Interesting that you liked the 3rd. I think 2 was okay ish but 3 was like a weird seemingly desperate attempt to connect the in universe. Like Lois Lowery wrote Gathering Blue then decided to try and connect it to The Giver afterwards

Funny enough I just taught The Giver to my 8th grade English. We finished like 2 weeks ago which is why i decided to finish reading the series. I had never gotten around to it. Hard pass. Cannot recommend it to students. The original stands alone so well for so many reasons especially the ambiguity of the ending.

Yup. I kept falling asleep during 4th especially.