Reader Question: Age Appropriateness

 

I received the following question from a reader by e-mail:

"Mr. Berardinelli... Your new book isn't my kind of thing but I think it might be my son's. He's 14 years old. Is it appropriate for him?"

Tough question. In my opinion, 14 years old is a gray area for The Last Whisper of the Gods. It was written with an adult audience in mind but that doesn't preclude younger readers from potentially enjoying it - if they're mature enough and their parents are on board with the content.

The book contains: profanity, sex, violence, and nudity. It's R-rated if you want to think of it in movie terms. That doesn't mean much. The sex, which is likely to cause the most raised eyebrows (at least in the U.S.) is not graphically described. This isn't erotica. I don't spend sentences and paragraphs explaining in lurid detail what's going on. But it's pretty apparent what's happening and/or what people are referring to. This isn't "entry level" fantasy like Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Lloyd Alexander, or David Eddings. But it's also not as graphic as George R.R. Martin (for example). It's somewhere in between. Is that appropriate for a 14-year old? Maybe. Maybe not. Depends on the individual.

My advice: skim through the book. I won't be hard to find the passages that some would deem to be objectionable. Then you can decide.