The Giver Quartet Omnibus

This was an amazing series that connects both storyline and hearts. I read the Giver when I was younger as a school requirement and read it again as an adult and I've enjoyed it even more. Wonderfully written, I'm now eagerly awaiting if the movie can do The Giver justice.

I LOVED this series! So well written! It was a little confusing in the beginnings of the books but after I got over that it was amazing! I stayed up finishing this book well into the morning because I just couldn't put it down! Awesome!!!

The Journal had a very nice article about Lois Lowry, her book and the upcoming movie The Giver. The article was fascinating and lead me to purchase the series. Riveting. A very well-told story and I am not ashamed at all to be reading a young person's novel. The concepts which are being presented are worthy of deep thought at any age and the ability to think deeply is not limited by age. It was a greatly refreshing way to spend part of my vacation. I was enriched by the mental exercise.

I couldn't put these stories down. They are extremely riveting.
I loved how you introduced two different stories and characters and wove additional stories to bring all the characters back together.

to not have more information on, what is this world with so many different places, why is community given supplies? Where are those that bring the supplies from, and why are they not community? Why does community not get seasons or weather, animals except fish? Where did that plane come from? So many more unanswered questions. And it seemed that the last book in the series was written by someone else. Seer was carried from the fields to village, not crawling sightless there..disappointed

I enjoy the stories. They were just OK, but the plot seemed to drag on too much. I realize this is Juvenile fiction, but it was too boring. I did like the way Lois tied them together. Harry Potter, the Divergent series, and the other recent Juvenile fiction was much more interesting. I think the Giver Movie will be good to watch. Sorry I'm being generous with a 3, could have given a 2.

when in school, given a book I already disdained because it was "assigned" to me, I examined its cover: an award stamp, a strange tree and a craggy looking old man and my only thought was : Lame.

do not be fooled, school children. sometimes it is true about books and their covers. Thank goodness I finally gave it a chance.

This was one of those books that some of my classmates were required to read in grade school. I always ended up passing over it for other titles. But now after reading this enthralling series, I'm only disappointed that I didn't have this amazing story in my life earlier. My heartstrings were tugged in every way possible, and I felt myself audibly gasp at every twist and turn the plot revealed. Don't skip this one. It was truly fantastic.

As far as writing style and interest goes, this book is great. I originally read the first story, "The Giver", in elementary school, and it ends on a bit of a cliff hanger. I bought this book in order to end the mystery, and let me tell you, that is not what happened.
I did get a bit of satisfaction because some things were explained, but this book turned out to be 4 different stories that all interconnect. It's not too complicated to follow, but it did mean that the end of a story meant there wasn't likely to be new answers.
I understand this is great author practice, sometimes. It's just not my personal favorite.

That said, I was enthralled with each story and stayed up too late many times in order to find out what happened in each story. I would definitely recommend this quartet to friends and family, especially if they can handle a loose ending. :)

I didn't know the background of the book when I started reading the series, it definitely would've helped. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone. Wasn't bad, just waste my taste. It was a little too make believe for me

I really enjoyed The Giver. I thought it was interesting and had so many story lines that seemed to bluntly end. Suddenly two books later the characters in the first book enter the storyline again. I think the second and third book could have been left out of the series because to me they added nothing to the first book. The first and last books should have been combined into one book and the two middle books never added to the series. I found both of them very boring and long on words and a waste of my time reading them.

I only gave this series a three because of the oddity of them. Book two did not even feel connected with the first book. You never knew where they were, what happened to the world or how these people came to have powers. Maybe they are on a way deeper level than I think on. I could see some of the symbolism in our society, but wow. Very different. Not sure most teens or even young adults would get this.

Very disappointed in the way this book showed up. The binding is torn and bent. The front cover has been rubbed to the point that the ink is coming off in spots. Some of the pages are creased and bent.

Bits and pieces strewn together, it seems like tons of energy went into creating the story, that the author was too tired to put any effort into the endings... First story was decent, rest were dragging through.

SO annoyed that the story doesn't continue on with the same characters. Just leaves you hanging...I don't feel like reading the other books because I'm so down that they don't revolved around book 1's characters.

I read the first of the quartet, then the second of the quartet, and found such a mess of cliches and disconnected tales I couldn't keep going. The writing is juvenile. I am shocked to find that the movie which was not bad, truly improved greatly on the book.

The Giver is premiering this Friday August 15th. To the younger generation of moviegoers, those in their teens most likely, this is another blockbuster in the same vein as Hunger Games. It's got some big names like Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Alexander Skarsgård, Katie Holmes, and even Taylor Swift. To an older audience, those in their 20s to 30s, they know that this was actually a book released in 1993 by Lois Lowry. Some from this generation, like my wife, actually had this assigned as summer reading, which was pretty remarkable and groundbreaking for the time given the content of this book.

The Giver is a book that takes place in the future, a dystopian future. However, the book is initially painted in a utopian light that becomes more dystopic the more you read. The society has eliminated pain and other negative emotions from their society, called "Sameness." There is no privacy, and no one seems to really mind. There is one man, however, the Receiver of Memory who stores all past memores before the "Sameness." The main character is a young boy named Jonas who has the same pale eyes as the current Receiver of Memories. Jonas has been chosen to be the new Receiver of Memories. By taking on this role, he experiences a lot of pain, but he also experiences genuine happy emotions for the first time as well. By receiving this influx of emotions, he learns one of the gruesome prices his community pays for peace. He also longs for a time and place different than his current one. I won't continue to give plot away, but just know that the end of the book leaves you at a sort of cliffhanger, wishing for more answers.

Books with unsatisfying endings always leave readers wanting closure. They also cause dedicated fans to write to authors and implore them to write more of the story. Some choose to, like L. Frank Baum who kept writing because children kept asking him to do so. Others choose not to, like J.K. Rowling. She is happy with how Harry Potter ended and has no plans to write more books in that world. It took seven years by Lowry wrote a somewhat sequel called "Gathering Blue." However, it didn't pick up where "The Giver" left off and introduced us to a new character named Kira. In 2004, Lowry released "Messenger" which helped tie together "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue." "Son" was released in 2012 and also has strong connections to the first book.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt did fans of this series a HUGE service by combing all the books in a beautifully bound hardcover omnibus. It's just under 800 pages long, has a ribbon place-marker, and is a super reasonable price. I also really appreciate the fact that even though they turned The Giver into a movie that at least with this omnibus didn't make a new cover with the main actors and actresses. So if you have seen the movie already or are going to see the movie, I definitely recommend taking some time to read the book. It will be a bit different than the movie but in a good way.

What the crap is this? What kind of monster puts stickers that can't be removed cleanly directly onto book covers? I saw the sticker in the product photo and assumed it had a foil backing. Nope. Man, the book is gorgeous, flawless except for this faux pas. It's as though you have no idea what book lovers are like, sheesh! Maybe I'll raise my rating later when I'm not so mad.

I first discovered the Giver novel when I realized that the book was been made into a movie. Being the kind of person who prefers to read the book before watching the movie, I found a copy at a second hand store and quickly read through it. By the time, I read the last line of the book I was hooked and wanted to read the rest of the series. However, I was having trouble finding the other titles at a second hand store. Imagine my delight when the four books were offered in a one volume edition. I was so looking forward to read the rest of the series that I immediately jumped in this book when I received it.

The Giver Quartet includes all the four books that are part of The Give series: The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son. These four titles are linked through the series though you wouldn’t think so after reading the first and the second installments. But when you arrive the the third and then the fourth, you realized how intertwined the books are.

The Giver is the story of twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment - world without conflict, poverty, unemployment, divorce, injustice, or inequality. It is a time in which family values are paramount, teenage rebellion is unheard of, and even good manners are a way of life. In Gathering Blue, you will follow the life of Kira who, when left orphaned and physically flawed in a civilization that shuns and discards the weak, faces a frighteningly uncertain future. But Kira possesses a gift that the leaders of her village wants to use. This novel will challenge you to think about community, creativity, and the values that they have learned to accept. Messenger is the story of Matty which was primarily introduced in Gathering Blue. In this book, you will follow him in quest of a personalized name and in helping bringing life in the midst of death and fear. Finally, Son is the story of Claire who fled her village and is found on the shore. She is on a quest of finding where she is from and what became of the child she has birth. This compelling book is the conclusion of the series.

The four books are a delight to read and are different than any other kind of literature. It is a perfect series to introduce the teen in your life to a different kind of society and how he/she would react if living in it. Each books are thought provoking and make you realize that having the perfect society is not necessarily the best. This series is a fabulous read and can open numerous discussions between you and your teen.

This book is the perfect gift for a teenager this coming Christmas.

I think The Giver quartet is why dystopian fiction became so popular I'll just name a few: The Maze Runner trilogy, The Hunger Games, A Wrinkle in Time, Voyagers, Ender's Game. But anyway The Giver starrs a young man who turns 12 early in the book. (and of course lives in a dystopian commmunity) He is selected to be the Receiver and an old man transmits memories of true life from Elsewhere (Elswhere means outside of the Community) which no one else in the Community knows about. So Jonas runs away with a baby named Gabe.
Gathering Blue protanigist is a 14 year old girl ( named Kira) who has a twisted leg. Her mother gets sick and dies and when that happens in her community everybody can burn your house down. Kira would be killed (because of her twisted leg) -but she gets a trial to decide if she can live. She comes out sucessfully in her trial but on turn she must weave the Singers robe to help him remember his annual song. Kira finds out that she can weave the future...........
Messenger is about a boy who knew Kira (well now he is like 12 or 13 or maybe 14 but anyway a utopia that is lead by a man called Leader (who is Jonas) Matty (that is his name) is talked into by Seer (Kira's dad) to go through the forest get Kira and also carry out his usual messages. But the forest seems to be against Matty which makes things harder................
Then Son is about Gabe's Birthmother (a job in the Commmunity) and she strives to find her Son who needs to destroy evil.

The four books in this omnibus are four tales set in the same dystopian world, but with geographically separated communities that handled the "ruin" in vastly different ways. The stories are all related, with the final tale tying them together. The stories vary greatly in quality. The first, "The Giver," was excellent, the second, "Gathering Blue," was just okay, the third, "Messenger," was very good, but the last, "Son," was disappointing. "Son" left many characters' storylines hanging. Characters were introduced in the first three books that the I came to care about; however, their fates were never addressed in "Son." This was frustrating, to say the least. The series has a very simple moral: only by caring for each other, especially strangers, can the human race defeat the negative (and even evil) tendencies in our nature.

I loved the first book of the series. Like, really loved it. I was fascinated by the concept of their way of life, and how they were shielding everyone from pain, and yet enslaving them at the same time. But I hated the ending. I don't like cliffhanger endings in books, especially since the second book jumps to a different story and doesn't finish up with Jonas and his adventure.

However, I loved the second book. Really loved it. Lowry has a gift for making characters believable and likable. I loved the connection between Kira and Matt. I loved how Kira was strong and bold, even though she didn't have physical strength. The ending this time gave some closure, but we are again left wondering what happens, and I felt conflicting disappointment/satisfaction at Kira's choice.

The third book, while engaging in the beginning, slowly bored me to tears. I found myself skimming through Matty and Kira's tedious journey through the wood, and then shocked at the abrupt ending to the story, with little explanation as to how it all came about. I was left saddened and confused at the end.

The premise of the fourth book was great. I loved getting to see things through Claire's eyes. I really enjoyed her thoughts, and how she began dealing with her feelings as a birthmother. I also enjoyed her relationships in the new village, though her training and eventual climb became as tedious to me as the trek through the woods in book three. So again, I skimmed. I like that we get to see through Gabe's eyes as well. I felt the end of the story was too easy and tidy, the build-up to the evil that must be overcome too easily defeated. I wish we had more time with Claire and Gabe in the end.

Some things that were problematic for me:

I felt like the third and fourth books were written with the underlying message to encourage people to accept immigrants, and, considering the trouble at the Mexican border, that didn't sit well with me. There is a lot of talk about carrying the weight of newcomers until they learn the customs and ways of their new home, etc. That we shouldn't build fences or walls to keep them out, but welcome them with open arms. I felt myself getting annoyed with the symbolism in those parts of the book. Maybe it was unintentional, but that was the first thing that came to my mind.

There are large gaps between timelines in the stories, and things I believe all readers want to know (What happened to Jonas and Gabe? Where did they end up? Was Kira able to make changes to her village? How did life just go back to normal after the end of the third book? Did everyone's memories get reset?) are not really answered. At least not in detail enough to satisfy me. They are summed up in one or two sentences. It would have been wonderful to read in detail how all these things came to pass.

Overall, the characters in the books were very enjoyable, as were the interactions between them. However, the plots of the last two books were tedious in parts, and the endings of the first two books were disappointing. Are they worth a read? I suppose, if only to say that you've read them. I love her writing style, and perhaps I will check out her other books that are not part of a series.

Many zombie novels seem to have a major plot hole: an infinite number of zombies. No matter how many are destroyed, there always seems to be at least that many left. Now, The Giver series is not a zombie series. But it seemed to me to have a multitude of plot holes. I picked this up at Ollie's for $4.99 (retail price $29.99). I had heard a lot about The Giver, seen reference to the movie with Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, and I know that many high schools assign it. I also know it was a Newberry award winner. I just don't understand why. Of the four novels that make up this omnibus, I thought The Giver was the weakest, though all of them have major plot holes. For the most part, the writing is pedestrian, though there are places where Lowry outdoes herself. For the most part, however, I found this a collection of mediocre YA novels.

My 13-year-old son actually turned me on to this book, which I'd never heard of before. His class will be studying it in their English Literature class, so he gets to study it for a few months. Lucky kid.

I don't remember the last time a book shook me to the core, but somehow The Giver did just that. I didn't have high expectations, as the description makes the book sound like a corny post-apocalyptic dystopian tale, and just another Brave New World or Starship Troopers dumbed down for kids; but in many ways author Lois Lowry uses the setting, with a young apprentice learning a lost art from a wizened elder, to introduce challenging ideas of social structures and their pros and cons, all in an easy-to-understand way. The learning process that young Jonas undergoes, and how he comes out of his shell and into the harsh light beyond, is quite amazing. This is a light book, 200 pages of lightly-spaced text, so you can finish it quickly, and with its spareness the tightly-edited tale allows no excess. Highly recommended.

I started reading the sequel, Gathering Blue, the day I finished The Giver, and prepared to see the recently-released film version of The Giver, starring Jeff Bridges (which, unfortunately, isn't very good at all).

Gathering Blue is a great novel, and a wonderful sequel to The Giver, although it doesn't deal at all with Jonas and Gabriel and the fate they meet following the cliffhanger ending Lowry gives The Giver.

This book deals with Kira and her medieval society, its rules, its secrets, and the unusual fate of three very special children. I've become a bit cynical about fiction after many years of voracious reading, but I am thoroughly enjoying Lowry's wonderful ideas and style. Gathering Blue is just as remarkable as The Giver, although in completely different ways.
In her third book in The Giver Quartet, Messenger, Lowry continues building her fascinating vision of a future society, this time in a utopian village that is slowly being poisoned by inside and outside forces. Lowry keeps it a bit conceptual and metaphorical, a step away from the harsh magic-infused science fiction of The Giver, with the action focussing on Matty, the scamp from the second book who aids and befriends Kira. As it turns out, Matty also has special powers... so by now we have five or six mutants in Lowry's world; here also we see the characters from the three books come together in ways that were only hinted at in the second book, and we find out what became of the boy on the sleigh - even getting hints of what became of the world he escaped from. At only 180 pages, the book is short, tight, and fast-moving - a great read.
The longest entry in The Giver Quartet, Son, wraps it up by bringing together characters from its three predecessors, but focussing very much on those from the first book (Joshua and Gabriel, plus one of their contemporaries - Claire, a new character to the series). It doesn't quite do it successfully, though, but it has a lot of great parts full of exquisite prose.

Son is divided in to three books, the first one concerning Claire's life in the city of The Giver, the second one looking at her life in a newly-discovered village (probably the best part of the book, a stand-alone tale full of magic and poetry), while the third one is a sort of Howl's Moving Castle fairy tale that somehow tries to sew everything together... while also making it more un-real and strange.

It's probably not Lowry's best book in the series, although parts of it may actually exceed anything in the earlier three books. The first part of Son offers us a few new insights into the emotionless hyper-modern society that Joshua and Gabriel lived in for The Giver, but maybe not enough to provide any new perspectives on how it became the monstrosity that it is, while the last part can offer no satisfying consolidation of the previous four books. The middle part is the best, to the point where it may even seem like the parts before and after it were hardly necessary. In that sense, perhaps this book could have been edited much more tightly than it was - certainly, the previous three books were very lean, lovely tales - this one... less so.

Reviewed by B.A. Dillon (author of Tethered Through Time)

How does one even begin to write a review on this delicious quartet given to us by the wonderful Lois Lowry? What I do know, is that since I finished reading all four books nothing else can compare. Nothing. Lois Lowry writes for a much younger audience, but when I participated recently in a chat with Ms. Lowry on Goodreads, I took note that most of the participants were adults. Similarly, most of the reviews on the store are also written by adults. Why does this series expand so well out of its demographic and fuel interest that spans to all generations? Simply put – it is incredible writing. Lois Lowry put The Giver in the hands of teens well before The Hunger Games, The Divergent Series, and The Maze Runner, and it has weathered the test of time.

The plot is suspenseful and thought-provoking. The story is about a boy name Jonas who lives in the “ideal world.” There’s no pain, worries or history from the world before. With that said, they also experience no pleasure, excitement, or have the knowledge to reflect over mistakes – there simply are no lessons to learn outside of what is delivered inside their “perfect classrooms.” At the age of twelve, all are considered ready to prepare for adulthood, and Jonas is assigned the single position of “Receiver of Memory.” Jonas is unaware that “his gift” is unique and therefore separates him from the others in his age group. This assignment leaves Jonas with many questions, and he wonders if the way his family unit has lived is really only existing in a dull, grey world. No spoilers from this reviewer, but many who love this book have trouble with the way it ends. Ms. Lowry leaves the reader with questions, but interesting ones at that. It wasn’t until my own book club (made up entirely of teachers), read this book did I give the end of the story my attention.

Most of my book club members were unaware that the series does indeed continue. If it’s possible, I loved Gathering Blue more. Kira’s society is the antithesis of the land where Jonas was raised. Instead of a perfect, ordered society, Kira’s is barbaric and ruled by deceit. The lame, the blind, the deaf, the poor are considered weak and therefore shunned by society. Kira, like Jonas from The Giver, has a very special talent. When all her hope is lost, she is taken from the turmoil of her village and given the task of sewing historical pictures on the robe worn by the Singer at the annual Ruin Song Gathering. With the help of a poor and ornery boy, Matt, Kira finds the plant needed to create the color ‘blue’ which somehow delivers her the courage she will need to shape her future.

In Messenger, Matt or Matty’s story continues has be befriends a blind man – The Seer. Leaving the barbaric village of his birth, Matty helps the blind man return to his own village through the treacherous forest. Matty hopes someday he will be given the name Messenger since he literally has been delivering messages throughout this community since his arrival. At a very young age, he discovers his ability to heal others, and is under the watchful kind eye of The Leader. His gift will have a profound impact on his new family and village. Their village offers refuge to all newcomers, especially those who are disabled and unwelcomed in their own towns. But a sinister work from beyond is a force hoping to change the face of the village. Pure evil is at work. Villagers begin to “trade parts of themselves” with this dark force and the village begins to change as well. Messenger is book about Utopia gone wrong, but is full of many powerful messages. My book club made many connections to American History and even felt it connected to the New Testament and the story of Jesus. We had a TON of questions, and still cannot stop discussing this one. Can I say – I cried like a fool when this book came to an end.

Son is the final book in the series. This book had such a profound effect on me – I’m not even sure where to begin. Son is told in three parts. The beginning tells the story of Water Claire. She washed up on shore, and no one knew what society she came from. There’s a beautiful love story that’s told without any sexual innuendo, and another love story about what is means to be a mother. Her thoughts, her actions, her everything is SO powerful, this one has left me in a perpetual thought cycle. I refuse to write another detail about the final story from this beautiful quartet – readers must simply experience it, live it, devour it.

As a teacher by day, I understand why this book is required middle school reading. I know this is a young adult book, but it's affected me like none other. I've been thinking about it for weeks now. Lois Lowry has a solution to most of the world's problems. And the world is in the crapper these days. So, I'm assigning summer, fall, winter, and spring reading to the leaders of all nations, religions, businesses, organizations, and anyone claiming to be a human being. The message at the end of the series (SON) is so clear-cut and powerful, a TWELVE figured it all out on his own. Humanity is lost on the world now – maybe these words might bring it home. The movie released on August 15th, and I have to say I wasn’t disappointed. I usually am. The movie is NEVER as good as the book, but Lois Lowry had a hand in it, and I believe most will be satisfied that the overall theme of the book has not been tarnished. Jeff Bridges bought the rights to make this movie twenty years ago. That’s how much the story meant to him, and I understand why. The stories of Jonas, Kira, Matty, Water Claire, and Gabe touched my heart like none other.

The Giver begins the series as book one.
Son by Lois Lowry is book four of the futuristic Giver Quartet. The series starts with Jonas being given the part of The Giver in his society. This is a great honor but Jonas has questions. He questions the practice of killing babies who are deemed unfit to live. He questions this so much that he takes Baby thirty six, Gabe, and flees the village into Elsewhere, the unknown. He and Gabe are taken into a villiage of misfits (those with physical defects or other defects which would get them killed in Jonas’’s first village) and Gabe grows up here.
Book two, Gathering Blue, introduces us to Kira and Matty and the Seer. The Seer lives in the village where Jonas ends up. Kira, his daughter, lives in another village across the Forest. She has a special gift of needlework which tells the future. She takes Annabella’s place as the one who dyes yarns and makes medicines. She tells her father when they meet that one day she will come live with him.
Book three, The Messenger, takes us to the village and the life Matty and the Seer have made for themselves. However, something strange is going on that may require Matty to use his gift to save all of them. Matty is forced to go through the Forest and bring Kira back to live with the seer inspite of the fact the Forest has changed and is out to get them. The Leader of the village saves Kira from the Forest and shows Matty what his destiny is in saving the village and the Forest from evil.
Book 4 , Son, draws all the parts together. Claire is a birthmother who gives birth to a son who is immediately taken from her. However, she volunteers in the Nurturing Center and takes care of and plays with her son. Her son, a troublesome child is taken home at night by one of the workers. Knowing they can’t keep him, his family, especially his son Jonas, fall in love with the baby. Jonas runs away with the baby and while looking for them that night, Claire gets on a boat and is taken away. The boat falls into bad weather and she is lost overboard. The next six years, she trains to be able to climb a cliff to get out of the village by the sea. The Trademaster, who meets her at the top of the cliff, trades her youth for her son. So as an old woman, she spies on Gabe to make sure he is fine. Meanwhile, Gabe finds out he is a product of an unknown woman’s pregnancy. He is determined to find his mother..

All four books together are excellent. There is just enough review of previous books to make it interesting. The books are fantastic when read in order.

The Giver Quartet 20th Anniversary boxed set came out in November of 2013, giving readers a chance to have a collection of the best-selling series in four, separate hardcover books. Today, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt releases for the first time the Omnibus, a single volume of all four novels: The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

While readers may appreciate having separate, lighter, copies of each novel, the Omnibus provides a surprisingly light collection of the unabridged editions. The cover is simple, yet beautiful, and would look great on anyone’s bookshelf. The font size is appropriate for any young adult or adult reader, and you can’t beat $29.99 for all four books.

In case you need a refresher, here are some brief summaries/criticicm of each book in the series.

The Giver
This is the first book in the quartet, which debuted in 1993, and is soon to be a major film adaptation. Eleven year old Jonas lives in a seemingly utopian society where everyone is the same, and there are no emotions, no fear or love, and each citizen is designated a position within the society. Jonas receives the position of “Receiver of Memory” in which he must store the memories of the time before the new regulations. To do this, he must interact with “the Giver” who passes along knowledge as well as the memories, forcing Jonas to decide if the adage “ignorance is bliss” is actually true here. Equally noted for its praise and criticism, Lowry begins her series with a look into the benefits, or the dangers, of a utopian society. Today, the beloved book is considered a classic in many classrooms and pairs well the dystopian YA explosion seen in the last ten years.

Gathering Blue
The second book in the quartet, released in 2000, follows a female protagonist, Kira, who is disabled as a result of a badly deformed leg. She lives in a society where the weak do not live, and so she must find a way to survive. Fortunately, Kira is gifted at sewing, inheriting this ability from her mother, and the Council decides to keep her and use her gifts. As she begins her new position, Kira must learn how to dye thread from an old woman, except she tells Kira that they cannot make blue from any plant in the village. There are also crying noises beneath her room from a young girl designated to be the “Singer” one day. Kira is surrounded by mystery, and she doesn’t understand her place in it all. There is no real connection from this book to The Giver, other than the main theme of a utopian/dystopian society and the teenagers who are stuck in its ignorance and its totalitarian reign. Female readers will appreciate a different point of view and the struggles Kira experiences both physically and emotionally.

Messenger
The third book in the quartet, released in 2004, provides the link between the first two books with returning characters. Matty (who returns from Gathering Blue) lives in a place called Village, and he has been given the position of the message-bearer who must enter the Forest. While most people avoid Forest, Matty learns his way in and out with stealth. Village is much different than Jonas and Kira’s societies as most of its inhabitants are suffering from a disability and are willing to help one another. Eventually, it becomes too good to be true, and after arguments at the Trade Mart, Village decides not to allow anyone else to enter. The Seer of Village sends Matty on a trip through Forest in order to bring back his daughter Kira (also from Gathering Blue). Forest attacks Matty and Kira, and Leader (Jonas) enters to try and save them, only to be caught. Matty must use his healing ability to save them all. Readers will appreciate the connections between the first two books, and the fates of the characters, most importantly Jonas.

Son
The fourth and final book of the quartet was released in 2012 and follows fourteen year old Claire who is designated as the Birthmother. At the opening of the novel, Claire is pregnant with her first child, and following complications, she is told to work at the Fish Hatchery. Still emotionally attached to her baby (she doesn’t take the required pills to suppress emotions), Claire watches him grow, and after being told he will be killed, Jonas swoops in and saves baby Gabe. Claire, who follows them and is later shipwrecked, wakes up to amnesia in a nearby village. Claire is saved by a woman named Alys who takes care of her until her memory returns. She leaves the village to find Gabe, and ends up trading her youth to the Trademaster for the location of her son. Jonas and Kira, now married, live in the same community as Gabe, and when Claire reveals herself to her son, Gabe kills the Trademaster, and Claire’s youth is restored. As the final book in the series, Lowry collects her all of her characters and puts them in seemingly impossible situations, proving that love is more powerful than power and fear.
See my YA blog at reviewscomingatya.blogspot.com

These are not happy books. They’re emotionally straining, especially for books that you’re required to read in middle school. They hurt. You get attached, and you feel everything. Reading the second book, I had a feeling that it had something to do with The Giver, I just wasn’t sure. Then I stumbled upon Messenger and Son, and I knew I had to read them all. Gathering Blue was kind of frustrating, because I just wanted answers. But Messenger and Son wrap it up nicely. However, I do have a lot of unanswered questions, so I can’t completely give it 5 stars, even though the series is really, really great. If you haven’t read these books, you really should.

The Giver Quartet is quite a strange series in terms of quality. I suppose a series is doomed if its best entry comes first. This is the case here. Lowry’s The Giver is a near-perfect book, one of the best in years. It honestly seems to me that she saw the success she had with The Giver and wanted to make it into a series as an afterthought. Thus, the series is pretty unorganized, rushed, and randomly inconsistent. There are many disappointments while the series held such great potential.
The series takes place in some sort of (possible) future world with lots of pockets of self-contained societies, all with drastically different ways of life. The community of The Giver is ultimately the most unique and well-realized, while the others contain small nuggets of intrigue.
Probably the biggest draw of this series for me, the way that these books shine most, is in Lowry’s exploration of some complex themes. The Giver tackles themes of society and government, as well as human nature. Lowry weaves these into her narrative naturally and seamlessly as she develops her complex world. It’s brilliant. It’s no wonder that this entry is the consensus favorite.
Gathering Blue explores interesting ideas about art and how society tries to control artists, while artists ultimately control culture. While these themes are intriguing, they don’t come off as well developed as those of its predecessor. Messenger is the weakest of the series and explores themes of corruption and good versus evil. I honestly think Lowry’s train became a bit derailed here as she explored the more supernatural elements of her world. Son explores the complexity and power of love, while compellingly revisiting the world of The Giver.
If I had to rank these books, I would as follows: The Giver, Son, Gathering Blue, and Messenger. I am an English Education major, so I read these books with an eye to potentially teach them. I honestly would only teach 50% of them: The Giver and Gathering Blue. I feel like the themes in these two are compelling enough to explore in a literature class. They are also entertaining enough for secondary students to be engaged in. I honestly don’t think Messenger is worth reading, unless one really, truly, enjoys this world and Lowry’s writing style. I think Son is pretty high quality (besides the end), but to read four books from one series in a single class is pretty outlandish.
Overall, I would read this series if you enjoyed The Giver as much as I did. It has a good deal of disappointment, but the narrative remains interesting enough to stick around.

I was expecting this to be more of a sturdy home-library-style cover, like the Penguin Hardcover Classics or something similar. It's more of a shiny smooth material, prone to scratches and marks. Otherwise it looks great, but I was hoping for more from a collection of my favorite childhood books!

Perfect way to read The Giver series. Great story, a little slow or predictable at times, but it doesn't detract from the plot or the immersion. It's a little unwieldy, but it's a large hardcover. Better suited for desk or sofa reading than for reading in bed (you do not wanna doze off and drop this book on your face).

If you love dystopian reads you will love this book. It's four books in one. The Giver, Gathering Blue, The Messenger, and Son. Each story plays off of a character from the story before it. The quartet was a wonderful read. You will find yourself wrapped up in the story line and unable to put the book down until you've finished the last page. Easy to fall in love with every one of the characters and leave you wishing there was a 5th book.

This is the daughter of the "Mom of Two".This is officially the best book I've ever read. It is so interesting the way people would do away with everything worth living for just so they could get rid of everything bad. It shows that life is a trade off. To have good you have to have bad so you can tell the difference, if you didn't have bad you would not know that the good is good. This is the best book ever! Lois Lowry is a great writer. It makes you think and be thankful for what you have.

I am glad I read the whole series. I felt that each story could have been better connected and wish more of the characters were continued in each book. I saw the first movie yesterday and although they stuck with the story line it had lots of things that were not in the book. Book four brought things together somewhat which was nice. Don't want to spoil it for anyone but I thought the series was well worth reading with some good ideas on social problems and individuality.

I finished all 4 books and I like them all. I wish I could have a little more at the end I would like a big hug, but it's ok Gabe wasn't hurt with that stress' so I was delighted. Also I saw the movie, of course they change things, some not liked, some nice, much of Fiona and Asher, and either of them with. Their really assignments but is not in our hands. Overall really nice written all characters with the pertinent time and space. I recommend all 4 books!!!

I really liked how all of the stories tied together! At first it struck me as odd that all of a sudden, certain characters had powers, but then it was to fight the evil that had always been lurking about--and had been responsible for the different types of misery in the different villages, even the community where Jonas came from.

first off the book is of a wonderful quality just touching it was a pleasure. no jacket cover yea yea! nothing to loose. everything is print board so there is no need for a jacket. secondly the book was great

Love these books. I ordered a copy for my mom and a copy for myself. I had to get this because the movie of the first book is coming out. Mom doesn't get hers' until christmas though. I personally enjoy these and would recommend them to fans of Divergent (etc.), Hunger Games or Scott Westerfield, although these are a bit slower.

Loved the whole story. All 4 books are great and I love how, even though they are from 4 different perspectives and slightly different times, they all combine and work with eachother. The ending was just right.

This is the source of the dystopian novels that teens are gobbling up right now and it is still amazing. Hauntingly written, I feel the words piercing me every time I read and I don’t think any of the ones that came out after has really measured up.