While the original novel is no walk in the park, be warned there's a graphic scene involving

Spoiler

rabbits killing a non-aggressive cat for giggles, something that would bother me at any time, but more so because I just lost my tuxedo cat barely a month before I read this (the cat in the book was b/w)

. It's a fine companion novel, otherwise. Not mind-blowing, just fine. If you did't like or read the original, I probably wouldn't bother reading this, and it's not really required even if you did read/like the original. It just fleshes out the world a teeny, tiny bit without breaking much new ground.