"Messenger"

"Messenger", by Lois Lowry, is the third book in "The Giver" quartet. This book is where the content from the first two books finally comes together and you start to see the ties between the stories. Instead of focusing on either one of the main characters from the first two books, the author chooses to share Matt's story - the little boy from "Gathering Blue". He is now living with Kira's father, Seer, in a place called Village. Matty's role in Village is to deliver messages to the people that live there, as well as to the people in other communities. He is the only one who can travel through Forest safely and he hopes that when he receives his true name it will be Messenger. He's not sure if he will ever get it though because Village is in turmoil and Forest has been acting strange and attacking people. Matty is tasked with traveling to the other communities and telling them that Village will no longer be open to new comers. Seer asks him to visit Kira during his travels and bring her back to Village with him. As soon as Matty enters Forest he feels a change in the air. What was once warm and inviting is now sinister and cold. Matty knows that this will be the last time Forest allows him to travel through, if it lets him live that long.

Lowry does it again with "Messenger", and shows us just how creative she can be. This book is the shortest one out of the four, it will only take a couple of days to get through, but that's not the reason I read this one so fast. It was because of how good the book is! I definitely recommend "Messenger" to all readers. I've heard people say that these books in "The Giver" series can be read separately or together...I would say that only applies to the first two books. The last two have content and characters that you won't understand unless you have read the first two. So if you are thinking about reading "Messenger", be sure to read "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue" first. Then get back on here and let me know what you think!