Claire is assigned to be a birthmother, but something goes wrong during her first delivery. Now, she can’t stop thinking of the son who has been taken away from her. Can’t help visiting him even though she’s not supposed to be attached to him. And when he’s kidnapped from her community, she can’t stay behind without him.

Son is the fourth book and conclusion of the Giver series, following The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger. I read the other three books in 2008 and 2009, and enjoyed them, though only the first book left a lasting impression on me. I had thought the series was finished with Messenger, and had liked the way it ended, but I did enjoy revisiting this world. I like that it tied together the different communities from the other books. Son takes place in three different communities – the carefully controlled world of The Giver, the special community put together in Gathering Blue and Messenger, and a third, new community, so that we get to learn about another society that lives in this dystopian world.

Just as with the other books, I enjoyed the parts related to the controlled world the most, perhaps simply because I connected with The Giver more than the other two books. I did enjoy the other parts too, and how they were all brought together. Like the other books, though, this one still fell prey to a very abrupt and not terribly satisfying end – less satisfying, in fact, than Messenger, which did seem to tie up the series pretty well. Despite that, though, I did feel like this made a good end for the series. I enjoyed reading it, even if the climax was a little anticlimactic for me.