Review: Son by Lois Lowry

Son
(The Giver Quartet #4)

Author: Lois Lowry

Publication Date: October 2nd, 2012

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Thank you Thomas Allen and Son for the review copy!

Genre: Dystopia

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Synopsis:

They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive?　 She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice. Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of the Newbery Medal winning book, The Giver,　as well as Gathering Blue　and　Messenger　where a new hero emerges. In this thrilling series finale, the startling and long-awaited conclusion to Lois Lowry’s epic tale culminates in a final clash between good and evil.

My Thoughts: Awesome! I don't think Lois Lowry could have written a better ending to The Giver Quartet. After following all of the characters for so long, I was happy to see them all moving on with their lives, seeing Jonas, Kira and Gabe find happiness. Learning about Claire and her struggles. Son shows just how strong a mothers love can be, even if you're not supposed to feel any emotion, it can have a way of sneaking up on you. Claire is very determined to find her son and will do everything she can to find him.

So in Son we meet Claire. She's from the same place as Jonas and Gabe. She's three years older than Jonas and at her ceremony of Twelves she was assigned the role of Birthmother. Well, with her first birth something goes wrong and she is dismissed from that position. Her Product (baby) is number Thirty-six (who do we know that had that number? ;) ) and someone lets it slip that it was a male child to her. After she's reassigned to the Fish Hatchery she realizes that she can't stop thinking about her son. So she finds out who he is and visits when she can at the Nursery. Somehow, she ends up on the delivery ship that comes to the community, in a storm and is washed out to sea. She is rescued and can't remember anything except for her name, Claire. She knows there is something important that she can't remember and once she remembers, she decides she must leave this safe place and find her son. The only way out is to scale a cliff, which means she's going to need to train for it. Son shows how Claire can overcome anything to find her son that was taken from her. She is a strong character and I can't help but feel terrible for her. She nearly makes it when she has a brush with Evil which almost takes everything from her. She makes huge sacrifices for her son, who in turn makes sacrifices for his mother. Everything comes down to that adorable blue eyed Gabe from the Giver, can he defeat the Evil and save his mother after everything she's done for him.

Lois Lowry is a fantastic storyteller and I continuously find myself completely lost into the story. When I'm reading her works I see and hear nothing going on around me. I first read The Giver years ago, I think I was about 10. I found a copy in my older brothers room and being the bookworm that I am, I devoured it. I picked it up again a few years later in high school, remembering that I greatly enjoyed it and I read it again. Just recently this year, after finding out that there were more books to the series, I knew I had to read them. This past week I've once again reread The Giver and the rest of the series, ending it with this amazing ending. Lois Lowry has once again made me an emotional wreck whilst reading her writing. Dystopias are quickly becoming one of my favourite genres and it's all thanks to this series. If you haven't read The Giver or it's sequels, you really must. You'll be missing out if you don't! These are highly recommended by me!