The Giver Quartet

     

    The Giver Quartet is a series about a utopian world and consist of the books The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger and Son. My favorite part about these books are the connections between each story. In the world that these books are set in there are many different communities or worlds and times. Throughout each book though you can see characters, settings and event from the other books. I also love the length of these books. Each book is no longer then a few hundred pages, making it an easy read for rainy day. 

The Giver

    The Giver is the first book written in the quartet. It follows the life of Jonas, A young boy growing up in a world where everything is planned out and the same. He was picked for a special job though and was given access to memories of before the sameness. Through these memories he can see the wrong in his world and works to change. What I liked most about this book was the views it argues. In the world the young boy is living in, everyone lives the same life, they don't get to choose their jobs and they are content about it. None of the people living in this community realize that there is  different world outside of theirs. Overall, this book is a great book, it well written, makes you think, and entertaining. 

Gathering Blue

    This book is my personal favorite out of the quartet, although I might have a bias, as it was the first book of the quartet that I read. Kira, a 15 year old girl with a deformed leg, is recently orphaned after her mom died of a sickness. Her community usually leaves cripples to die in a field, so to prove herself useful she begins work for the council as a sewer. While working for the counsel she notices some suspicious behavior, and discovers secrets. I really liked the characters in this book. The story is told by Kira, so you get a front row seat to her thoughts and development throughout the book. I also liked the plot of the book. You never quite know what's going on in the big picture, though the author leaves subtle hints here and there. 

Messenger 

    Messenger is a story about Matty, is one of Kira's friends from Gathering Blue. He Travels between his town and Kira's town to deliver messages between Kira and her father. The forest which he must travel through reflects the towns people's attitudes and starts attacking and hurting Matty. On his final trip through the forest he had to lead Kira back to her father, but the forest had other plans for him.  While I enjoyed reading this book and do not regret reading it, I do not think I will ever read it again. It had an interesting story line and was thought provoking, but there was just not enough action. The beginning was slow with very little action, and it was not till the end that something exciting was happening. 

Son

    Son is the story about a boy Jonas saved in The Giver and his mother. The Mother gave birth to a son named Gabriel, but due to the rules of the town she wasn't allowed to keep him. One day she learns that her son was lost, and Gabriel the town had nothing to offer, so she escapes on a boat to a remote town next to the sea. Gabriel, after leaving the town with Jonas ends up in the woods where Jonas creates a new settlement. As he grew older he became more curious, and one day, sets out to find his mother. My favorite part about this book was how part of it was set at the same time and place as The Giver, but following a different character. Throughout the book you can see glimpse of scene from The Giver and although it doesn't clarify anything, it adds more dimension to the story.  This book was my least favorite book out of the quartet, I did not like how it used magic, and I didn't find the story to be interesting. I also did not like the ending of the story, I found it to be to cheesy and not in line with the theme of the other stories. If I were to rate it, I would give it 2.5 stars out of 5. 

Overall I would definitely recommend reading The Giver and Gathering Blue. They were fun to read and brought up lots of interesting points. As for the other two books they were good, but they are only fun to read if you have already read the The Giver and Gathering Blue. 

 

Thanks for reading!

 - Sophie A