For Parents
The three questions you are actually asking
You are not browsing. You are deciding whether to hand a book to one specific child. These are the questions that decide it, answered without the marketing.
1. Is it going to preach at my kid?
No. And you should not have to take that from the person selling the book, so here is a reader saying it instead.
The plot itself is unique, original, and a great way to bring in the concept of faith-based stories. It's not in your face, and yet it makes you think and wonder. Truly a great read!
That is a reader, unprompted, describing the exact thing you are worried about. Faith is in these stories the way it is in life: underneath, load-bearing, rarely announced. Nobody gets lectured, and no character exists just to be corrected.
Bryant's stated heart is for people outside of the church. A book that preaches would fail at the only job he gave it.
2. Will my kid actually finish it?
The real question. Honest answer: some readers will and some will not, which is true of every book ever written. What we can give you is what readers said about the pacing.
Clever concept with a plot that moves along quickly and keeps a reader's interest.
It was fun to read and I enjoyed the little hidden stories. It was a great medium sized book length. I also liked the main character and the way she was portrayed.
Moves along quickly. Great medium sized book length. Those are the two things that decide whether a reluctant reader reaches the end. A twelve year old boy read The Demon and The doG and called it amazing. A ten year old said it would be a good book for boys his age. Both quotes are held until their parents say we may name them, which is why you are getting them second hand.
For what it is worth, the funniest thing in the book according to its youngest reviewer is that demons always have to go to the bathroom. Whatever gets a kid to page fifty.
3. Is it too scary, and is it right for MY kid?
Here is where most author websites hand you a confident number and hope you do not notice they made it up.
We are not publishing a reading age or grade level yet, because they have not been confirmed. A range we guessed at would be worse than useless: you would plan around it.
What we can say: the readers who wrote in were ten and twelve. One book has demons, played for adventure and jokes rather than horror. The other is science fiction with a girl at the centre.
So do the thing that works. Tell Bryant the age, and whether your kid is the sort who gets nightmares or the sort who wants it darker, and he will tell you honestly. He is a chaplain. Saying uncomfortable things gently is the job.
Reading it together
These are built for it. The faith questions are in there without answers attached, which means the conversation happens between the two of you rather than between your child and a paragraph.
Bryant led small groups for over ten years. Ask him for a handful of questions worth asking at the end of a chapter and he will send some. There is no download gate and nothing to sign up for, because a discussion guide that does not exist yet should not pretend to.