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Originally Posted by KelliV
Two questions: What's the target age range for this? What's the minimum age that it would be appropriate for?
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GREAT question. I didn't write it as a "Young Adult" novel, though that's how my publisher is marketing it. Then again, it's certainly tamer than a lot of adult-oriented horror, thrillers, and even some YA stuff. (Heck, "The Hate List" is a pretty painful story, and "The Secret Life of Bees" deals with some pretty adult issues... And I recommend it even if it did have too much "Secret Life" and not enough "Bees".)
Ani's a teenaged protagonist, and the language is as authentic as I could make it -- meaning there's some vulgarity without it going over the top. There's no "explicit" sexual content, thought there is some implied, and there are some moments of pretty extreme gore. My 13-yo niece read it with the blessing of her parents, and none of them seem too traumatized.
I can't answer what age it's appropriate for... I read Stephen King's
The Stand when I was, oh, nine-ish. (That might explain a lot... but it doesn't help answer your question...)
I tried to make it extremely genuine, despite the intentional absurdity of the premise. I'd say middle school and high school would be totally fine on the young end, and on the older end, well, I wrote it for a grown-up audience.