Gathering Blue

One of my top 5 favorite books is The Giver by Lois Lowry and since I have been desperate for a good book I picked up Gathering Blue.

This is a story about Kira, an orphan girl with a twisted leg, who lives in a village that is self centered. You are only important if you can contribute to the village. Where The Giver centered around a village where there is no pain, no problems and everything is planned out, this village is the opposite. The mothers take food out of their children's mouths, no help is offered and if you can't pull your own weight, you are taken to the field of leaving and left for the beasts.

Kira has a special talent, weaving, and this is the only thing that keeps her alive. The Council that is in charge of the town takes her in to work on the robe for the Singer. Her fear is that she will not have the skills to do a good job. She meets Thomas, a boy who is there to carve the cane for the Singer. Kira is worried that she doesn't have the skills to weave the Robe and doesn't know what will happen if she fails.

I must say I was a little disappointed. The Giver was one of the most original books I have ever read. There wasn't complete closure at the end; it had a feel that things were going to be ok, but perhaps there will be a sequel. With this book, it just abruptly ended. It felt incomplete. I was caught up in the story, but disappointed in the end. I read that this is actually a series, and have read that the characters from Gathering Blue and the Giver meet in the 3rd book, Messenger. I have that one and I am reading it next, so I will hold off my final evaluation until I read it.

To be continued...