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The Explanation (with spoilers):
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.
Son thrusts readers once again into the chilling world of the Newbery Medal winning book, The Giver, as well as Gathering Blue and Messenger where a new hero emerges. In this thrilling series finale, the startling and long-awaited conclusion to Lois Lowry’s epic tale culminates in a final clash between good and evil. Timeline notes: Son can be broken into three sections: "Before" takes place during the events of The Giver; "Between" takes place in the years following, during the events of Messenger; and "Beyond" takes place fourteen years after The Giver. Let's break this down:
Before
I'm going to give you a big content warning here and now: Son started off with a pregnancy and briefly describes the C-section that follows. There's not a whole lot of descriptions on things, but it is quite clear what's happening.
The beginning dialogue--between Claire and an unnamed woman--can get confusing if you're not paying attention. This was Claire's first birthing. She was a Birthmother, in the very same community Jonas lived in.
In fact, the events of The Giver get talked about; it's fascinating to hear things from the community's point of view.
After "failing" to give birth (also let's not talk about how exactly they impregnated teenager Claire...), Claire gets reassigned to work at the Fish Hatchery.
Not that she liked it or anything,
Claire never really took the puberty/emotion-suppressing pills everyone else took, which only strengthened the love for the child that was stolen from her.
Number thirty-six: Gabriel.
During her free time, Claire snuck to the Nursing Center to be with her child. For a while, it worked.
Then comes the part where Gabe is going to be released the next day.
Claire had been planning on attending the ceremonies that year (because of Gabe) but was unable to. In the commotion of the night, after Jonas escaped, Claire in a panic boards a foreign supply ship. She abandons the life she knew, and began her long, hard search for Gabe.
Her memories blurred together, but Claire got caught in a storm. The ship fell apart, and Claire drifted away, her memories drifting out of her reach as well.
Between
For a whole year Claire didn't remember anything of her past. At least, not until one of the women in the village gave birth to a child of her own.
The village was situated at the bottom of a dangerous cliff, tucked down below, away from the vast world above. It gives off Icelandic vibes, in my honest opinion; the few months of summer and sunshine are suppressed by the ongoing winter and gray skies. Everyone in the village had an adjective in their name: Lame Einar, Tall Andras, Water Claire, and so on.
But Claire soon remembered; when she did, she began her preparations for leaving the village. Consulting the only person known to have scaled the cliff before--Lame Einar--she grew strong--"for a girl," as Einar put it--and gained impeccable muscle control.
Einar warns Claire of how he got the name "Lame"--a tall man in black clothes offered him a trade and Einar refused. So the man took a hatchet from his cloak. This same man--Trademaster--in the one whose offer Einar tells Claire she should accept, in order to see Gabe.
So Claire goes with Einar's plan, managing to make it up deftly. She did get attacked by a bird--major warnings to those who are sensitive to gore--but she was well for the most part.
At dawn, Trademaster came, with a reptilian slyness about him. He wore fine clothes--suits and polished shoes and all that--and made a remark about Claire's blue eyes--"Exquisite," he had called them.
I'm going to admit something right now: I honestly enjoy villains who give me the shivers. Trademaster is one of those. Yes, he's evil. I still think that he was a great villain in that he was actually threatening. Those sensitive to magic and darkness may disagree.
Back to the story. Claire accepts the trade--her youth so she can see Gabe--and Trademaster leads her to Village. Only, as with the majority of trades with Trademaster, things grow worse.
Beyond
For the last third of the book, the point of view jumps around a bit. Sometimes we have Gabe as the focus, sometimes it's Claire still.
As a kid, Gabe had been mischievous. He had started to develop his gifting--veering, as he called it--a more concentrated form of empathy, similar to Empaths in Keeper of the Lost Cities.
All throughout The Giver, Jonas had been like an older brother to Gabe. Now, at twenty-seven, Jonas was the father figure Gabe looked up to. It was Jonas who had to tell Gabe about the community where they had fled--and it was Jonas and Kira who worried about him.
Jonas and Kira did in fact marry--despite what Kira said in Gathering Blue.
Claire appeared frequently around Gabe, spying on him, unable to get herself to tell her story. Gabe once talked with a friend about plans of scaring her away--unaware that it was his mother.
Gabe during this time was trying to build a raft to get to his former community, in the hopes that the one who birthed him was still there. After a failed attempt, his hopes for the first boat sink.
Claire's aging slowly destroyed her: first her back aches constantly, and nothing Herbalist (the village doctor) did worked. Even Claire realizes that her days are numbered and decides to at least tell Jonas her story.
Jonas was at first startled by this revelation--how a girl who in reality was only two years older than him was an old lady--but he soon realizes Trademaster's sinister part in this. When Claire's health got so harsh that she was on the brink of death, Jonas finally told Gabe.
He told Gabe that he would need to end Trademaster for once and for all.
Now, Matty had temporarily defeated Trademaster--he healed the forest and repelled the evil that had plagued the peoples' hearts. But Trademaster still came and went.
Jonas used his gift--seeing beyond--one last time, to determine where Trademaster was: on the other side of the riverbank. Gabe sets out in the middle of the night to vanquish this foe, but even the teenage boy knows that he can't kill. The rough waters seemed to calm at his revelation, so he repeated it to himself as he paddled along.
When Gabe got to the other side, Trademaster attempted to make various trades: He first gave Gabe weapons to fight with, but Gabe denied them, reaffirming that he cannot kill; Trademaster offers to give Gabe a good boat; he offers to make Claire well again.
Each time Gabe reaffirms that he cannot kill, Trademaster weakens. Each time the moon shone through Claire's cottage window, the old lady regained her youth. Eventually Trademaster's power fails, and Claire no longer was burdened with her fragility.
Gabe decided to veer into Trademaster and learned of the vicious force's hunger: A hunger for knowing the outcome of the trades. The need to know how badly peoples' lives had been wrecked. Gabe does the one thing he could to weaken Trademaster: He shares of all the positive outcomes from and after the trades.
Trademaster withers to nothing, and Gabe marks the place with his paddle.
Conclusion
Despite all of the content warnings listed above, the Giver Quartet was much cleaner than i was anticipating--with it being YA and all that. I rather enjoyed it, and I was pleasantly surprised by the Christian themes woven throughout.
I was, however, disappointed at the fact that Trademaster was not a character we had met previously--like Jamison, for example.
Teens could make it through the series--maybe not Son, but that's my thoughts. Overall, highly recommended, but just be cautious if you're hypersensitive to any of the above content.