Friday, October 26, 2012

Messenger (MG/YA)

Messenger. Lois Lowry. 2004/2012. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 169 pages. 

In anticipation of reading Son, I decided to reread the Giver trilogy. Messenger is the third book, and it is a companion to The Giver and Gathering Blue. The hero of Messenger is Matt, a character first introduced in Gathering Blue. Several years have passed between the two books, and Matt is living with Kira's (blind) father. At one time, both found their village completely ideal. It was a community that celebrated morality: kindness, mercy, tolerance. It was a community that celebrated second chances. Open hearts, open borders, education for all. But times are changing slowly but surely and some are beginning to notice the differences. The Forest is also changing...

At one time Matt felt comfortable entering the Forest. He traveled from community to community. Not everyone COULD enter the Forest, not everyone wanted to enter the Forest. The Forest had a way of letting a person know if he/she were welcome. For those not welcome, it would seem to maliciously attack you.

Matt has ONE HUGE MESSAGE to deliver when the Forest begins to become unfriendly...will he leave the forest alive?

This one stars Matt and Kira (and Kira's father), but also mentions THE LEADER and a certain sled.

This one is definitely a darker novel, and a more symbolic novel.


Read The Messenger
  • If you enjoyed The Giver and Gathering Blue and want to continue on in the series
  • If you are a fan of Lois Lowry
  • If you enjoy mysteries and dystopias 
 
© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

2 comments:

Linda said...

I liked how this one continued with some of the same characters from Gathering Blue. It was much darker with a hint of supernatural elements (mostly the forest).

BlackHeart said...

I loved The Giver. I can't believe I didn't know about the two sequels. This will be a great trilogy for my library.