i'm sorry i have to just say a quick piece about your second critique of the book. i think it's incredibly unfair to the author to ask whether an element of the story "had" to be one way or the other. someone once put it to me this way: no one ever asks a composer whether they "Had" to use a b flat at a certain point in the composition. if they thought it should be there then it should be there, and i just don't think it's a legitimate criticism of a book to say it was too violent, or of a movie to say it had too many nude scenes, etc etc ad infinitum.
ok glad to get that off my chest, do let me know if you disagree.

This story will stay with me till the day I die it was that good. Enough said.

Sorry,Emma,But I agree with the criticism of the level of violence in this book.It put me off, and I read the rest with a heavy heart.
Not legitimate criticism to say a movie had 'too many nude scenes'? Are you joking? There are way too many fools who add extra doses of boobs and bums to fill in the holes a crappy script,pathetic storyline and bad acting create.
And for whatever reasons,this author did the same thing, with the violence and shock-value.
Hated this book.Period.

People who say "Period" are questionable, shall we say?