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Author: Lois Lowry
Title: Messenger
Release: August 2006
Reviewer: Chrissy
Series: The Giver #3
Source: Personal library
Purchase: | Book Depository

Lois Lowry’s Messenger continues the quartet beginning with the quintessential dystopian novel, The Giver, and Gathering Blue, followed by Son.

For the past six years, Matty has lived in Village and flourished under the guidance of Seer, a blind man, known for his special sight. Village was a place that welcomed newcomers, but something sinister has seeped into Village and the people have voted to close it to outsiders. Matty has been invaluable as a messenger. Now he must make one last journey through the treacherous forest with his only weapon, a power he unexpectedly discovers within himself.

After reading both The Giver and Gathering Blue, I was very excited to learn that the follow up novel, Messenger, would unite characters from both novels and we would FINALLY discover what really happened to Jonas and Gabriel. There was always the heated debate of whether they truly made it to a new town or if they died at the end of the Giver. Readers get the answer to this question in Messenger.

I liked this book. However, there was only one thing that kept me from loving this book: the ending. I must warn readers, it’s a five tissue ending. This was a very well written book and brought all the characters together nicely, but it is very very sad. SPOLIER ALERT: One of the popular characters will fall.

Having said that, I must note that this is a good book. The character development is remarkable, the setting is what one would expect of the Utopian worlds created by Lowry, and the plot is unique.

Messenger is an emotionally charged novel that is much more sullen than Gathering Blue but a bit less than The Giver. While this is a young adult novel, there are depictions of graphic images (mainly the description of horrible wounds sustained by some of the characters) so this may not be suitable for younger readers. I would recommend it for readers 12 and up. Adult will also like this novel. But again, be ready for one sad ending.

Chrissy fell in love with books at an early age. It all started with Judi Barrett’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. At the tender age of five she decided that she wanted to be a writer. Later, she graduated to books like A Wrinkle in Time, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and the Goosebumps series, participating avidly in her school’s Book It program. High school brought on new challenges and loves. She began writing for the school’s newspaper and literary magazine. The works of Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Shirley Jackson quickly overran her bookshelves. But when Chrissy was introduced to the world of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, a grand love affair was set in motion. She is an avid reader of romance, urban fantasy, horror, erotica, and cozy mysteries. After working for the city library for six years and being surrounded by the works of greatly admired authors, she decided to devote her life to writing full time and hasn’t looked back since. When she is not devouring book after book, Chrissy loves to cook, bake, volunteer at the local animal shelter, and feed her addiction for horror movies. She lives in Maryland with her family and beloved pets.

Doll Chrissy

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