Last Reviewed on June 19, 2019, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 282

Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam is the final work in a trilogy comprising Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. Thus, the characters overlap with the earlier two books. Snowman thinks he is the last human on earth in the aftermath of a deadly pandemic. Before the pandemic, Snowman was called Jimmy. Apart from Snowman, there are the Children of Crake, a genetically engineered group of humanoids. Crake was a friend of Snowman's, and they both competed for the affection of the beautiful Oryx. Crake used to be called Glenn. The title of the book refers to a complex game that Glenn and Jimmy bonded over in the days before the pandemic. The game was called "Extinctathon," and it was run by a cryptic identity called MaddAddam; a description of MaddAddam says that "Adam named the living animals, MaddAddam names the dead ones". Later, MaddAddam was the name of a bioterrorist group. The characters in The Year of the Flood include the following: Toby, a woman with a rifle who has managed to survive the pandemic, Zeb, a Gardener, Ren, Amanda, Shackleton, Crozier, Oats, and a vicious man called Blanco.

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MaddAddam features some of these characters while others exist in the background; the others are, however, essential for understanding the plot and characters, which is why I have mentioned them. MaddAddam's characters include Adam One, Jimmy/Snowman, Toby, Zeb, Ren, and Amanda. Katrina WooWoo is a former trapeze artiste who runs a brothel. The novel also features many of the Children of Crake (Crakers). There are also the evil Painballers, who tortured Amanda and Ren. Crozier, Swift Fox, White Sedge, Ivory Bill and Manatee from the earlier book are also in MaddAddam.