Out of respect and passion for Atwood, I've read all three of her speculative fiction trilogy despite this really not being my favoured genre. And I was disappointed with this last book. It seemed forced to me - like she really wanted to wrap up the story but didn't have a lot to say. It lacked the imaginative language created in the other two books, particularly the religion and even hymns found in the The Year of the flood. Maybe if I'd read the other two books more recently, I'd have had more interest in the characters as I'd have remembered their pasts more clearly. But, even with the brief summaries of the other two books at the start of this one, I felt a bit lost and disconnected from the characters.
That being said, Atwood's writing is, as usual, intelligent and engaging. But her political messages were less cleverly disguised than usual and, in my view, detracted from the story somewhat. This book takes place months after the Waterless Flood pandemic that wiped out most of humanity. We follow the lives of some survivors as well as a the Crakers, a quasi-human species engineered by the deceased Crake, as they gear up for battle, allied with pig like creatures, against some of the less desirable survivors. And, despite, the downsides, I was drawn into the story and really did want to see how it ended.
So the master again wrote a great book, but I wouldn't say it's one of her best.
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