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** spoiler alert ** I am glad I read this--Lois Lowry is a lovely writer, and it was fun to see everything tied together so nicely, but overall I found the plot to be unsatisfying.

Like in Messenger, I just could not buy into the whole idea of just abolishing evil with a "gift"--and in a way it feels really contrary to the idea in the Giver, where the society (and individuals) suffered because they were naive about pain and evil.

I felt like the character of Gabe was not at all fully evolved--I didn't get to understand what was so special about him at all, and it seemed like it was simply his symbolic role as the angel Gabriel sent to destroy wickedness was supposed to suffice.

I was also a little annoyed at some continuity errors that show up in the first part. First, Claire's friend Sophia was sitting next to her in the Ceremony of Twelves, and we know that Claire is number 11, therefore, Sophia should have been number 12, but later on Sophia says she's number 23! Second, given the context of the Giver, I couldn't quite get on board with the irritation and emotion displayed by the nurturers, including Father, when they've realized they're going to have to release Gabe. Third, remember how there was an unscheduled holiday at the end of the Giver? What was that about? Wouldn't it have been interesting to give us more insight into that in this book?

I quite enjoyed the second section, and would actually have been content with a book that just evolved that story. Maybe that will be Lois Lowry's next book!