My oldest was to read Holy War last year. It is challenging as the language is older but she wanted to give it a try. What we found that helped a lot was I was able to get it as an audio book through our library using Hoopla for free, so she listened as she read. We decided not to stretch it out. I understand the value of not rushing through a book, but it just feels so long to stretch one book over an entire year. We did a chapter a week, she would listen and read along to 1/2 chapter twice a week. It was a good pace and since challenging in style she actually preferred that it not take too long to work through and complete the book. We talked about each reading as she finished them, and it went well.