Really well-done apocalyptic fiction makes you shudder a bit because you could see it happening. Such is Margaret Atwood's Oryx & Crake.
I've always been a sucker for end-of-the-world novels, and I'm also a bit obsessed with all the ways humans are screwing up the planet: over-consumption of all resources, global warming, genetically modified everything. This book combines all of that and turns it into riveting material that reads like something of a warning.
Taking place in the not-too-distant future, Oryx & Crake is told from the viewpoint of Snowman, the last remaining human of his kind, to his knowledge. You'll just have to read the book in order to discover how he ended up living in a tree, on a beach, as a quasi-deity to a group of "Crakers" - a special race of genetically engineered humans. It's a fascinating and extremely imaginative novel; definitely one of my favorites this year.
I've moved on to the sequel, The Year of the Flood, and so far, so good.
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