I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this companion novel to The Giver and may have even enjoyed it better than the original.

Kira is physically disabled, with a gift for weaving and embroidery. Her gift is recognized by the elders of her village, a village where everyone is valued for the skills that they bring to their community. After her mother mysteriously dies, she is selected to live in special quarters and given the task of repairing and completing the robe that The Singer wears each year. The Singer is the keeper of the community's memories and the robe a physical manifestation of that task, so this is an important role for Kira to play. However, as with the Giver, things are not always as they seem and Kira's world starts to unravel as she begins to learn more of the truth.

I really liked Kira's strength in the face of adversity (being singled out as an outsider in a community that values only able-bodied people). She was an interesting character, a bit naive at times, but overall someone that I felt myself cheering for. I also found it fascinating that skilled crafts like woodworking and embroidery were treated almost like magic in the community; it left me wondering if Kira and others really were magic, in a fantastical sense, or if they were just treated as such because of the skills they possessed.

This book will not give you too many clues as to what happens to Jonah at the end of The Giver. But I have heard that the next books give more answers and I am eager to continue the quartet.

4 stars

TW: violence; abelismt