wahmatthews's reviews
430 reviews

Loved the female protagonist. Loved the ambiguity of the story, nothing is black and white, and Katsa has to navigate her life and her choices accordingly. A great YA book.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this book when I started it. It's set in the future when computer chips have been imbedded in people's brains so you need to allow for a new set of words at whose meanings you have to "guess" sometimes. Unlike other YA books I've chosen to read, the language was more "colorful" in places, another reason I wasn't so sure at the beginning.

What this book does well that I really appreciate is end strong! There's some interesting "meat" on which to chew, especially given that the book falls into that category of "could be coming our way soon." The premise and how it plays out for the 2 main characters is very interesting and definitely made me think.

A general aside- I've read a good chunk of YA books this year, and as a genre I find it engaging. Whatever the actual plots, the themes boil down to ones involving identity, culture, etc... As teens struggle to find their way in the world (no matter what that world is), they can shed light on our adult lives and where we find value. Hurray for YA!

I'd recommend this book (with the asterisk about the language).

I think this book is technically "YA" but this is the 3rd time I've read it over the years, and it continues to provoke thought and contemplation each time. A classic that most everyone should read at one time or another.

A quick read with familiar characters, but not much compelling about the story. I didn't even really care that much about the main character and what her outcome would be.

While I've read its predecessor 3x (The Giver), this was my first reading of Gathering Blue. I think it's an interesting companion book to The Giver, and I'm eager to read The Messenger and The Son. Lowry has an incredible knack for letting a story unfold both deliberately and mysteriously. Her books provoke interesting questions of free will, what that results in, and hope in many circumstances.

I'm really enjoying this story line and can't wait to read Son! Each of these books has a "secret" and the more I read, the more I want to know what it is! Can't wait to read how she ties it all together.

Great ending to a thought provoking series! Compared to the trilogies of today- the hunger games, divergent, etc...-I really appreciated the slow and deliberate story telling in these 4 books. I loved the way, in Son, all the story lines came together.

Hmmm, food for thought here. I loved the way the book was organized, moving through each age group and discussing the impact of tech on each one. Some very sobering examples of teens and tech. I'd probably recommend this to any family with children.