Book Synopsis:
They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive? She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice.
My Review:
4/5 stars. My feelings on this book are similar to my feelings on Messenger, which I read just before this one. It had the potential to be just as amazing as The Giver, but there were a few things that kind of fell flat for me. At the beginning of the book, I was super excited. I was really enjoying it and had high expectations for it to be great, but the second two thirds weren’t as good.
This book is divided into three separate parts that take place in different societies. I loved the first part, which took place in the same setting as The Giver. It was the familiar yet awful society, but this time with added worldbuilding that showed even more ways it's a terrible place. Pregnant women were called "vessels" and the babies "products", and the women had to have a blindfold over their face while giving birth so they don't see their baby and therefore can't get attached to it.
I liked all of the very obvious connections to The Giver. The other two books in the quartet had smaller mentions of Jonas, this book directly coincided with some of the events of the first book. Claire's son is Gabe, and she learns from Jonas' dad that Gabe has been difficult and has to stay with his family. There's discussion about Jonas' ceremony of twelve where he becomes the Reciever, and right before the end of the first section is when Jonas takes Gabe and escapes. It was cool to see the events from a different perspective.
This was a small, maybe unintentional, detail, but at one point Claire is described as being "apprehensive" about something, which is the same word Jonas used in chapter one of The Giver. I don't know if that was done on purpose or not, but I like to believe it was.
Unfortunately, the other two parts of the book weren't as strong. After leaving the Community, Caire ends up in a society that is very far in the past technologically, befreo mordern mediciine and electricity. This, again, brings up a lot of worldbuilding questions. How can this world, the world from The Giver, and the worlds from Gathering Blue and Messenger, exist simultaneously when they're all vastly different?
In general, the last two parts of the book were filled with a whole lot of waiting. Part 2 starts when Claire is sixteen, and she's around 22 by the end of Part 2. There's not even a lot that happens in Part 2 that becomes super important in the long run. She meets a bunch of characters who are barely mentioned again. The characters were interesting, but a little irrelevant.
Part 3 had even more waiting. Besides the last two chapters, it was my least favorite of the three sections. Claire finally arrives in the village where Gabe lives, but she spends seven or eight years doing absolutely nothing. Gabe is a full-on teenager before she reveals herself. It didn't seem like there was any point to her waiting so long, and it was just frustrating to read. All that buildup and journeying to get there, and then she waits forever to do anything about it.
Another thing that annoyed me about the last part was the fact that Claire became old. She makes a deal with the trademaster - her son for her youth - and suddenly becomes an old lady. It was another thing that seemed unnecessary. Elderly Claire being on her deathbed became the reason Gabe learned the truth and went out to defeat Trademaster, but there could've been many other causes for that.
Speaking of defeating Trademaster, that was where I saw some more unintentional Biblical allegory. Trademaster - the embodiment of evil - was like Satan, tempting people and feeding off of their pain and suffering. When Gabe told him about how all those people's lives turned out good in the end, it was like how God uses suffering for good in our lives.
I thought the ending was a bit abrupt. It didn't need to be much longer, but I would've at least liked a quick scene of Gabe and Claire hugging or something.
A lot of reviewers said this book was too long, and I agree. The second and third parts could've been shortened and combined into one. This book was much longer than every other book in the quartet.
One thing I loved about this book, though, was the theme of a mother's love for her children, and how powerful that is. Even though she didn't know him, as soon as she picked up Gabe for the first time, there was a connection.
Overall, my thoughts on the whole quartet are that none of the three books that came after were on the same level as The Giver. If it never became a series and The Giver was just a standalone, it would've been just as amazing. The first book ended nicely enough that you aren't left desparate for more, but open-ended enough that it leaves you with a lot to think about. The Giver was a perfect dystopian book. While the other three had some interesting things they added, I would've been happier if the first book was left alone.
Content Warning:
There's no language that I can remember. There's romance, including one kiss, but it's a very small thing that isn't central to the plot. Claire, as well as other women in the Community, is a Birthmother, whose only job is to produce healthy babies. They give birth as young as 14. In order to give birth, they aren't allowed to take "the pill" that stops you from having feelings. There is some discussion of what not taking it does to you, and one girl mentions that she became more aware of her body. There's some violence, but it's nothing graphic.
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