From what I gathered, from some very basic research, is The Giver was written as a stand alone book originally, and then years later Lois Lowry created these 3 companion books.
When deciding to write additional works to The Giver, Lowry could have gone in a couple of directions. Focus on the Society once Jonas left, or focus on where Jonas went to. Lowry decided on the later as the tack she would take. I think I would have gone a different way.When I started to read Gathering Blue, I was confused on how this fit with The Giver. I found the story interesting, but not really connected, and the connection between the 2 books is not revealed until the very end.
Once you get to Messenger you see more of that connection, but even here the connection with Jonas is limited. He has become a secondary character. Out of the 3 books I found Messenger the least interesting.
In Son the connection between the Society and the Village is stronger and we get to see how Gabe becomes a man. It is really his story.I would have like to learn more of how Jonas felt and got on when he came to the new village. And I would have likes to learn more on how the Society fared after he left.
In general these 3 did not have to be tied to The Giver. They felt like a trilogy all on there own.
The books were good, and the stories were interesting. Lowry is able to write a story that is readable and hooks you quickly, but I was dissapointed that it was so loosely tied to the parent book.
