It makes all the difference that there's spot varnish on the softcover!! On a more serious note, I'd say that the "timeless and immersive" quote from PW applies to all your work. Congrats on another beautiful book.
Thanks, Janna. Experts argue over the relative merits of embossing, debossing or spot varnish as to the quality of a book. I believe the only true measureof quality is if the author's name is gilded and inhabits at least half the real estate of the cover. I'll know I've made it when my name is the same size as that titan of letters, the Shakespeare of our age, Jeffrey Archer. I bet he gets balloon animals at his book launches.
I really enjoyed the book and I'm going to be spending time deconstructing the, which I especially enjoyed.
I'm impressed that your daughter made so long without seeing LOTR. I watch it annually (though I've given up on the extended edition), and have a grey Gandalf hoodie that I doubt my kids know is related to LOTR (highly recommended, btw, it's from Gandalf's leisure line). So far 2 of our 4 kids are fans. I'd say The Two Towers is my favorite of the 3. As great as the battle of Minas Tirith is, the battle for Helm's Deep feels more dangerous.
Thank you for picking up the book, I hope you enjoyed it.
My daughter's never been a huge fantasy fan, didn't particularly like The Hobbit when I read it to her years ago. In contrast, when I read it as a kid I cried when Thorin died. From then on throughout my teens I was a sucker for fantasy. I even read the Silmarillion!
LOTR has all kinds of problems but I admit I enjoyed the hell out of watching the trilogy again. Might even watch the promised Netflix series when it surfaces.
I did enjoy the book and my 11yo daughter was immediately interested upon seeing the cover, hopefully she'll start reading it soon. For me it's really helpful to see a story that leaves a lot to the imagination as I have mild OCD tendencies that result in me getting bogged down in details.
When I was 10, I read the Hobbit in almost 1 day (most of in 7h in a car) and that was lifechanging. Immediately got into D&D, found out schoolmates were into it. Life hasn't been the same since. However, I slogged through maybe half of the Silmarillion and finally gave up 😂
I have, however, learned that I can't stand reading Tolkien anymore. And this has everything to do with me becoming a writer and having opinions on it. The guy needed an editor, and Jackson, Boyens & Walsh provided that. I might be too focused on script-oriented writing, where everything needs to make sense in the grand scheme of things - which might be tied to my propensity for getting stuck on details.
Something about how concise one has to be with comics means that there are more spaces opened up to the imagination. A lot goes on in the gutters between panels.
I followed a similar path. From Tolkien to finding a book called Fantasy Roleplaying Games in the library of my small town which lead to D&D and any hope of a productive life :)
I read LOTR once and don't think I can go back to Middle Earth. Teenage me probably thought it was the best book in the world because it was the book teenage me needed.
A couple of years back I tried to read Tolkien and Terry Brooks (I hit Shannara after LOTR) and I couldn't get through either. Tolkien needed an editor but Brooks was just a hack.
I do love comics as a medium since there is so much that happens in the gutters (someone must have a podcast named that, no?).
My 11yo just read Kerry this morning. I think she'd been intimidated by the size, until she asked last night if I had bought or borrowed the book. Since we bought it, there was no pressure to finish in X time - and I hadn't thought that might be why she held off on reading it.
Today she woke up, requested I get her the book while she was still in bed, then finished it in one go. I highly recommend taking a bow, as it was the biggest book she's read yet and possibly the first one that she also finished.
Quick question: what are those things that Kerry runs by outside the forest? They stop and look at some flowers at the foot one before going in.
So pleased that your 11yo enjoyed the book. Thank you for letting me know. Music to my ears. And thanks for the insight into how readers approach a book due to length. I stupidly hadn't given that the consideration it deserves. I admit I give a 300pg novel careful consideration before I start reading. It had better be good :)
The posts outside the forest are the equivalent of roadside shrines. Like you might see today at the site of a road accident. In an earlier draft the hooped tops became cyclop eyes but they didn't quite fit in the final story.
That first big book is always intimidating, I remember avoiding bigger books until I got curious enough that I had to start one. Kudos for Kerry's cover design, because the second she saw it my daughter wanted to read it.
It makes all the difference that there's spot varnish on the softcover!! On a more serious note, I'd say that the "timeless and immersive" quote from PW applies to all your work. Congrats on another beautiful book.
Thanks, Janna. Experts argue over the relative merits of embossing, debossing or spot varnish as to the quality of a book. I believe the only true measureof quality is if the author's name is gilded and inhabits at least half the real estate of the cover. I'll know I've made it when my name is the same size as that titan of letters, the Shakespeare of our age, Jeffrey Archer. I bet he gets balloon animals at his book launches.
I really enjoyed the book and I'm going to be spending time deconstructing the, which I especially enjoyed.
I'm impressed that your daughter made so long without seeing LOTR. I watch it annually (though I've given up on the extended edition), and have a grey Gandalf hoodie that I doubt my kids know is related to LOTR (highly recommended, btw, it's from Gandalf's leisure line). So far 2 of our 4 kids are fans. I'd say The Two Towers is my favorite of the 3. As great as the battle of Minas Tirith is, the battle for Helm's Deep feels more dangerous.
Thank you for picking up the book, I hope you enjoyed it.
My daughter's never been a huge fantasy fan, didn't particularly like The Hobbit when I read it to her years ago. In contrast, when I read it as a kid I cried when Thorin died. From then on throughout my teens I was a sucker for fantasy. I even read the Silmarillion!
LOTR has all kinds of problems but I admit I enjoyed the hell out of watching the trilogy again. Might even watch the promised Netflix series when it surfaces.
I did enjoy the book and my 11yo daughter was immediately interested upon seeing the cover, hopefully she'll start reading it soon. For me it's really helpful to see a story that leaves a lot to the imagination as I have mild OCD tendencies that result in me getting bogged down in details.
When I was 10, I read the Hobbit in almost 1 day (most of in 7h in a car) and that was lifechanging. Immediately got into D&D, found out schoolmates were into it. Life hasn't been the same since. However, I slogged through maybe half of the Silmarillion and finally gave up 😂
I have, however, learned that I can't stand reading Tolkien anymore. And this has everything to do with me becoming a writer and having opinions on it. The guy needed an editor, and Jackson, Boyens & Walsh provided that. I might be too focused on script-oriented writing, where everything needs to make sense in the grand scheme of things - which might be tied to my propensity for getting stuck on details.
Something about how concise one has to be with comics means that there are more spaces opened up to the imagination. A lot goes on in the gutters between panels.
I followed a similar path. From Tolkien to finding a book called Fantasy Roleplaying Games in the library of my small town which lead to D&D and any hope of a productive life :)
I read LOTR once and don't think I can go back to Middle Earth. Teenage me probably thought it was the best book in the world because it was the book teenage me needed.
A couple of years back I tried to read Tolkien and Terry Brooks (I hit Shannara after LOTR) and I couldn't get through either. Tolkien needed an editor but Brooks was just a hack.
I do love comics as a medium since there is so much that happens in the gutters (someone must have a podcast named that, no?).
My 11yo just read Kerry this morning. I think she'd been intimidated by the size, until she asked last night if I had bought or borrowed the book. Since we bought it, there was no pressure to finish in X time - and I hadn't thought that might be why she held off on reading it.
Today she woke up, requested I get her the book while she was still in bed, then finished it in one go. I highly recommend taking a bow, as it was the biggest book she's read yet and possibly the first one that she also finished.
Quick question: what are those things that Kerry runs by outside the forest? They stop and look at some flowers at the foot one before going in.
So pleased that your 11yo enjoyed the book. Thank you for letting me know. Music to my ears. And thanks for the insight into how readers approach a book due to length. I stupidly hadn't given that the consideration it deserves. I admit I give a 300pg novel careful consideration before I start reading. It had better be good :)
The posts outside the forest are the equivalent of roadside shrines. Like you might see today at the site of a road accident. In an earlier draft the hooped tops became cyclop eyes but they didn't quite fit in the final story.
That first big book is always intimidating, I remember avoiding bigger books until I got curious enough that I had to start one. Kudos for Kerry's cover design, because the second she saw it my daughter wanted to read it.