Review: The Testaments

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Note: This is the second novel in the series. The first novel in the series is The Handmaid's Tale, then The Testaments. Read in order, please.

*To hear my thoughts on the first novel, check this link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finally this review will be published, considering many fellow reviewers wrote about it early heh, but yeah finally this review will see the light. Didn't mean to delay it obviously, but time.

So..

FINALLY this review will see the light!

Continuing on..

The cover -Not much to stare at or swoon at, technically, but still strikes something in me. I'm not sure what it is, but this novel does do something to me. Anyway I give it points for being able to give me a reaction of sorts.

The summary - Is much more understandable, gets me even more intrigued as it is the prologue, the start to The Republic of Gilead, which explains the reason why it was formed, for who it was benefitting, what was the cause for it, when it happened, how it happened (not by pure magic certainly), the characters who played roles in helping to establish Gilead. That stuff. Intriguing and igniting a curiosity in me to find out the why, what, how, who, and when. So definitely interesting enough to get points.

The characters - Well there are three narrators as every reviewer, reader and Margaret Atwood fan knows: Aunt Lydia, Daisy, Agatha (or something, I've seemingly forgotten) (although the girls are not easy to identify, but we'll get into that soon enough), who reflect the future (not really but eh), the present and the past in itself. Each of them have something different to offer: Aunt Lydia with her own past, how she got roped in as a founder for Gilead, Daisy as a defiant 16 year old who's unwillingly put in the spotlight due to her "interesting" background and is resisting capture for it. Agatha as a recruit of a wife as simply of her high social status, but, who doesn't have a particular like to it, and escaping it anyway she can.

I admit, sometimes it got chaotic trying to remember exactly what was happening with each narrator of their own story, shocking I didn't suffer from a headache, but it left me, strangely, wanting more, I don't know why, but it did. So not bad in general. Hence why points are given.

*Warning: Content down below may be a spoiler (not really), so fair warning before you proceed.*

As for identifying the narrators, there are two people on the front and back, and the third one is underneath the front cover girl (haha, bet you didn't know that). So the front one is Agatha, the pony-tailed girl in the back cover is Daisy and the pen (in the first few pages in the book) is Aunt Lydia.

You're welcome but consider this as a spoiler of sorts or warning. Whatever. It will make your life easy, even if you object, to help identify the narrators much faster.

*Spoiler of sorts ends.*

The characters' overcoming problems - Well they get their problems solved quite in the end, as mostly it's filler in the beginning and introduction to their problems. But definitely each narrator's main goal and problems are solved in a manner which you may like. Or not. Depends on you. But I liked it, so. Yeah. Hence why one point is taken but still loved them.

The ending -Well it was a satisfactory ending as I mentioned earlier, that their problems get solved quite late but they do, so I think it ended good. Better than THT, honestly.

Overall, this is a much better novel than THT as it doesn't end horribly neither are the narrators weak characters, and their problems do end, no cliffhanger.

So yes, I'm in the minority but THIS NOVEL IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE HANDMAID'S TALE.

There. I said it. Hah. *ducks to avoid any rotten eggs or fruit, comments etc* Please don't hurt me.

Anyway, if you're in the minority like me, you'll like it for sure. Otherwise, sorry, we all have different opinions.

Until the next read,

TMR

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