Messenger by Lois Lowry

To break up the onslaught of California adventure posts, here's a tasty literature treat to chew on. I recently finished Messenger, by Lois Lowry:

This is part of a series of books that correlates with The Giver, one of the greatest adolescent literature books of all time. It also ties together the stories of the characters from The Giver as well as Gathering Blue. (See thoughts on both here and here.)

Messenger is one of those overtly religious texts with Christian symbolism and parallels, but I find it refreshing and insightful. This book is more entertaining and also has more substance and weight than Gathering Blue.

Have you read this book before? If yes, what were your thoughts?