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calzephyrAfter finishing Gathering Blue, I saw no need to delay reading it's sequel, Messenger
. It focuses on Kira's young friend, Matty, who leaves their village at the end of Gathering Blue.
Messenger is much better than Gathering Blue, but, honestly, both books spoil The Giver. As much as people might like to know the "real ending", this is the literary equivalent of watching Matrix sequels :-D Apparently there is a fourth book in the works.
It is revealed that Jonas arrived on his sled to a little harmonious place called Village (ugh!), and is now called Leader. More of the clunky naming of things! Everyone gets a "true name" when they are old enough, so there's Mentor, Stocktender, Gatherer, Herbalist, etc. When he fled in The Giver, he had taken a baby with him, who has a blink and miss it mention in the third chapter.
On the positive side, there's a strong pro-immigration message as the people of Village decide not to allow newcomers any longer. It turns out that the people who are suddenly anti-immigration are people who have traded their souls away at an event called Trade Mart for worldly goods and physical changes. Apparently Trade Mart is a custom that has become sinister in recent years, but it's never made clear how something intangible can be exchanged for a material good. For example, Mentor trades away parts of his soul and becomes taller, less stooped and grows hair. Uh...
Is the Trademaster Satan? This was by far the most intriguing part of the book and has the least amount of time spent on it.
I didn't like that the Jonas' and Kira's abilities, which could be chalked up to intuition, become full-on superhero type powers. Matty has the gift to heal by laying on hands (there's actually a bit of Christian symbolism sprinkled here and there - not a bad thing). The first part of the book deals with the changes in Village and then the second half deals with Matty trying to bring Kira from her village through Forest to Village. Forest has also turned sinister and tries to actively kill the two young people. This doesn't really fit in with the overall world either.
Matty perishes on this journey and turns into an angel while trying to save Kira and Jonas - he uses his healing power to "heal the world" and make Village the happy place it once was again. It's pretty metaphysical.
Now, all this would be perfectly fine if it was in a different series. There's almost no resemblance to the quality of The Giver at all. It kind of destroys the idea of utopias never actually being utopic.
There's also a huge lack of development. In the six years that Matty has been gone from his original village, girls are now allowed to learn to read and life is supposedly getting better. But we don't really find out why this happened - is it because of Kira and Thomas, or...?
So really, there are more questions than answers. Where do the people get fantastic material goods? Why was Kira's village so rustic, when Jonas' city was so organized? Why are Village and Kira's village different when they're just a ten day walk apart? Why do the works of Shakespeare survive, but no accounts of what happened to the world? It's the kind of frustrating thing that seems like a cheap cop out with no respect for the reader.
. It focuses on Kira's young friend, Matty, who leaves their village at the end of Gathering Blue.Messenger is much better than Gathering Blue, but, honestly, both books spoil The Giver. As much as people might like to know the "real ending", this is the literary equivalent of watching Matrix sequels :-D Apparently there is a fourth book in the works.
It is revealed that Jonas arrived on his sled to a little harmonious place called Village (ugh!), and is now called Leader. More of the clunky naming of things! Everyone gets a "true name" when they are old enough, so there's Mentor, Stocktender, Gatherer, Herbalist, etc. When he fled in The Giver, he had taken a baby with him, who has a blink and miss it mention in the third chapter.
On the positive side, there's a strong pro-immigration message as the people of Village decide not to allow newcomers any longer. It turns out that the people who are suddenly anti-immigration are people who have traded their souls away at an event called Trade Mart for worldly goods and physical changes. Apparently Trade Mart is a custom that has become sinister in recent years, but it's never made clear how something intangible can be exchanged for a material good. For example, Mentor trades away parts of his soul and becomes taller, less stooped and grows hair. Uh...
Is the Trademaster Satan? This was by far the most intriguing part of the book and has the least amount of time spent on it.
I didn't like that the Jonas' and Kira's abilities, which could be chalked up to intuition, become full-on superhero type powers. Matty has the gift to heal by laying on hands (there's actually a bit of Christian symbolism sprinkled here and there - not a bad thing). The first part of the book deals with the changes in Village and then the second half deals with Matty trying to bring Kira from her village through Forest to Village. Forest has also turned sinister and tries to actively kill the two young people. This doesn't really fit in with the overall world either.
Matty perishes on this journey and turns into an angel while trying to save Kira and Jonas - he uses his healing power to "heal the world" and make Village the happy place it once was again. It's pretty metaphysical.
Now, all this would be perfectly fine if it was in a different series. There's almost no resemblance to the quality of The Giver at all. It kind of destroys the idea of utopias never actually being utopic.
There's also a huge lack of development. In the six years that Matty has been gone from his original village, girls are now allowed to learn to read and life is supposedly getting better. But we don't really find out why this happened - is it because of Kira and Thomas, or...?
So really, there are more questions than answers. Where do the people get fantastic material goods? Why was Kira's village so rustic, when Jonas' city was so organized? Why are Village and Kira's village different when they're just a ten day walk apart? Why do the works of Shakespeare survive, but no accounts of what happened to the world? It's the kind of frustrating thing that seems like a cheap cop out with no respect for the reader.
