He wept, and it felt as if the tears were cleansing him, as if his body needed to empty itself.

The most emotionally anchoring of the three books, Messenger picks up six years after the events in the previous book, [b:Gathering Blue|12936|Gathering Blue (The Giver, #2)|Lois Lowry|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1388195391s/12936.jpg|2134456], bringing the first two books together in a collision of events and characters.

Our narrator is Matty, known by his one-syllable name Matt in the second book, and he's grown so much and matured to the point of deserving his own book. I really enjoyed reading and experiencing this novel through his voice, eyes, and mind.

[a:Lois Lowry|2493|Lois Lowry|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1348162077p2/2493.jpg] gives us so much in this third book. We learn what happened to Jonas and Gabe from [b:The Giver|3636|The Giver (The Giver, #1)|Lois Lowry|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1342493368s/3636.jpg|2543234], and we continue with Kira's involvement in the greater story. Along with adding new characters, the blind man from the second book plays a larger role alongside Matty and in Village, the community so willing to help and heal and nurture. Messenger took us on another magical journey, delving farther into the overall arc of the series. I look forward to reading the last of the quartet, [b:Son|13324841|Son (The Giver Quartet, #4)|Lois Lowry|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1349952095s/13324841.jpg|18252076].