and the controversy begins -- is it too scary for kids.

No, with a side order of no, and no sauce. Fer fuck's sake. Have these people MET any kids?

(Though, does it still have the LKH blurb on the back cover? That made me grind my teeth with snarly irritation.)

WORD. It was like having the writers of Sunset Beach being quoted on the blurb for Buffy, or Tori Spelling saying a few kind words about Judy Dench's acting skills. What. The. Fuck.

And, quality aside - they're expecting children who pick up this book to have read the tediously torrid adventures of Anita The Wondercunt? REALLY?

WORD. It was like having the writers of Sunset Beach being quoted on the blurb for Buffy, or Tori Spelling saying a few kind words about Judy Dench's acting skills. What. The. Fuck.

The other thing that pinged me right in the rantypants (whitefonting for overarching theme and plot spoilage) was LKH going all, "Oooh! More more more! I can hardly wait for the next nine jillion volumes in his story!" when the whole point of the end of the book was that he finally found his way into the mundane, normal, daylight world of the living that the assassin had stolen from him, that his graveyard family had spent years preparing to return him to. That he found his way out of that fantastical, half-lit, adventurous, and ultimately frozen and unchanging world into ordinary life, and that this was a good thing. Nine jillion volumes of poor Bod continuing to be alone, not like his family, gently erased from the memories of the humans he manages to connect to and care about? A violation of the whole point of the damn book LKH was claiming to love so much. It made me wonder if she has any basic reading comprehension, any ability to recognize what makes any particular story work, at all.

But, then, considering what other Buffistas have said about the ludicrous length and incoherence of her own epic series, maybe that's just exactly right.

And, wrod to your second point. I'm really not seeing the crossover audience there.

JZ, you're starting with the assumption she read the book at all; I'm not so sure she did.

Even worse, they're probably expecting that people who like the tediously torrid adventures of Anita The Wondercunt would take LKH's advice on buying a book for children.

you know, I never read the book blurbs on this book.

Hmm, I remember loving the Chronicles of Prydain as a kid. I need to buy something for a bday for a precocious 8 year old. (Loves the Chronicles of Narnia - I think that is precocius though not unusual among Buffistas). Prydain yes or no? If no, alternatives.

Prydain yes! Adore.

Also, I persist in recommending Tamora Pierce books for kid fantasy fans, especially if the kid in question is a girl.

Tamora Pierce

Ah yes, kid is a girl. Mom not one of the world's great feminist role models. Airheaded and mean. Worry a bit about women's roles in the series. Like I said a long time, but weren't the major female characters an airheaded (though heroic) princess and an evil enchantress? Been a long time, so probably being unjust to the Princess. Also I do remember even the evil enchantress ended up giving good information that saved everybody. And the Princess had the intution to trust her, saying something along the lines of "sometimes when a wasp lands on you it will only sting you if you try to brush it off." It must have been good if that much of it sticks with me after 35 years.

I don't know Prydain. An 8-year-old might like A Wrinkle In Time. And, while they're not exactly fantasy, I'd recommend The Westing Game and From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler to pretty much any kid, but especially precocious girls.

A Wrinkle in Time is lovely, although I do remember liking Prydian. I haven't read Prydian since that age, though, so I don't remember any larger implications. I read Narnia at that age too, as well as The Diary of Anne Frank.