Amazing book! I LOVE Lois Lowry's writing! It was a little sad though.

Remember how I complained about how Gathering Blue was almost a transplantation of The Giver? Apparently there had been a reason — the two communities existed in the same world. ⁣
⁣
And in The Messenger, they became connected. ⁣
⁣
Matty, Kira’s young friend from Gathering Blue, is now the messenger between Kira’s dystopian home community and her father’s adopted utopian one. ⁣
⁣
With Kira’s aid, the dystopia is improving. But simultaneously there is trouble in paradise: with the population increasing and resources disappearing, the once-newcomers and now-residents are petitioning to close borders. ⁣
⁣
Simultaneously, Matty is noticing a change in his people: after making deals with a mysterious Trademaster, they seem to be losing the best part of their identities. ⁣
⁣
After reading the novel, I went back and checked its publication date, which was in 2004. Yet the parallels between the once-utopian community and the United States are undeniable. In both cases, old immigrants/refugees are now preventing others from entering “their land;” in both cases, they are building walls. ⁣
⁣
The Trademaster complication also clearly indicates capitalism. In the pursuit of “gaming machines,” leather jackets and cosmetic surgical improvements, people are selling their innermost identities. The fates of the communities can now be seen as cyclical— while some dystopian rise, others simply fade and fall. ⁣
⁣
I took a star off mostly because of the ending. The solution was too straightforward for such a complex problem, and Lowry brought the story to its end almost forcibly. I would have preferred it to be open-ended; the sacrifice of a single person solves the problem only in the most idealized world. ⁣

For more book and movie reviews, visit me on Instagram @ RandomStuffIRead :)

Great book! I really enjoyed it! I am very happy with the plot and I would like to read the Son!

I read this in one night. It's fairly short, but I could not put it down. This book is really good. It is the 3rd book of the quartet. If you have read this far, you are almost done with the series! Anyway, this is a great book and series to read in your spare time.

Really good book

In my review of Gathering Blue, I said it was a companion piece to The Giver, but not a sequel. And the cover of my edition of Messenger also calls it a companion to the preceding two books. But it's clear that all three books (and, from what I've seen, the fourth book as well) tell different parts of the same story.
In Messenger, we see Matt (now Matty) and Kira's father, and we're reintroduced to a key character from The Giver, and we're shown the village (named, of course, Village) that Kira's father had been living in when Matt found him. Village has always been a peaceful, friendly place, but it's starting to change. (And really, it was never explained clearly why Village and Forest and their inhabitants were experiencing such a negative change.)
I'm told that the fourth book in the series will wrap up all the loose ends and tie all the other books together. I hope so, because there are so many things left unaddressed, such as how Kira managed to change her village, and where Kira and Leader got their Gifts.

This is Matty's story - but it also brings back both Jonas and Kira in yet another society in the world of The Giver and Gathering Blue.
The story is gripping, but there are one or two points left unexplained that I hope will be revisited in Son.

Messenger directly connects the characters first seen in The Giver and Gathering Blue. Matty, first introduced in Gathering Blue, is the protagonist of Messenger. He is as spirited as he was in Gathering Blue, but perhaps a little tamer and wiser. Matty is curious about his community and the changes he sees in the people around him. In the beginning of the book he takes his job relaying messages very seriously, as he is one of the few who can pass through Forest unharmed. This book stands alone as a novel, focusing on serious themes such as pride, consumerism, exclusivity, global suffering, and community. Still, one of those most intriguing things about this book is seeing what became of characters like Jonas, Kira, and Christopher who were introduced in the first two books in The Giver Quartet.

Lois Lowry never fails. Read this in one afternoon. The ending though... wish it was different.

This book won't make much sense without reading gathering blue first. Should also read the giver as well, but less important.

This book is a pretty fast read. It is targeted to middle school age.