My mother says The Testaments is (relatively) quite a bit lighter.

She also says that I will pick up many more of the literary allusions than she did, because I am so much wider-read. I nearly dropped my coffee mug at that comment, because it has been written in stone these 25 years that she has read more and knows more about All Literature than I ever will so I must not have opinions on books, especially if they differ from her opinions.

I haven't dared re-read The Handmaid's Tale, so am unprepared for The Testaments.