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_The Graveyard Book_, Neil Gaiman
Yup, it's quite good. The premise is, roughly, "What if Neil Gaiman were to take some of the themes of Kipling's _The Jungle Book_, and to set it in a graveyard full of dead people (i.e. ghosts) and stranger entities?" My kids aren't ready for this, but it will only be a few years until they are.
There is an appropriate ending. The big question set at the beginning is resolved. Along the way, I can see several sections which could each have been a novel rather than a short story, had Gaiman opted to take the Harry Potter route... but the work as a whole would not have been so delightful in its concision. As it is, this is a properly made truffle: one large bite, bittersweet and intense, carrying a single flavor which is interesting for the smooth flow from initial burst through mouth-filling roundness to aftertaste.
Yup, it's quite good. The premise is, roughly, "What if Neil Gaiman were to take some of the themes of Kipling's _The Jungle Book_, and to set it in a graveyard full of dead people (i.e. ghosts) and stranger entities?" My kids aren't ready for this, but it will only be a few years until they are.
There is an appropriate ending. The big question set at the beginning is resolved. Along the way, I can see several sections which could each have been a novel rather than a short story, had Gaiman opted to take the Harry Potter route... but the work as a whole would not have been so delightful in its concision. As it is, this is a properly made truffle: one large bite, bittersweet and intense, carrying a single flavor which is interesting for the smooth flow from initial burst through mouth-filling roundness to aftertaste.
