pining for him for the rest of the book. 
 I was really looking forward to reading more about this culture that Atwood had described in Oryx and Crake, especially since the first book centered on the 'elite' types who work and live in the corporate compounds, and this was more about the rest of the people trying to live in a world turned into a biological and ecological madhouse. But after reading it, I really don't see what the point was. 
 Oryx and Crake did just fine as a standalone book. Giving me another version of events from an outsider's perspective really didn't add anything to it. More, since I knew how it was going to end, I wasn't nearly as involved in this story as I was O&C. Plus, while O&C ended on an ambiguous note, Year of the Flood gives us resolution to that book, only to introduce a new ambiguous ending. Also, there are far too many coincidences to be remotely plausible about survivors who knew each other before the Flood constantly running into each other after the big disaster. It's less of an apocalypse and more like a class reunion. 
 I haven't been this disappointed since Jar Jar Binks showed up. And I'm worried that Atwood will be releasing Special Digitally Enhanced Versions of Oryx & Crake and The Year of the Flood very soon. 
 I probably shouldn't be this hard on a book that had some great writing, but I really liked Oryx and Crake so reading this one left me feeling like I got a plate of reheated leftovers and it's making me bitter. 
 (I have no idea if Atwood plans to do any more books related to this story, so if she releases some kind of brilliant third book that ties all of this together and enhances the overall story, I reserve the right to change my mind about this one.) 
 And on a humorous side note, I listened to the audio book version of this, and the song lyrics included by Atwood as part of Adam One's sermons have been turned into some horrible post-modern Christian rock tunes. It made Creed sound good.