M.H. Elrich asked M.H. Elrich:

What age would you recommend for your books?

M.H. Elrich As a middle-school English teacher, I can tell you that my first book, Etania’s Worth, is barely appropriate for eighth graders. Even then, it would have to be an eighth grader with a higher reading level. As one of my students said, “It was slow, but then got really good at the end.” So, to them, even though I have plenty of action, they found themselves bored. Others couldn’t understand the various races/people groups, despite multiple times where I explained it. Also, there are several scenes which may be disturbing for younger readers, including several deaths and a murder.

As for Etania’s Calling and Toothbreaker, these books are definitely for older teens (15+) and young adults. There is drunkenness (shown in a negative light), an implied sex scene (off the page), and drug usage (shown in a negative light). Etania’s Destiny has an adult who struggles with lust, an implied sex scene (off the page) between two married adults, drunkenness, and violence associated with war.

For future books, I plan to have the same audience of older teens and young adults. I believe in portraying Christian values in my books, so I will always portray sin in a negative light. I do not wish to glorify evil, even as describing the horror of it.

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