{"id":33349,"date":"2013-01-22T08:30:30","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T14:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=33349"},"modified":"2013-01-22T09:16:55","modified_gmt":"2013-01-22T15:16:55","slug":"review-messenger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/01\/review-messenger\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Really Fight Evil (Review: “Messenger”)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am a sucker for a series. I love Harry Potter<\/em>, and I used to love The Baby-sitters Club<\/em>, and I’m really only still watching Glee<\/em> because I have a great gift for the virtue of hope and I hope<\/em> it will eventually be good again. Somewhere deep down, though, my belief in eternity makes me want to follow a story until the end. I want to know what happens next, and if I’m dissatisfied, I might make up my own ending, or even a middle. (I occasionally still write fanfiction. You can laugh.) My faith in things that are carry on and my love of The Giver<\/em><\/a> made me especially excited to find out that the story wasn’t even over in Gathering Blue<\/em><\/a>. Lois Lowry’s world-building continues in another companion novel, Messenger<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

SPOILER ALERT<\/strong>: If you haven’t read The Giver<\/em> and Gathering Blue<\/em>, this review will spoil both<\/em> of their endings for you. They’re great books that I recommend you read regardless of your age, but if you haven’t, at least go read my reviews here at ACNM [The Giver<\/a>, Gathering Blue<\/a>].<\/p>\n

\"Imagine<\/a>

Imagine this, but more sinister.
(photo by Moyan Brenn<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

Messenger<\/em> is set in a third town in Lowry’s universe, this one simply named Village. Matty from Gathering Blue<\/em> has made a home in Village with Kira’s father, who is blind. Village is a refuge: people who are unloved, unwanted, or unwelcome in their native places journey through a thick forest to Village, where the previous refugees and native children greet them with kindness and care. As the book begins, though, the open atmosphere of Village has been changing. The young and insightful Leader (who is almost certainly a grown-up Jonas from The Giver<\/em>) will allow the people to vote to close the borders to outsiders permanently, but he doesn’t like it. As the town’s messenger, Matty, who has discovered a curious new ability, must journey through the living and hostile forest one last time to spread the news of the closure and to bring Kira to Village while he still can. This final journey shows what Matty is really made of.<\/p>\n

I read my fair share of fantasy and dystopias, so I’m used to authors attempting to describe a mysterious and foreboding future while using ordinary words. Some succeed; some fail. Lowry succeeds greatly. She has a way of writing that is almost lyrical but still down-to-earth enough for middle-grade readers. She can describe her own universe without dumping information on the reader (God bless J.K. Rowling, but she did that more than once) or being too mysterious (Leader doesn’t have to be Jonas, but I think he is). I can’t quite put my finger on Lowry’s style, but I like it.<\/p>\n

Even more than Lowry’s style, though, I love the message of her books. The Giver<\/em> taught a lot about free will, conformity, life, and the power of knowledge. Gathering Blue<\/em> told us more about life, the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and the horrors of using people. Messenger<\/em> speaks to the lure of evil and the proper response to evil (love). It takes amazing talent to conquer issues like these on a youth-friendly level! They are contemporary and timeless, and I remember the great discussions we had when I first read The Giver<\/em>, for school. I was delighted and satisfied with Messenger<\/em>…but I’m still eager to read the conclusion, Son<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

—
\nUp next: Orthodoxy<\/em><\/a>, the witty and weighty spiritual autobiography of G.K. Chesterton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a sucker for a series. I love Harry Potter, and I used to love The Baby-sitters Club, and I’m really only still watching Glee because I have a great gift for the virtue of hope and I hope it will eventually be good again. Somewhere deep down, though, my belief in eternity makes… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,87,91],"tags":[773,163,166,874,586,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-33349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog","7":"category-reviews","8":"category-young-adult","9":"tag-book-review","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-dystopia","12":"tag-evil","13":"tag-ya","14":"tag-ya-fiction","15":"entry","16":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21809,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/review-gathering-blue\/","url_meta":{"origin":33349,"position":0},"title":"The Other Side of the Future (Review: “Gathering Blue”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"August 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"If The Giver blew your mind, it may further blow your mind to know that The Giver has sequels. As if the journey of twelve-year-old Jonas through the frightening truth about his seemingly perfect world weren't enough, Lois Lowry has spun another tale. The Giver presented a futuristic world with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/5635099236_4d6ba71c99_z-257x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20828,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/review-the-screwtape-letters\/","url_meta":{"origin":33349,"position":1},"title":"The Gradual Road to Hell (Review: “The Screwtape Letters”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"August 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I have finally found some paranormal romance that I like! Well, that's not entirely true. This week's book is about the paranormal and does contain romance, though. I will concede only one thing to Twilight and its successors in the paranormal romance genre, and I will admit to two: they're\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/3559017612_3a55bba9f2-300x229.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9397,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/01\/review-catching-fire\/","url_meta":{"origin":33349,"position":2},"title":"The Heat Is On (Review: “Catching Fire”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"January 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was home for Christmas, I saw Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows with my mom and sister. I loved it. It was one of the best sequels I've ever seen, because it didn't strictly require knowledge of the first movie, but it built beautifully on what had been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/3487349434_95f7e3b6d6_z-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":43304,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/review-delivered-porn-to-purity\/","url_meta":{"origin":33349,"position":3},"title":"The Rope is Hope (Review: “Delivered”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"January 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As you know, I read a lot. I believe that we read because it teaches us what it means to be human. Most of the nonfiction I read is for Austin CNM these days, so it doesn't all apply to me. My job here is not just to share what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"delivered_chain","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/delivered_chain-630x393.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13507,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/03\/review-the-westing-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":33349,"position":4},"title":"Beware the Players, Beware the Game (Review: “The Westing Game”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"March 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"And now for something completely different. Although I have used my other two reviews this Lent to recommend good spiritual reading (Theology for Beginners and No Man Is an Island), not all of my ACNM reviews are of specifically Catholic or Christian books. I genuinely believe that, although it's important\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/2315505179_77981d1eaa-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":127473,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/07\/running-slowly-up-the-ramp-review-unsouled\/","url_meta":{"origin":33349,"position":5},"title":"Running Slowly Up the Ramp (Review: “UnSouled”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"July 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It takes incredible skill to be a master storyteller. After Unwind and even UnWholly, I would have easily put Neal Shusterman on that list. I read UnSouled, though, so I'm withholding final judgment for now. I'm not as encouraged to keep reading, but I'm glad I did. I have to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\"It never ceases to amaze [him] how far society will go to protect the children it loves and to discard the ones it doesn't.\" \u2014Unsouled, by Neal Shusterman","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/acnm_unsouled.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33349\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}