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MaddAddam is the third book in the MaddAddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood, following on from the events of Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood.

Following on from the ending of the previous book, Ren and Toby have rescued Amanda from the clutches of the Painballers, along with Jimmy (a.k.a. "Snowman"), the protagonist of Oryx, who has been left seriously injured and in need of medical attention. Together, they make their way to the Crakers, a bio-engineered race of beings created by a scientist named "Crake", and eventually learn that Crake envisioned a settlement of beings called the "MaddAddamites", who are free of negative emotions, and that the settlement where Ren, Toby and Jimmy (along with Toby's boyfriend, Zeb) are living would be the permanent home of this new group.

As the novel continues, the threat of the "Pigoons" (a genetically-engineered group of half-pig, half-human hybrids faced by Snowman in the first book) and the Painballers becomes clear, and the group is forced to take decisive action to stop the threat once and for all — while guiding the Crakers to a safe location where they can grow up without violence.

Tropes originating in MaddAddam:

  • After the End: Like the previous titles in the trilogy, the book takes place decades after a genetically-engineered plague has wiped out the majority of humanity and turned what's left against each other.
  • Babies Ever After: In the final chapter of the book, it's revealed that Amanda, Ren and Swift Fox all managed to give birth to healthy half-Craker children, ensuring humanity's future.
  • Betty and Veronica: Toby worries about her and Swift Fox being this to Zeb, with her as the Betty.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: As per the previous titles, Jimmy hears the "voices" of Oryx and Crake in his head, which makes him a sort-of "prophet" to the Crakers. His Dying Dream has him go follow the voices into the unknown.
  • Contrived Coincidence: Adam One turns out to just happen to be kidnapped by the Painballers for no real specific explanation why.
  • Distant Finale: The book ends with an epilogue set several years after the resolution of the war against the Painballers, with Blackbeard (a member of the Crakers) now a young man, passing on tales of Ren and Toby's exploits to a group of Craker children.
  • Driven to Suicide: Distraught over Zeb's death, Toby elects to leave the Crakers in the final chapter of the book and walk into a forest to eat poison mushrooms.
  • Enemy Mine: Midway through the book, the MaddAddamites and the Crakers (with Blackbeard acting as their emissary) hammer out a peace pact with the Pigoons to take out the Painballers, who they all recognize is the biggest threat to their collective existence.
  • Hooker with a Heart of Gold: The trope continues but now is passed on to Katrina who we learn was also Eve One.
  • Hope Spot: After the conclusion of the war against the Painballers, Zeb and Toby elect to get married, and seemingly enjoy a bout of domestic bliss as they help shepherd the Crakers into their new future. Then Zeb goes missing (and presumed dead) in what's supposed to be an otherwise-routine scouting mission, and it hurts Toby so badly that her condition deteriorates, causing her to be Driven to Suicide.
  • Left Hanging: We don't know for sure what really happens to Zeb, Black Rhino and Katuro.
  • Never Found the Body: It's heavily implied (though never confirmed) that Zeb was killed during a scouting mission, as he never returned back to Toby and his remains are never located.
  • New Job as the Plot Demands: Zeb went through a lot of odd changes as the book progresses.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Several of the members of MaddAddam never have their real identities revealed.
  • Perspective Flip: After being told from Toby's POV for the balance of the book, the epilogue is told from Blackbeard's POV as he teaches a group of Crakers about Ren and Toby's actions leading them to MaddAddam.
  • Preacher's Kid: Adam and Zeb fill both sides of this.
  • Retcon: Why the MaddAddam group split from God's Gardener's furthers explanation within the third book. In the second book, it seemed more drastic from Toby's point of view.
  • Self-Made Orphan: Zeb flat out admits to killing his father, for the abuses he heaped on him and Adam and their mothers, and he used the pathogens that inspired Crake to release the BlyssPluss virus.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Addam and Zeb. Playing with a Trope Played with in this book, as the relationship is far more complex.
  • Smarter Than They Look: The Pigoons, who were set up as the largely-faceless bio-engineered race of villains who Jimmy has to escape from multiple times in Oryx and Crake (and whom he believed were nothing more than mindless freaks) are shown to be quite-intelligent... albeit unable to understand any languages. It falls on Blackbeard to act as an impromptu translator, and he manages to negotiate a peace deal between the MaddAddamites, Crakers and Pigoons to help destroy the Painballers.
  • The Storyteller: Toby takes up the mantle from Snowman-the-Jimmy, who then passes it on to Blackbeard.
  • Suddenly Speaking: The Crakers find out they can communicate with the Pigoons, who in the first two books were only treated as animals.
  • Taking the Bullet: Jimmy ends up doing this to protect Toby during the final assault on the Painballer's base.
  • Translator Buddy: Blackbeard acts as one to the Pigoons during their peace treaty negotiations.

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