"Messenger" by Lois Lowry

If you liked :The Giver," which you probably read in middle school, you may like this book. Much like "The Giver," "Messenger" takes place in the future, in a time that seems very different from our world. Messenger, the main character of the story, is an orphan living in a small village. As the novel progresses, Messenger learns he has a very special gift. This gift, which he alone possesses, allows him to complete a very special task for his adopted father.

While I enjoyed the way "The Giver" left the fate of the protagonist unexplored, there was just too much left unanswered in this novel to be thought provoking. Instead, I turned the last page of this book looking for more and frustrated that I didn't find it. The mysteries, which are interesting, are never given the time or depth they need to capture the imagination and then, when the novel ends, seem completely unrelated to the main events of the book. Normally I like Lois Lowry's books. I enjoyed reading "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue" but found this novel to be too shallow to enjoy.