Reading Order
The Year of the Flood Reading Order
The Year of the Flood (2009) by Margaret Atwood is the second novel in the MaddAddam trilogy — a parallel account of the same catastrophic 'Waterless Flood' depicted in Oryx and Crake (2003), this time narrated from the perspective of Toby and Ren, two women who have survived the pandemic by hiding in a rooftop garden and a sex club respectively. Where Oryx and Crake followed Jimmy and Crake through the corporate enclaves of a near-future biotech dystopia, The Year of the Flood follows the God's Gardeners — a religious environmental movement that has been predicting and preparing for exactly this kind of civilizational collapse. The two novels share the same timeline and eventually converge; MaddAddam (2013) brings both sets of survivors together. The trilogy can be read in any order, but the intended sequence is Oryx and Crake first.
Where to start
Oryx and Crake (2003)
Complete The Year of the Flood Book List
- 1Buy
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood·2003·Start here — the MaddAddam trilogy's first novel, following Jimmy and Crake through the corporate enclaves of a biotech dystopia before the Waterless Flood. - 2Buy
The Year of the Flood
Margaret Atwood·2009·The parallel account of the same catastrophe, narrated by Toby and Ren from the margins of the corporate world. - 3Buy
MaddAddam
Margaret Atwood·2013·The concluding novel — the two groups of survivors converge, the history of Crake's plan is fully revealed, and Atwood builds a new world from what remains.
The Year of the Flood — Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to read Oryx and Crake before The Year of the Flood?
They are designed to be read in publication order — Oryx and Crake first, then The Year of the Flood — but The Year of the Flood can stand alone. Reading Oryx and Crake first gives The Year of the Flood's parallel timeline its full resonance.
Are The Year of the Flood and Oryx and Crake the same story?
They cover the same catastrophic event — the engineered pandemic called the Waterless Flood — but from completely different perspectives. Oryx and Crake follows the corporate insiders who created the disaster; The Year of the Flood follows the religious environmentalists who survived it from the outside.
Is the MaddAddam trilogy dystopian or speculative fiction?
Atwood prefers "speculative fiction" — the trilogy contains nothing that current science or corporate behavior does not already make plausible. The biotechnology, social stratification, and environmental collapse are all extrapolations of real trends rather than fantasy scenarios.
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