Compared to every book I’ve read with my class, The Messenger by Lois Lowry ended with the most questions asked. What I was not interested in was the amount of fiction. The story line was okay, but confused the majority of my class from the middle to end. When we finished it, I felt like complaining because the age rating seemed wrong. I felt like it was too much of a tragedy, but what we enjoyed were the character personalities. They seemed to have changed since the previous book, Gathering Blue. My recommendation for this book is that you should get it if you’re about twelve or older, and if you’ve read The Giver and Gathering Blue

The perfect blend of mystery and sci-fi, with a pinch of dystopia, and a semi-fantasy filling is Lois Lowry’s very own: Messenger. This novel is just the thing if you need a passionate plot, but not many pages. As for story line, you will get intrigued at some point. Even though the viewpoint is in third person, but is very appealing given that it is based on a kid’s view. Matty has a very bubbly and unique personality; his perspective throughout the story is very interesting. It’s fun to see his old styles back from Gathering Blue, and how he changed as well. Many other characters from the prior trilogies are back. Jonas from The Giver is now “leader”, Kira from Gathering Blue is an important feature at the end, and Christopher (Kira’s blind father) is Seer, Matty’s guardian. This is nice for a little reunion, but also brings a little déjà vu. To its credit, Messenger has some good things to say about selfishness and how it can corrupt an entire society. But it also brought up some weird, unanswered questions. You can only assume, and just go with it. The book's idea is that it takes major sacrifice to change things for good--and yet that touching thought gets a little elaborate in the storytelling. Only your imagination and theories can give you a clue and possibly allow you to continue. In both good and bad ways, Messenger is obviously fiction. It’s nice to look into a realm of greenery as being alive, and with hands and vibrations. On the contrary, too much fiction makes the scenes feel illusory. Some parts seem like a joke, as they have no possibility in reality. It’s best to read the books in order; otherwise, the endings of the first two will be ruined by Messenger. And, this one relies on the prior two books to have a complete story, whereas the first two could stand alone as books. In final words, Messenger would be a great compelling story with many genres all bundled in a cozy amount of pages. It would be perfect “just for fun” read, or something to choose for a book report. If you do read it, I hope you enjoy it(:

The Messenger The Messenger is a very interesting, fictional story which I fell in love with as soon as I read it. I believe it is a very powerful and believable story. It is a companion book to The Giver and Gathering Blue. I think it was a very good book except, in the beginning I found it rather boring and uninteresting. It was losing my interest and I didn’t really want to continue the book. After I got past the first couple of chapters it captivated my attention and I didn’t want to stop reading it. We read this book in class, and we also read the companion novels. I think it as a good educational book to read as a class. It teaches many morals and life lessons. The main character, Matty, has magical healing powers and helps heal others in pain. He first experiments his powers on a frog who has an immobilized leg. He uses his powers to heal the frog’s leg. I won’t give away any more of the story but I think this teaches how you should put others first over yourself. It also teaches that you should help others in need. The rest of the story is secretly hidden with morals and lessons which you may be unaware of until you think about the book after you have read it. Matty learns more about himself through out the book and can possibly relate to many people reading this novel. I believe that if people read about a character that relates to them they might enjoy the book more. I know I certainly enjoyed this book discovering it was about someone experiencing sudden and unexplained change, knowing it could relate to my life in a way. I hope you read this book and enjoy it as much as I did.

The Messenger, the last book in the Giver series, was a great book. Although I thought that there were some parts that were hard to follow, I really thought it was a great novel. It was, to me, a look into the future to see what would happen to the world when we are gone. I liked how Mrs. Lowry included Jonas from the Giver but his new name was Leader. Out of 10 I would give this book an 8 because since this is a look into the future I don’t believe that people could have these special gifts.

Messenger written by Lois Lowry is a fantasy novel and a very mysterious story. At first, I thought it was boring and uninteresting, I was ready to give up reading the book. After we read a few more chapters, it got fascinating. It is a companion book to The Giver and Gathering Blue. At times, it is very emotional, but other times it was serious. This book was kind of like a roller coaster with all the turns and twists of creating an effective plot. The ending where a character has to face many bad events is touching and very sad but at the same time, one of the best endings I’ve ever read.

I think this book was very interesting. It had its ups and downs which made the book like a rollercoaster. The first few chapters weren’t that interesting because I knew a lot about the characters from the previous books. I thought the second two-thirds of the book was interesting. It had a lot of suspense that made me feel like I was actually in the book. Overall, this book made me feel like I new alot about the connection that people have with the world.

Okay, The Giver and Bathering Blue happened in the same universe, with the Giver happening eight years before this and Gathering Blue about six. The kind little Matt from Gathering Blue is now the main character, and he is a good one. The only problem I found was the fact that the forest is now alive, unlike previous books, so it seems less sci-fi and more fantasy. However, the same complicated storylines are there and the ending did indeed make me cry, so apparently I cared about the book enough. And about an unsatisfying conclusion, fixing everything would be too easy, and the world is so far in the hole it is impossible. So, wel done Lois Lowry.

I enjoy Sci- fi/ dystopic/ futuristic books, and Messenger was a good one. However, many questions remained unanswered, and the story seemed to suddenly end. Lowry wrote a great book, but the ending should have been more concluding.