Simple enough for children to easily understand, it's more than likely going to be someone's first experience with a dystopian story. Schools having it frequently listed as required reading for English classes ensures that likelihood. For what it is, it's a solid introduction to the concept of a dystopian utopia and the various flaws with trying to make the entire world as perfect and functional as possible.

The book is fairly grounded except when The Giver himself becomes involved. The setting is void of magic or fantasy until suddenly a character is introduced who can share memories through touch. Vivid, impossible memories that the protagonist has no frame of reference to understand. This fantastical concept broke my immersion, however it was necessary for the theme. How else would the main character learn that his society was missing things like fun, or love, or even color? The lengths the book goes to to describe the sameness of everything is ridiculous at times.
Certain aspects of the dystopia don't make logical sense and can only be accepted if you either choose to ignore the problems or don't think much about them to begin with.

The characters are likeable and, while not complex, have noted quirks to make them endearing. At times, the way these child characters are addressed so plainly adds to the horror of the story. When one of them is physically beaten, the protagonist treats the scene as expected and normal. Unfortunate for his friend, but otherwise nothing to be concerned about. He too has grown used to the casual trauma forced upon him and everyone else. This theme dramatically escalates as we realize just how much the community has been desensitized to horrible things. 

The unease in those moments is the best quality of the book.

The worst thing, in my opinion, is the ending. Despite spending the entire story building up to the main character's daring escape,

it's left completely ambiguous if he does. He might have gotten away, or he might have died miserably in the snow. That ambiguity may be poetic or intriguing to some readers, but I found it frustrating and disappointing for making me read so much only to leave me with nothing.

An anticlimax if there ever was one. 

The ending aside, it is a good book for younger readers. Older readers can still get something from it too, however I think an older audience has easier access to better stories of a similar nature.

An absolute must-read. Very introspective, especially in today's society that is so driven by trends and conformity. A book for all ages (though there are some dark themes).

The audiobook was really good especially as someone who has read this book previously. I loved the different voices although Jonas' voice was sometimes annoying. I think this is a great example of good dystopian storytelling and the length of it lends itself to those like me who have a hard time with sci-fi. Excited to finally read the rest of the series!

The Giver is about a society that has strict rules and prefers 'sameness' over 'difference' and 'change'. Everything needs to be the same and everything gets assigned to you. Your professon, love interested even your children gets assigned to you. There is no freedom of choice as there is also no freedom of expression. Jonas receives memories from the Giver that no one else's holds.

At first I was excited to read this book, the premise sounded interesting and I saw that quite a lot have read this book. I liked many things, for instance how The Giver and Jonas formed a relationship that was characterised by kidness and understanding. They bonded through these memories they shared. Another thing that was interesting to see was how Jonas reacted to the memories he received. The way his mind and behaviour changed. 
I also liked how the new things (like seeing beyond) was described to us readers, giving the feeling like we experienced it for the first time as well. While I read about the things that Jonas and also the rest of the people didn't know of as they didn't have this memory and therefore knowledge I was shocked. I couldn't imagine how one could lose that much. While reading I learnt how selfish the society was to burden the Giver with all memories and not wanting to have these memories as well. That made the Giver feel very lonely, as he had no one to share his feelings about. I felt sad for him, especially as to how his behaviour when he was sad was described.

At some moments the writing style delivered the feeling one should feel while reading it good enough, but I was bothered how the book lacked any depth. The premise of this book made me think that there will be a lot of feelings, especially for the reader while reading. This didn't happen and in general I felt after I finished now this book, as if something was missing. I wished there would have been more to it, especially as the ending felt rushed too. The ending left me dissatisfied, I expected something else and I think that it was the wrong choice to end this book like this. 
+ the plot twists weren't shocking to me, as they were hinted on multiple times before they were revealed.

Even though the concept/idea behind this book had so much potential it wasn't executed. The writing style was beautiful and in some moments I did feel sad (mainly for the Giver), but I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped for.