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Messenger by Lois Lowry (B reviewer)

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Brief synopsis (no spoilers)
The Giver and Gathering Blue continue, involving the main characters from both. The village that accepted Jonas (previously the receiver, now the Leader), Christopher (the blind man), and Matty begins not to want to accept outsiders. Greed and selfishness enter the village, and they begin to build a wall to keep out newcomers. But some within are waiting for others to come (like Kira, Christopher's daughter)- will they make it in time?

 Category
Young Adult Fiction?

Why I chose this book
Next in the series

 My personal opinion (the review)
The Giver creeped me out, with the society's casual relationship with death (murder). And Gathering Blue left me frightened that those with a love of power would kill for it again- including Kira and Thomas. But Messenger resolved both of those nicely. Those two places were no longer so savage. Great book, great continuation to the story.

 Warnings
Language: none
Violence: mild
Adult situations: none
Death: one main character, but it was noble

 Movie rating equivalent
PG

 Protagonist description
Matty is sincere and has pure intentions. He is almost naive because of his lack of understanding of greed and selfishness. He holds a secret- a good one- and even that causes him a bit of stress

 Point of view of story
Third, focused on Matty

 Book length
Short (only a few days)

 Story flow
Excellent

 Grammar and spelling issues
None

 Character connection (no spoilers)
I wish more had been done with Thomas the carver and Jean, Matty's close friend

For series:
Independent or integral (stand-alone or back story dependent)
Integral

 Series review as a whole
I'll admit that I was worried at first that I would get through the whole series and think, "well, that was creepy and not worth my time." But I feel like it's building to something great! Pieces are starting to snap together.

 If you only have time for one, read: (which one)
Gathering Blue (see that review for details)

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