MaddAddam question

I would recommend reading the O&C and YOTF first. You'll appreciate the final part of the trilogy much more if you do so.

It is critical to read Oryx and Crake and Year of the Flood before reading Madd Adam. The first two books are written more as companion pieces, but it is still important to read by their publication dates. Jumping into Madd Adam will cause you to be lost in regards to the story lines and character significance.

I would recommend reading the first two books in the series before reading MaddAddam. The books are written as separate stories, but I often found myself revisiting them while reading MaddAddam.

There is a summary of 'the story so far' at the beginning of MaddAddam to help you out, and as Marks says, the story does stand alone. I read Oryx and Crake ten years ago and have to confess I didn't remember it in any great detail by the time I read the second book, The Year of the Flood. I would recommend at least reading The Year of the Flood before reading MaddAddam because the third book follows directly on from the second - plus The Year of the Flood is absolutely brilliant! Hope you enjoy them, whatever order you choose to read them in.

To get the full value of MaddAddam you really do need to read the first two books IMO. That said the first part of MaddAddam gives a pretty good summary of the back story. Brilliant imagination & a superb trilogy.

Yes! You will be cheating yourself if you don't.

I agree: you should definitely read the first two of the trilogy - though I don't think it matters much which you read first. (Frankly, I would stop at those two; this was very disappointing, and I didn't feel it added much.)

YES. This book is terrible. The first one (Oryx and Crake) is great. Read that one, and if you love it you might use that momentum to get through the other two.

The first two thirds of this book are all about the previous books, so no, you don't really need to read them.