In Oryx and Crake, Atwood painted a future where advances in genetic engineering created a plague that eradicated most of humanity. I loved the novel for its realism—many of the engineered creatures Atwood envisioned had already been created. It was a great work of dystopian fiction.

The Year of the Flood brings us right back to that world from the perspective of a religious cult that prophesied the plague—the waterless flood—that eventually took place. We were introduced to the world in the first book—we experienced it in the second.

Atwood was brilliant in her creation of the “God’s Gardeners” cult that this book focuses on. Her description of theological hair-splitting and mixed motivations among the group faithfully echo the religious world of today. I’ve grown up in the church and pastored for the past 12 years: her understanding of religion is unnerving.

This story is a brilliant mix of popular fiction and literature. The story’s compelling, but there’s much more than mere plot. We can only hope this turns into a trilogy.

Atwood, Margaret. The Year of the Flood. McClelland & Stewart, 2009. MaddAddam 2.