So, my nephew brought to my attention that Lois Lowry wrote a third sequel to The Giver called Son. I got it from the library on Friday and I’ll write up my opinions on it the second I’m done. For now, here’s book three, Messenger.
Matty has living in Village (that’s what they call it, Village) for the past six years with a blind man named Seer. Matty has two special powers: He is the only one who can enter Forest multiple times and he can heal. The later he hides from everyone and has only used it twice in his life. When the villagers agreed to close Village off to outsiders Matty must travel to where Seer’s daughter is and bring her back before the wall goes up.
As usual, Lowry brings up some heavy themes on the pitfalls of society. Here the biggest one is this trade fair that goes on in Village. The thing about this fair is that the villagers don’t tell anyone what they’re in order to get something. Once again Lowry is making a political statement. Here it’s about how people are changed by material gain. The wanting of things causes a nice person to change into something undesirable.
Take mentor for example. At the beginning he is a soft spoken and very kind. After he made his trade he became distant and hard. He was the one who came up with the idea of closing Village to more people.
The main story itself is Lowry’s usual brilliant writing and imagery. It is so much better than Gathering Blue and the reader gets more emotionally attached to it. That’s also true due to the fact that Kira and Jonas (now called Leader) are in this book.
The story is wonderful up until the ending. What’s wrong with it? *SPOOILERS* Matty sacrifices himself to save Kira, Leader, Forest, Village and the people of Village. Leader even tells Matty that his role is Healer after he died. I’m sorry, I had that sound bite from Nostalgia Critic’s Man of Steel review that goes “I AM JESUS” over and over again. That’s pretty much what Lowry is saying here. That final chapter practically killed the book for me. *End Spoilers*
In all, a much better written book than Gathering Blue that anyone who loved The Giver should give a shot even with the god awful ending.
Categories: Novels
Tags: Messenger, novels, reviews
Sanrock Reviews 