Messenger by Lois Lowry (2.5 stars)

The Giver quartet continues. This one steps well out of the norms of the previous two books and adds lots of fantasy. People can see the future, the forest comes alive to trap and kill you etc.

By far the strangest thing that happens is that the high technology world of The Giver, the medieval sew-fest of Gathering Blue, and Village (where Jonas ends up) are all linked. As in, they are all within multi-day walking distance and set in the same time period.

This is incredibly jarring. A technology discrepancy between rich and poor is common in the real world, but it seems implausible that the rich from Gathering Blue's medieval society wouldn't have gained more technology via trade or force given how close they are.

This book followed the formula from Gathering Blue: heavy on the symbolism, light on the plot. This time the former is about what we give up in pursuit of material possessions and physical perfection.

At least Trade Mart was an interesting, ominous side-bar. I wish the story had developed more in that direction.

2.5 stars.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry (2 stars)

I was so impressed by The Giver that I resolved to read the whole quartet. Having done so, my advice is don't bother, none of the others are nearly as strong. Gathering Blue may actually be the worst. Or perhaps it's just that the contrast with The Giver is still so fresh.

In any case, Gathering Blue is that incredibly boring book you're forced to read in English class so you can explain all of the vague symbolism and wax lyrical about how Kira was going to change and revitalise society through the power of art.

But if you ignore the deeper meaning and just look at plot: a girl with a bad leg in a medieval society survives her mother's death, gets a somewhat sinister government patron, learns how to dye threads, fixes a dress, and might add some new stuff to the dress one day. Note that I said might.

On top of being weak on its own, the novel doesn't even have the benefit of providing resolution of the events from the end of The Giver, or even obvious relationship to them.

2 stars.

The Giver by Lois Lowry (4.5 stars)

From the foreword it's obvious that this is quite an extraordinary book. Here's just some of the things that people have said to Lowry about it in letters over the years:

One couple wrote to me about their autistic, selectively mute teenager, who had recently spoken to them for the first time—about The Giver, urging them to read it. A teacher from South Carolina wrote that the most disruptive, difficult student in her eighth grade class had called her at home on a no-school day and begged her to read him the next chapter over the phone...A Trappist monk wrote to me and said he considered the book a sacred text. A man who had, as an adult, fled the cult in which he had been raised, told me that his psychiatrist had recommended The Giver to him. Countless new parents have written to explain why their babies have been named Gabriel.

I didn't read it in school, but I could tell by the end that this must be an English curriculum book, and sure enough, it is. It's a fantastic and thought provoking Young-Adult read, but definitely for older kids, there's enough adult concepts in here to make some schools nervous enough to ban it.

Many reviews casually spoil some of the great reveals in the book. I want to mention some of them now, so stop reading if you don't want to be spoiled...

Lowry does a masterful job of easing us into this dystopian future. We see a safe and orderly society with a sinister undercurrent gradually become more and more disturbing as Jonas and the reader gain awareness of how it functions.

Despite it being expected for some time, the reveal of the infanticide is both shocking and disturbing. But the moment I was moved by most was a more unexpected plot reveal.  That is, when you realise that not only are these people denied choice of almost any form, but they are even denied colour. It's amazing how much emotion this revelation brings, and how it is delivered with a simple sentence:

You're beginning to see the color red.

This part was inspired by a painter that Lowry met that she says clearly had a much deeper ability to experience colour than she did. She wished that he could have somehow magically given her the ability to see colour in the same way. His picture is on the front of the book.

Some people complain about the ending, but those are always the same people who complain when everything isn't neatly tied up.

4.5 stars.

Sand Omnibus by Hugh Howey (3.5 stars)

Hugh Howey creates another intriguing post-apocalyptic world, this time modern civilisation has been completely covered in sand, and "sand diving" to retrieve artifacts from the time of high technology is a lucrative but extremely dangerous occupation. I loved the sand divers: Howey delivered a light technology explanation, and great construction of the divers' society with its own rules, indoctrination, and language. The multiple different names for types of sand was a nice touch.

While I didn't get hooked as strongly as I did with Wool, I felt like Sand was a more measured and mature series. There weren't books I hated or incredibly implausible plot devices required. Having said that, there seemed to be some puzzling incongruities with technology: they had mechanical pumps powered by generators to bring up water from wells, but were still using a bucket brigade to move accumulated sand away from the wells...?

This is a society that is brutally oppressed and is steadily being crushed by remote actions we never really find out about. The dumping of sand that rules this future Colorado seems to be deliberate, but in a completely dispassionate and careless way.

I would have had a lot more respect for the novel if the protagonist had died in the desert. A willingness to kill off a major character to prevent the need for an unlikely rescue shows author's grit.

Good read for those who liked Wool.

3.5 stars