If the person who was warned enters the Forest again, Forest will kill them. It is capable of delivering 'Warnings' in the form of injuries caused by such things as sharp twigs, stinging insects, or poisonous plants, all of which attack with deliberate intent if Forest is entered. In spite of the lack of dangerous beasts, Forest itself is animated. Outside the safe boundaries of Village is Forest, a foreboding realm which most of the Villagers fear. Matty is from a community wherein people only know what the community tells them, and where those who do not fit the norm are usually put to death. Most of the Villagers are reasonably altruistic, and the Village never lacks in people who are willing to help another Villager overcome some disability. They have made themselves new homes in Village. Many of the people in Village are like Seer: cast out from their old communities and sometimes seriously injured. Matty is hoping for his true name to be 'Messenger,' since he sends messages for Leader. Matty lives with Seer, an 'unseeing' man who the people of the Village rescued years before. Lowry introduced Matty in Gathering Blue he is an energetic and impatient individual who is undergoing an awkward transition into adulthood as the story begins. This novel focuses upon a boy named Matty, who serves as message-bearer through the ominous Forest that surrounds the community.

Set in an isolated community known simply as Village, where people come to escape their previous lives.

Characters from the two earlier books reappear in Messenger, linking the novels more strongly. This novel is to take place about eight years after the events of The Giver, and about six years after the events of Gathering Blue. It forms the third installment of The Giver quartet begun by her 1993 Newbery Medal-winning novel The Giver. It is a 2004 novel by children's author Lois Lowry. Messenger is the third book in the Giver quartet.

The messenger lois lowry