I may have broken a new land speed record on Tuesday afternoon between Moderate Income Apartments and the New Britain Public Library to see if MaddAddam was truly in Express Books (rapid reads you can have for seven days only-no holds). I may have checked the Express Books section multiple times and my shoulders sag when I couldn’t find it. I may have picked up my holds with a heavy heart and slunk off to get takeout from the buffet/sushi joint next to the LaQuinta Inn a few blocks further downtown. I may have whinged on Twitter about the Universe being a big old meanie pants about no MaddAddam.

And I may have experienced a moment of pure joy when I called the Simsbury Public Library just before leaving Company X for the day on Wednesday to see if they had MaddAddam available. And muffled a shriek of delight when I was told the head librarian had just put it out on the Newest of the New section and they would hold it for me. And I might have decided Route 10 was the Autobahn, setting yet another land speed record to a library.

Okay, you know I totally did all of the above. And you also know I crept into the bedroom, curled up on Mr Bed with MaddAddam and growled at Blacklight when he came in the room to talk to Miss Susan Fish. Yes, Miss Susan Fish is the cutest widdle redhead ooo is her daddy favorite fishie girl but dude? I have been waiting FOUR FREAKING YEARS FOR THIS FREAKING BOOK!

Ah, yes…review the book already right? Gotcha.

S0 after four years and much re-reading of Oryx and Crake and Year of the Flood and listening to both books back to back while toiling away at Company X and more mutterings of “when will MaddAddam finallyyyyyy come out?” than Blacklight cares to remember, the glorious release date has come and MaddAddam has been unleashed on our world. And yes, I devoured it in one glorious swoop, only putting it down to get another cough drop, chug another glass of water or shift position on the bed because my stupid hip hurts like a melon farmer.  Now was my four year wait in vain?

Like any much anticipated book after a first read, there was certain sense of let down. Is any book as wonderful as we hope it will be? Something was missing and it wasn’t the daily checking of Margaret Atwood’s Twitter feed for MaddAddam mentions or the “oh please don’t let this book suck a donkey” when I read the MaddAddam Amazon page. What was missing? A sense of fear, of being hunted, of being doomed.

The Post-Waterless Flood world hasn’t changed. Most people are still dead. Mad scientist creations lurk, the Crakers (which my poor allergy brain decided are “the Crackers”) are still eating leaves and grasses and totally Uncanny Valley hot and singing. There is no internet, Starbucks (sorry Happicuppa), etc. But that delight and terror I felt when Jimmy was in his tree to hide from the wolvogs or Toby fighting the pigoons at AnooYoo? Gone. Oh, Mr Pigoon, BiteYoFaceOffWolvog, Mr BobKitten and friends are still around but they are about as scary as the electric bill. Wait…my electric bill IS scary… <shudders>

The sense of terror and the struggle to survive in the Post-Waterless Flood world of Oryx and Crake and Year of the Flood just isn’t in MaddAddam. Quick example: If the survivors visit to the drugstore is so fraught, maybe show us the trip? Are there pigoons in the underbrush? Painballers in the trees? Make me really feel why gleaning girl stuff was so mission critical at this very moment. And this is coming from the person who mourned when a certain girl product went away (curse you,  Always, curse you…heeheehee…curse). Otherwise it’s just a cheap excuse to introduce with a sledgehammer a plot twist, Blacklight and the stuffed dragon babies could figure out in the depths of Boesmansgat clutching a flashlight with dead batteries. Ms Atwood, you are so much better than this!

And this just may be me, my need to know EVERYTHING, the four year wait coming to a close with each page turned, but MaddAddam feels rushed. The bulk of the book is spent building a world and it’s terrors (slutty gals! ersatz coffee! Craker winkies!) and then oh golly, third act…let’s have a rushed climax. The problem could lay with sections that cry to be lifted out and turned into a book of their own.

Case in point, over the course of MaddAddam we learn more about the winner of Most Unlikely To Be A God’s Gardener Let Alone Adam Seven: Zeb. Turns out Zeb (government name Zebulon) has lead a most interesting life. Instead of cluttering up the midsection of MaddAddam, I wish Zeb’s story had been it’s own full length book even with it’s dreaded Zeb knows everybody in the MaddAddam universe revelations. Want to know exactly who and how? Not going to spoil it here but basically if there was no Zeb? We might not have the Waterless Flood. Okay, given some individuals, the chances of an extinction event are still strong but not our Waterless Flood. Destruction does find a way.

But even with the let’s use a sledgehammer to unveil a plot twist, and Everybody Knows Zeb, and the madd (see what I didd there?) rush to  the climax, there are glimmering moments. Even though I don’t spend each page wondering if Character X is going to survive to the end of the chapter, there is some slight element of terror. Our survivors worry about the Crakers being attacked by others. Now if your brain is wired with classic sci-fi, you might think “hey now…Crakers=Eloi and that makes the Morlocks…oh man..bleepppp”. Toby getting Zeb to spin out his life story reminds me achingly of  the Blind Assassin sci/fi novel, the secret lovers meeting and an Arabian Nights like story that unfolds with each meeting. That sort of connection truly helps erase some of the dull sledgehammer thud. And makes me want to re-read The Blind Assassin. Another character (not Zeb) is pretty much doomed but hey if you re-read the whole series? Character has pretty much been doom chow since their first appearance. Their departure wasn’t a surprise (I had them pegged for compost fodder much earlier) but I was still a little sad when it happened.

MaddAddam is a fine book and in my Atwood Top Ten. Heck, I’m even going to hit the library to see if they have the audiobook version. But it may be best enjoyed in one big orgy of back to back reading/listening with Oryx and Crake and Year of the Flood. What I don’t like besides Mr Sledgehammer is the stories that aren’t told. I want to know how two characters survived their experiences. You don’t have to give me blow by blow but more than a sentence or two please? I’m reminded of something that the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast brought up when they covered The Music of Erich Zahn, I believe it was Chad Fifer who said the story that went out the window is the one he really wanted to read. The story they’re reading is good but it’s the missing one that they truly desire.