"Go," he said. "This is your journey, your battle. Be brave. Find your gift. Use it to save what you love." (368)

Son is the deeply satisfying fourth book that brings characters and story threads from The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Messenger to a conclusion. It begins with Claire, a Birthmother in the community where Jonas and Gabe were born. (I don't believe I'm giving anything away if I say that Claire is Gabe's mother.)

Reading about Claire's experience in the community was terribly dark and sad. In the first book, through Jonas' perspective as a Twelve, all seems neat and orderly and good. Once he begins working with the Giver, however, he begins to see some of what the community has sacrificed in exchange for the way their lives are now. Compared to Claire's story, though, Jonas' is only gives a glimmer of insight into the darkness. Through Claire, readers are forced to consider life without real feelings, and wonder whether there is any point. (Due to an oversight when Claire is "decertified" as a Birthmother and moved to the Fish Hatchery, she does not take the emotion-suppressing pills that every other adult in the community takes.)

Claire's grief, once Jonas disappears with Gabe, is overpowering. She escapes from the community by boat, is lost overboard, and washes up in another community, where she is rescued. An old woman, Alys, takes her in and cares for her, and Claire's memory returns to her in bits and pieces. Once she remembers her son, her only goal is to find him. Lame Einar, the only one in the community who has ever left and returned, helps her prepare.

After several years, Claire is ready; she sets out, and after a long and difficult climb, she emerges; there, she must make a terrible trade in exchange for the chance to find her son. Claire finds her way to the village where Jonas and Kira and Gabe all live, but she is unrecognizable and keeps her story hidden for several years more. Finally, she tells Jonas, and he tells Gabe; then, it's in Gabe's hands to defeat the evil Trademaster and save his mother.

The scene with Gabe and the Trademaster is reminiscent of Meg facing down CENTRAL Central Intelligence in A Wrinkle in Time, or Harry facing down Voldemort; if I am to be critical, it seems a bit too simple and easy, but it makes its point: love is more powerful than evil. I read this book in a single day.