This one provided many more characters to get to know, which was a relief. In the first book, I didn't care for Jimmy or Crake at all. They're kind of terrible. TYOTF had a better variety of well developed likable characters and almost love stories.

This book filled in a lot of context for the first book too. It scratches that itch for the ever present question of what happens when all the systems you depend on break down. More plague/pandemic stuff. And we spend time with the cult, which is always fascinating. 

This one makes me like the first one more. One more to go. I wonder how that'll shape my opinion.