Rating: 
Summary: Great....
Review: I was excited to find out what happened to the characters in both the Giver and Gathering Blue. I was surprised to find out the lives of some of the characters. I was upset that the ending ended like the other two. I had hoped that this book would finally tie up all of the loose ends completly. I guess Lowry is going to have to write yet another stellar book!
Rating: 
Summary: Certainly a Classic
Review: I've been waiting for a year for this book to come out. (...) This trilogy is going to become a classic series. Messenger is a really fast read-- I sat in Borders for 3 hours reading it because I couldn't wait for the local library to get their copies in. It gives a wonderful closure to the series (...). A MUST READ! for all Giver fans and anyone wanting to read a powerful book!!
Rating: 
Summary: Unanswered questions left me wanting more
Review: If you're anything like me, The Giver was a powerful and thought-provoking book. I was looking forward to some suspense of the same intensity, but closure as well. I had enjoyed the change of pace with Gathering Blue and was intrigued to see how the two stories would be tied together. Overall, the book was just too short. Characters were not developed as fully and the connection between the two worlds seemed almost trivialized. By the end if you missed even one word, nothing made sense. The last chapter was a frenzy and the ending was too much of a "quick-fix" for a group of books that dealt with very heavy issues. I did like the portrayal of the Village and the interesting change in people who forgot their past and the kindness others had shown them. It would be a good tie in with immigration stories. However, I just wanted more, more answers, more explanation. What was Jonas like now besides his job description? He seemed to walk around in an overly wise daze. What had happened to his town? All in all, I would say stick to The Giver for classroom use. Gathering Blue and Messenger have good issues to address as well, but The Giver does so with the most clarity and excellence in writing.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat of a letdown...
Review: In this book, a companion novel to The Giver and Gathering Blue, Matty is a messenger, one of the few with the power to travel through the forest. When his community, so well-known for their acceptance of strangers, decides to close its gates, Matty and his mentor know that something very wrong is happening- and Matty, with his still undeveloped power, may be the only one who can stop it. I am a great fan of the Giver, and enjoyed Gathering Blue a lot, so I was very excited when this book came out, and read it in a single day. However, I was extremely disappointed. It felt like the author had written it simply because she promised a third book, not because she had a really cool idea. The characters seemed shallow and undeveloped, and the description of the village didn't fit in with the one given in Gathering Blue. You never find out the actual problem of the village, and the ending leaves way too many holes- and not ones that are designed to make you think.
Rating:
Summary: an intriguing fantasy
Review: In this eagerly anticipated companion to THE GIVER and GATHERING BLUE, it is the future, and the world has become a primitive place. Matty, Village's message carrier, lives with Seer, the blind man who took him in when Matty arrived in the town. As his story begins, there is something Matty must do, although he fears it: he makes his way through Forest. Most of the other villagers won't venture into the increasingly dangerous woods because people, strangled by vines and branches, have died there. Forest welcomes Matty, however, and he has memorized the mazelike paths. This evening's mysterious quest leads to a certain frog. We learn that Matty discovered he has extraordinary powers when he healed this frog and brought him back from the brink of certain death. This potential force, with its implied responsibilities, terrifies Matty. There are mysterious happenings in Matty's once-perfect Village. The family of Matty's friend Ramon recently traded for a Gaming Machine, a toy that rewards players with candy. Matty yearns for one of his own but worries about Ramon, who grows increasingly ill. A group, led by Matty's teacher, Mentor, has begun to protest Village's traditional open door to immigrants. This troubles Matty; it is so unlike the caring Mentor he has always admired. In fact, his teacher appears subtly different each time Matty sees him: Mentor is taller, thinner, and both his bald spot and his birthmark are disappearing. Are the ominous changes in town related to the Trade Mart? What are people really trading? When Matty attends, everyone's hands are empty. Although they're making deals with the Trade Master, they bring nothing and carry nothing away. Some in the crowd weep; others argue. Most, though, are silent and nervous. Matty promises Seer that he will travel through Forest to the village on the other side in order to bring Seer's daughter, Kira, to him. The clock is ticking because the villagers plan to build a fence by a certain date, admitting no newcomers. Matty believes they have time --- until Forest attacks the travelers. The trip toward Village becomes a nightmare journey, complete with flesh-tearing roots and twigs, blistering sap, unbearable stench and strangling vines. Lois Lowry's many fans will love this fantasy, which continues the stories of several characters previously encountered in THE GIVER and GATHERING BLUE. In elegant prose, the author doesn't flinch away from harshness yet somehow manages to offer up hope. --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (...)
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not her best.
Review: Lois Lowry, Messenger (Walter Lorraine Books, 2004)
Lois Lowry has been around for a while, but she started making noise, and finally started getting the recognition she deserved, with 1993's The Giver. The Giver has since blossomed into a trilogy, of which Messenger is the third part. While Messenger is not the tour de force that The Giver was, it's still well worth your time. Many reviews, especially those that found the book lacking, have compared it to The Giver. I found it more amusing (and ultimately more satisfying) to compare the book to M. Night Shyamalan's recent film The Village, with which it shares both a number of characteristics and a number of major thematic elements. In comparison, the novel shines.
Matty is a message runner in Village, a small, well, village cut off from the rest of the world by a thick, and intelligent, forest. Matty is the only person from Village capable of traveling through forest at will, which makes him incredibly valuable. Something happens to Village, though; a person known as the Trade Master begins to visit on a regular basis, and as they visit him, people begin to change, gradually. Matty, is adoptive father Seer, and the village's leader (Leader, of course) see what's going on, but are unsure how to stop it.
The main problem with the book is that Matty is incapable of seeing a number of things that are right in front of his eyes, the seeing of any (much less all) of which would have helped the book along considerably. This makes it seem unnecessarily convoluted at times. Also, as a consequence of this, the end is clearly visible halfway or less through the book, and what should have come off quite nicely ends up sounding somewhat bombastic.
All of which sounds like reasons not to read the book, but Lowry's style and storytelling ability do keep the pages turning, and Messenger is certainly well worth your time if you liked The Giver. Just be prepared; you won't have the same experience. *** ½
Rating:
Summary: Extremely good book!
Review: Okay, I am a serious fan of this series of three books. I read the Giver in my reading class and I totally loved it! Then I was overly excited when my teacher said we were reading the companion to it Gathering Blue. I read it and I really liked it! Then i found out that she was writing the third one Messenger. I went out on a limb and bought the hardcover and rushed it home so I could read it. I was so excited. I sunk into it and read it in a couple days. It is a very fast read! i just now finished the ending and I was so upset!!!!!!! Read the book and read the ending but I warn all the Matty fans that you seriously won't like the ending. Read it! It's great!
Rating:
Summary: Missing the Messenger
Review: Okay, I just finished reading the Messenger, 5 minutes ago. And I felt really compelled to write a review. The Messenger was to me, very dissapointing. The ending of the story didn't seem to impact me at all. Okay, so someone dies. I didn't feel anything. I just felt disappointed about the death of the character. It doesn't offer as much explaination about the previous books as well. The rest of Lois Lowry's books made you feel emotion, made you feel the characters, and enwrapped you in the story and the plot. What was supposed to be the climax in this book, didn't have that feel of a climax and turning point. Her characters, though already introduced, many of them, with exception of Matty and the Seer, did not have enough character rounding, they were flat and seemed like strangers. I really really hate to be the critic, but this book dissapointed me very much! I waited for this book for a while and though i didn't expect every single thing to be explained, I found to myself that this book really really paled in comparison to the rest of Lois Lowry's books. And just paled in general. Sometimes though the author can understand stuff, the audience doesn't; we don't understand what's going on. This book kind of drew me in at the beginning and middle, but then it dropped me out just as quickly. You should get this book and read it just to get a feel for it, but don't get your hopes too high up, like me, and maybe some other readers who had read the previous books and agreed.
Rating:
Summary: A Message From The Messengar
Review: The Book "The Messenenger" was a wonderful fantasy book that could be read by someone with any reading level. The main character in the book "Matty" was a strong, loving, and couragoues boy. His guardian "Seer" was also loving, couragoues, and strong bothe inside and out, although he was blind. Ever since Matty was a young boy when he first arrived to the village he always drempt of one day getting his real, true name! He always wanted to be named the "Messenger." One day Seer had heard that the village was building wall and closing it from other villages. Meaning that no othter villagers from outside their village was allowed to come in and stay. Seer was VERY upset when he heard the news and decided to give Matty a very important task! Seer had a daughter back in another village but she was still there becasue she only wanted to come over when the time was right! And now the time was right, so Seer asked Matty if he could go through the forest and bring his daughter to him. After many days of fighting through bloddy and painful times Matty returns home with Seers daughter Kaira, and saves the village from being closed down with his special gift that he uses alond the trip. After Leader (The namer) see what Matty did, he decides to name him "Healer." If you are a Lois Lowry fan this would be a great book to read! If you also like Lois Lowry's other books, "The Giver and "Gathering Blue" the book "Messanger" would be a great way to add on to the adventures of Lois Lowry's collection.
Rating:
Summary: Jonas returns!
Review: The book was weird. The kids in my class have asked me and asked me about the book (we read The Giver together, and Gathering Blue as a read aloud) and that is the best response I could give them: it was weird. I would agree that it provided much more of an ending to The Giver than The Giver did...It is a must read just to find out what happens. Personally--I liked having Jonas back.
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