One boy's healing gift could save a dying forest — at the price of his own life.
Who drives the story
A teenage messenger and the only person Forest allows to pass unharmed. He hides a healing gift that costs him his own strength — and in the end, everything.
Village's leader, revealed as the boy from The Giver, with the gift of seeing beyond. He fights the wall, walks into Forest to save Matty and Kira, and gets trapped himself.
Kira's blind father, Matty's guardian, named for the true names Village gives at maturity. He sends Matty to fetch the daughter he can't go see.
Seer's daughter, a weaver resented by her own village since Gathering Blue. She follows Matty into a Forest that wants them both dead.
Also in the story
The mysterious man behind Trade Mart, offering any desire in exchange for people's best qualities. He never forces anyone — he just makes the offer.
A townsman who trades away his birthmark at Trade Mart. His loss is the clearest sign of what Village is becoming.
Matty's former friend, who after the trades ignores him. His coldness shows the corruption reaching even the young.
How they are connected
He fights the wall, walks into Forest to save Matty and Kira, and gets trapped himself.
He fights the wall, walks into Forest to save Matty and Kira, and gets trapped himself.
Kira's blind father, Matty's guardian, named for the true names Village gives at maturity.
Kira's blind father, Matty's guardian, named for the true names Village gives at maturity.
She follows Matty into a Forest that wants them both dead.
Matty's former friend, who after the trades ignores him.
Go deeper
Corruption by consent · Generosity as a dying resource · Gifts and their cost · The wall and the stranger
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
Open the summary