Better than the Handmaid's Tale!
Now that I've read this second part of Ms. Atwood's story, I can't help comparing it with the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. The Handmaid's Tale focuses on the rise of a totalitarian regime, while The Testaments is all about its fall.
And while I truly objected to the unrealistic means, the downright nonsense by which such a regime rose, I really appreciated the way it fell.
Much of my appreciation is due to Ms. Atwood's capable use of different point of views from that of The Handmaid's Tale. They gave the author a more objective perspective, and this in turn benefitted the reader's experience by making it less obsessive and less improbable than The Handmaid's Tale. Or maybe the 35 years' distance between the two novels gave Ms. Atwood a depth and an insight she lacked before.
Either way, I definitely liked this book!