All right, so I’m reading The Riddle now and once again, I marvel at the lexicon of the average Australian junior high school student. I mean, wow, to use words like “vouschafe”, “verisimilitude” and “ubiquitous” so easily in conversation is stellar. Heck, I didn’t use any of these until I was in university and even then I still had to look ‘em up.
Seriously.
It makes me wonder about target audiences and the like. I really think that the language in this series is more of a collegiate level or perhaps a well-read high school student is capable of, but maybe not so much a junior high school student! Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that there are the few out in the world who can make it through Pellinor without a dictionary handy, but perhaps not the average twelve-year-old.
Aside from the wacked out intended audience, I aspire to write like Allison Croggon. Her style and language are quite lyrical and for lack of a better word, beautiful.
It has indeed inspired hope in me that I can get through this next freaking chapter. And because of it, I probably won’t just make it three months later.
Wish me luck!
