Messenger
Author: Lois Lowry
Publication Date: April 26th, 2004
Publisher: Ember
Genre: YA/Dystopia/Fantasy
Synopsis:
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.My Thoughts: So far in the series this book was my favorite. I said that about the last one as well, so I guess they are just getting progressively better. Which is always an awesome thing in a series, to keep getting better instead of being drug out for too long.
The most interesting thing about this series is that you could pick up any of the books and read them without necessarily having to read the ones before it. But if you do read them, you will pick up on certain things you wouldn't notice otherwise. You could easily pick up this book and read it and enjoy it without having read the first two. But since I had read the first two, it made it even better. This one was different from the others because we actually got to re-visit old characters. Characters from both each previous book. But of course, we are in a new community. We get to read about Matty, the young troublesome boy from Gathering Blue, and what life is like for him 6 years later now that he lives in a new village with Kira's father. Kira was the main character in Gathering Blue. So for us to have that connection was something entirely new, since before there wasn't any real connection at all from book to book. Also, although it never straight out says who the leader is in this Village, it makes it pretty obvious who it is, and if you've read The Giver you'll know.
When we read about this village Kira's father came from in Gathering Blue, it sounded like the most peaceful friendly place ever. Where everyone was welcomed no matter what, and everyone helped everyone in any way they could. And life was like that quite a while for Matty, and he grew into a very changed young man. But then things start to take a dramatic change for the worse. But Matty, The Seer, and The Leader seem to be the only ones who are picking up on these changes. When all start to seems lost, Matty discovers he may not be as helpless as he thought. Perhaps he is special just like Kira and Leader. In my opinion, his abilities far outweigh those we've encountered so far. You will just have to read it to find out what he's capable of! But will it be enough to save Village and the people in it? Will he be able to restore the peace?
The ending was really sad, and I was close to tears. I went online to put a hold on Son right away to see what happens next, only to find out it just came out the day before haha. I was totally unaware of that, but I was able to go to the Library and put my name the list of people waiting to read it. I sure hope I'm not waiting too long! Jenn has read it and gave it 5 hoots, so that makes me even more anxious. She also loves to tell me just how good it was, totally rubbing it in! I definitely recommend this series to everyone, especially Dystopia fans! It just keeps getting better and better.
