Son (Giver #4) by Lois Lowry - Paul's Review

Title: Son (The Giver Quartet #4)
Author: Lois Lowry
Year Published: 2012

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Review: Lois Lowry does not disappoint with this conclusion to The Giver Quartet. Although it does not live up to my high standards of The Giver, it is my second favorite of the four-book series. The style of it is very different that The Giver. The book is separated into three sections. Each of these sections could almost be its own contained story. If these had been released as smaller separate books or enovellas, they would have worked well. This book is much longer than The Giver. 

The first part introduces us to Claire, a young girl in the community from The Giver, who has been chosen to conceive children for the community. She has complications during birth and is not the same after. I really liked being back in this community. The timeline coincides with events in The Giver, so it was fun to remember the original story and see events from a different perspective. 

I won't go into details of the second and third parts, as to not spoil you. I will say, though, that they each take place in different communities and one of them may be a community from the second or third books. The third part of the book does a good job connecting all four books together. It makes me want to reread all four books in order to have each character fresh in my mind. 

Some of the gifts that characters possess in the latter three books in this series feel very different than The Giver. After reading the first book, I didn't think these characters lived in a world of magic. There is also an unusual personification near the end that didn't feel right to me. 

Since this book takes place over many years, many interesting characters are introduced. Lowry did an excellent job with making unique characters in all three communities. 

This book is not The Giver, but if you have read the other books in the series you will in no way be disappointed. Don't expect a short, simple story going into this. The story is not simple, nor linear. Its a complex life story of a very interesting character. I give this conclusion to The Giver Quartet a 4/5.

-PAUL