How old is old enough for TC?

[drew]

I was 14, then 21, then 27.

I'd say: Wait till he's a couple of years older, maybe 16. Not so much because of the rape scene, but because the first reading is the one he'll never forget and I'd want him to experience it to the fullest.

Yeah but by then what teenaged boy will want to do ANYthing (let alone read a book) that his Dad sugested?

[iQuestor]

Drew : yep! I know its coming, I will miss being his hero, though.

[Cail]

I was in 6th or 7th grade when I first started reading it. I read Stephen King's The Stand when I was 11 (holy crap, my daugher's age!). It's a matter of maturity, I think. Lord Mhoram is what, 16 or 17, and he certainly understood it, so I don't think it's just a question of age.

I know I get more from every reread, and I imagine that when I plow through it again prior to the release of FR (when I'll be nearly 40), I'll get more out of it than when I was 12, or 18, or 22, or 30, or 36.

[Torrent]

I was in 6th or 7th grade when I first started reading it. I read Stephen King's The Stand when I was 11 (holy crap, my daugher's age!). It's a matter of maturity, I think. Lord Mhoram is what, 16 or 17, and he certainly understood it, so I don't think it's just a question of age.

I know I get more from every reread, and I imagine that when I plow through it again prior to the release of FR (when I'll be nearly 40), I'll get more out of it than when I was 12, or 18, or 22, or 30, or 36.

Yeah, sure it's not just about age...but how many 11-year-olds have experienced love/loss/despite/bitterness and all the rest of it?

I agree with you when you're saying that understanding gets better with age/maturity. I couldn't relate to Linden very well when I was 18 (first read), but I think I feel closer to her now (33). Still, when I reread the books, the emotional impact isn't as great as it was when I was in my teens and to me that's the most important thing.

Drew,
Yes, that's a totally different problem. But although we know that possession is evil, sometimes it's necessary to get through.

By the way, I think there's a huge difference between 11 and 14.

[SirCaveral]

I was 11 when i was first introduced to the writing of SRD. I instantly fell in love with the books, being that i read all the time. This was the first book that challenged my reading abilities and ultamately changed my view on life. I have loved these books since then and have reread them over and over to conjure little tid-bits that i couldn't quite comprehend.

[Tjol]

I was around 14 when I read the first trilogy, about 16 for the second. Truthfully, it didn't hit me as powerfully then as it did on my second reading in my late 20's. Except for the initial rape, which I remember turned my stomach the first time I read it, eventhough I didn't know the word 'rape', SRD's description of the events, and my comprehension via context was enough to make it clear why Covenant so loathed himself the rest of the story.

Around 14 might have been too young for me if I wasn't a teenage boy which tend to shrug off threat of violence, and if life hadn't made me aware that things don't always work out perfect in the short term. Then again, my parents were involved, and talked a little bit about what I was reading, in such a way that only now I realise they were making sure that I was handling the content ok.

In the end, it's your kid, and your call.

[Pitchbrew]

I was 12 when I started, and 16 when I found out there were more than 3 books. I have read and reread them at least every other year probably closer to once a year. I read alot. I have read all of them at least 10 times. Its almost time again this year. I will probably wait until august to start in, I usually go through them in the fall. Its a ritual for me of sorts. But I wouldn't recommend this to anyone that can't keep a straight face when they hear the world ejaculated. Otherwise you'll lose them pretty quick.

[SoulQuest1970]

Yeah, sure it's not just about age...but how many 11-year-olds have experienced love/loss/despite/bitterness and all the rest of it?

I agree with you when you're saying that understanding gets better with age/maturity. I couldn't relate to Linden very well when I was 18 (first read), but I think I feel closer to her now (33). Still, when I reread the books, the emotional impact isn't as great as it was when I was in my teens and to me that's the most important thing.

Drew,
Yes, that's a totally different problem. But although we know that possession is evil, sometimes it's necessary to get through.

By the way, I think there's a huge difference between 11 and 14.

I read it at 12/13 (7th grade), but I had already experienced the bitterness, etc. I was suicidal at age 10. I was able to relate to Covenant very well. When I read it and got to the rape I was very angry with Donaldson. I forgave him and Covenant when Foamfollower came onto the scene. When I was at my worst moments I read the books over again. I stopped counting at 22 times between the 7th grade and the 10th. I did my Junior theme on the books and on Donaldson. My dad was emotionally distant and my mom emotionally abusive. My eldest brother had moved away (but he was the one that gave me the books). In a weird way, Donaldson was the only adult that seemed to understand how I felt. I had a really hard time relating to the 2nd chronicles. By 10th grade I'd read the 1st over 22 times, but the 2nd only 3 times. It wasn't just Linden, I couldn't relate to Covenant either. Interesting, when I picked them up again in my 30s, I now relate more with the 2nd and Runes. A lot has to do with personal growth, maturity, etc. When I was young, I needed guidance/support/understanding from somewhere and I got it. Most kids have that from thier parents. If your child is not accustomed to the horrors in this world, I would wait. There IS a big difference between 11 and 14... even between 12 and 14. I will not let my eldest daughter read it yet. I won't let her watch SVU either for the same reasons. I have had to bring it to her attention that there are people out there that do bad things to kids. I even got a bit more specific addressing rape, etc. My child has something I didn't have... me. When she is older, she will be more ready to read them. I want to share them too, but I don't want her growing up too fast if she doesn't have to. Also there is the vocabulary to consider. It is pretty advanced. A 10 or 11 year old may not be able to get the ideas.

Sorry to ramble.

[Trapper]

SoulQuest:

I'm glad to hear you found some kind of catharsis in the books, I'm sure SRD would be as well.

I first read the first chronicles in '82, when I was 10. My parents had divorced at the end of '80 and I kind of submerged myself in books. I'd read LOTR 10 times in the previous year. My fathers' fiance heard that and gave me the FCTC plus The Wounded Land.

At that age you savour every sentence and devote your imagination fully to imagining every scene. (When I recently re-read Tolkiens "Silmarillion" for the first time in two decades I actually made myself enunciate the prose in my head, rather than skim read as my adult brain wanted to do, and I'm very glad I did so).

But to be honest, sometimes I wonder what she was doing giving a 10-yr-old a series of books that are essentially about a battle with self-loathing.

iquestor: I'd wait till the kid's going through some teen angst, then give himm TCTC and say: "You think you've got problems" LOL.

(Good thing I'm not a parent)

[Turiya]

I was a *very* avid read when I was young (and I've never kicked the habit), and the book was given to me at roughly the same time as Harry Potter. . .10 or 11. I understood it (including the rape) only because I'd slogged my way through Lord of the Rings for the second time by that point. I think 10 is ok, so long as the kid takes certain parts in context:).

[akhc]

I think you can read them and take much out at different levels. Some scenes may require some explanation though given how quickly kids are exposed to things these days, I wonder.

Personally I read these when I was 13. Bought the whole set, read them and didn't really get into them as fantasy. I've reread them over the 20+ years since then and they've grown on me. Over the last 10 years or so, regardless of where I've travelled, that there are only two sets of books I carry with me (the TC chronicles are one, the other being the K le Guin Eearthsea books) says how much enjoyment I have obtained from them. In time I hope to add the Last Chronicles to this very short list.

[Avatar]

You'll find plenty of fans of the Earthsea books here too.

--A

[Guest]

I was 14 when I fell in love with the Land and SRD.

I think a little maturity and a lot of imagination is really all that is necessary to appreciate Covenant at a relatively young age.

[matrixman]

Count me as another who first read TC at 13 years of age. I had actually seen a copy of LFB before at the local public library, but at the time I wasn't allowed to take it out because the book was labeled as part of the 'Adult' section. That annoyed me. That felt to me like: here they go again, these smug grown-ups asserting their power of denial over me. I have not forgotten that feeling. So, were I a parent, I would not deny a request from a child of mine to read TC.

It's all down to the kid himself really. I'm not in favour of censoring what people read. My parents never tried it with me, and I turned out ok.

I'm not in favour of censoring what people read, either, but that's a very different issue from recommending books to kids. It takes a certain degree of sophistication (and vocabulary) to be able to appreciate SRD's stuff, and below a certain age it will just whiz over your head. What that age is, of course, varies from person to person.

What Av and Variol said sums up the debate nicely for me. I would never forbid my kid (if I had one) to read TC, but at the same time I'd recognize that TC is most definitely not children's literature. But so what? I would hope I'm open-minded enough to be able to handle questions from my own (hypothetical) child about "grown-up" things that happen to show up in a fantasy story.

My secret hope as a parent would in fact be that my (hypothetical) child finds and reads TC on his/her own, just as I discovered TC purely on my own. In this context, the only thing that might upset me as a parent would be if I found out that some pesky librarian had denied my child access to the books.

Years ago, my kid step-brother did ask about my TC books. He was in the middle of enjoying The Belgariad, and I guess he wanted to know if TC was the same sort of fun, swashbuckling romp. Well, I think I went overboard talking about Covenant's "Unbelief" but we had a good conversation, though he never got around to reading the books.

I was 14, then 21, then 27.

I'd say: Wait till he's a couple of years older, maybe 16. Not so much because of the rape scene, but because the first reading is the one he'll never forget and I'd want him to experience it to the fullest.

Yeah but by then what teenaged boy will want to do ANYthing (let alone read a book) that his Dad suggested?

Nice point, drew. However, the teenager's natural rebellion against any parental 'suggestion' might be mitigated by the counterculture aura of fantasy, which may make the genre more acceptable to a teenager. Now if Dad were to pass along a book about corporate whitebread America written by some mega mainstream author like John Grisham...then, ok, I can see the teenaged son being less than impressed.

[wayfriend]

I would never do anything like forbid my kids from reading LFB in their early teens. (You couldn't do that effectively anyway.)

But you can suggest to them that they won't enjoy it as much as they would if they wait a while longer. (*groan* Yes, I hear it.) If you've done a good job with them until then, they'll take your advice. Besides, there's like a billion other things to read and explore that will expand their mind.

I mean, LFB is not like video games. You're teenager won't be coming home screaming, all the kids in school are reading Donaldson, why won't you let me?!?! I hate you!!!!

[CovenantJr]

I pretty much agree with you, Wayfriend (though I'm not a parent, so my stance is entirely hypothetical). I can't imagine fighting my kids on wanting to read. As you said, I might suggesting waiting a couple of years, but if they want to go ahead and read it anyway, I think I'd let them.

[matrixman]

That's true, Wayfriend, there are plenty of ways for kids and teens to entertain themselves today that make book reading seem old-fashioned if not outright obsolete. I'm not dissing them, because I have plenty things to distract me as well. These days, reading is honestly not a frequent activity for me. If I had kids, they would also see that I'm not an avid reader. I can see myself joining them in a Nintendo game, but not them asking to read my book collection.

I'm also sure that the only reason my stepbrother took an interest in reading fantasy was because it related to his passion for the Final Fantasy games. Back in the early 80's, I was a more frequent reader, but it was still sheer luck of the draw that I discovered TCTC. I was more into scifi stuff - Star Wars and Star Trek - so something like Covenant was completely out of the blue.

All of which just makes me appreciate more what it means to be a Donaldson reader. Amid all the noise out there of competing fantasy works, I zeroed in on the Chronicles, or it grabbed hold of me. So if my hypothetical children were to miraculously ask me about the Chrons, I'd be thrilled.

[Peven]

my daughter is 14 and i have recommended that she try out the Covenant books. she is an avid reader and a pretty sharp kid, so i am not worried about her being able to handle it. she is my movie-watching buddy many times at home when i am watching foreign or independent movies no one in the house has an interest in seeing and has shown more insight and perceptiveness than a lot of adults i know. i think she will probably end up getting into the Covenant books as much as her dad did at the same age. i have also recommended Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through to her.