In this story, a young boy is living in a place called Village which is led by the main character from The Giver (do not worry, I won't spoil either of these books!). The town appears to be a utopian society, much like a commune, in which each person is given a job that fits their personality and life goals while also benefiting the entire community. Matty, the main character, came to Village when he was a young boy and was taken in by a man named Seer who teaches Matty how to act and tames his unruly ways. Though when Matty first arrived Village was welcoming, it is now becoming hostile and many villagers have decided to close Village to any newcomers. Before this decree can be issued, Matty must traverse Forest, find Seer's daughter and bring her back to Village. Throughout the book, the reader is given hints to why the villagers have changed and how dangerous Village and Forest are becoming due to this change.

There is also an element of science fiction in which the characters have magical traits. For example, Matty is able to heal the sick, Leader is able to see events that are occurring far away, and Kira can see into the future. Fortunately, unlike other science fiction books, these magical traits do not make the tale unrealistic. Instead, they are presented as common traits that are merely fine tuned or embellished a bit. In other words, they add to the story without taking anything away from the powerful plot and moral.

This is far more than a young adult book. While the characters are intriguing, Village and Forest are perhaps the most important "characters" in the novel. Their development is what truly makes this a dystopian novel. In many ways, it reminded me of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in which the forest becomes an active character that responds to the evil that is occurring in the world. The structure of this trilogy reminded me a great deal of William Faulkner's Snopes family trilogy, in which the books can be read separately but also share characters. Many reviewers have stated that this book is the darkest in the triogy and I found that assessment to be valid. However, I found the solemn tone of the novel to be one of its greatest features. In many dystopian novels, the main characters are able to escape the dystopian society or help to change the society back to a more friendly environment. Yet, I have always wondered about those societys that do not or can not be changed. This book deals with this issue and does so in a wonderful and touchy way. ( )

Original review at The Little Bookworm

Six years after Gathering Blue finds Matty living in Village with Seer, the blind man. Once a peaceful and welcoming, the villagers are becoming angry and mean. They have voted to close Village against newcomers. Now Matty must convince Seer's daughter, Kira, to come back with before Village closes. But Forest has given Matty a warning against entering its depths.
*spoilers*
After being a little disappointed with Gathering Blue, I was happy with Messenger. It was so sweet and good and answers many questions. It's funny because Gathering Blue and Messenger seem so different from The Giver, but together they give a complete picture of this world.

A big motif is names. In The Giver, names are handed out and are reusable unless the person has committed an unthinkable travesty. In Gathering Blue, length of names is based on age. So the young tikes have only one syllable names and the older they get the more syllables their name becomes. In Messenger, once a person reaches a certain age, they get their true name which signifies who they are and what they do. So Jonas has become Leader and Kira's father, Christopher, is Seer. All Matty wants is to become Messenger, which he thinks (hopes) is his true name. But Matty is destined for greater things and it is interesting to see the little thieving funny boy grow up into this sweet and loyal young man.

I admitted to crying when Matty dies on Twitter. I was so saddened when that happened, but I am amazed by the choice he makes to heal everyone. It is a poignant moment in the book and I wonder what it means for the world at large.

All in all, there is an a big difference between the villages shown earlier in the series and Village in Messenger and it was good to see what happened to Jonas. But I don't remember a mention of Gabriel. And I'm pretty sure Leader and Kira get married. I was highly satisfied with the ending of this series even if it was sad.

David Morse is the narrator and I loved his sad, gentle, reassuring voice. He was a great choice for narrator and he did an excellent job with the vocals. ( )

Lois Lowry's Messenger is the third young adult novel in the sequence containing The Giver and Gathering Blue, and follows the character of Matty, who is first introduced in Gathering Blue. The beginning of Messenger introduces a Matty six years after the conclusion of the previous novel, and focuses on his life in Village, a community of escapees living beyond the control of the oppressive societies they fled. Here, Matty is a messenger who risks the perils of Forest to facilitate communication between communities, and he prides himself on being the only one who can make the journeys time and again. However, as the plot developes the reader discovers with Matty that citizens of Village are being negatively impacted by trading, and when these changed neighbors vote to close the village Matty sets out to retrieve Kirra, the daughter of the blind man with whom he has lived for the past six years.

Messenger lacks the power of development of The Giver and the compassion of Gathering Blue, leaving me very dissatisfied as a reader. The story itself seems shallow and poorly developed as if Matty's store is a mere after-thought that Lowry thought she should wrap up. While some of the satire and social commentary present in early novels exists, in Messenger they are overshadowed by supernatural themes: Forest is a personified forest that can literally kill citizens, who are essentially trapped by homicidal vegetation, and characters such as Matty, Kira, and "Leader" work through magical gifts (such as "seeing beyond") which allow them to overcome obstacles, as opposed to the strength of human spirit and belief in life, freedom, and humanity as presented in the earlier companion novels. Messenger is a disappoinment in both method and, well, message, and is the weakest of the sequence that begins so beautifully with The Giver. ( )

The Giver, Gathering Blue and Messenger.. I can not seem to rate them equally. The Giver stands on it's own and is by far my favorite. Gathering Blue and Messenger could easily be one book and Messenger tied the story together providing the ending that was so badly needed in Gathering Blue. The trilogy is a strong literary work that uses an unfamiliar world to teach us about greed, selfishness, fairness, friendships, control and community. I thought that Lowry took the "fantasy" a bit too far and made the book more about the fantasy than the moral issues. My advice is to stick with The Giver! ( )

I was grateful to see this book tie the other two books in the series together. I still find myself wishing I understand how everything works in this world. And how it all got to be this way. I didn't like the ending - it wasn't very fair!! ( )