That's an interesting question. I suppose that I always did think of AQ as YA, although that may be because I've always considered fanfiction to be young adult. I don't really think of anyone under 25 regularly reading fanfiction, and I would be shocked if there was more than 5% of writers/readers who were over 25
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Pretty much everyone I know in HP fandom, and most (all?) of the best writers are over 25. This could partly be because the fandom has been around so long that all those people started out when they were younger, and have now, after 10 years, passed that age line. But it's true I don't know most of the people in HP fandom, nor do I hang out on ff.net or hpff.net, both of which seem to have a large number of young teens. I think many other fandoms (ST, Dr Who) probably have older demographics as well.
The American Library Association defines a young adult as persons between the ages of 12 and 18. As a male slightly over the age of this range who reads your AQ series, I would say it could pass for Adult if you wanted it to. Although I think it would have an easier time fitting into YA because of the youthful protagonists and the corresponding emotions/actions that go with the territory. It really isn't that dark of a series. AQ has plenty of suspense and creative consequences, but nothing really strikes me as angsty or morbid enough to require a tone adjustment
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You'd have to define MG (first time I've heard it) and YA (If I read it as I would in German that is an adult (= of age) who is young, age group 18-25 the way it's usually used in German) before I could give an opinion on those two groups. I can tell you where I'd place it in the categories we use here, though
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In the U.S., "Young Adult" gets its own large section in most bookstores. The boundaries between YA and adult fiction are not clearly defined, but YA fiction is mostly books about and for teenagers (though increasingly popular with 20-somethings and older).
YA fiction is also generally perceived as less sophisticated, less nuanced, etc., than adult fiction, though it's certainly not universally true (and saying so will cause a lot of YA fans to scream in outrage).
I certainly wouldn't consider it an insult for AQ to be considered YA. I'm just not sure if it really is.
I guess the fourth reading age is pretty close then.
And yes, I'd be more likely to put AQ into YA than adult, I think, if only for the reason that the main characters are teenagers and at least here a lot of 'adults' would consider that a reason not to read it.
I'm thinking from the bookseller's perspective in all of this, though. As far as I as a reader am concerned, I don't care what category it's in. I'm 36 now and still haven't given up that habit of reading books from every section I feel like, from adult non-fiction to toddlers' picture books. In my opinion, no matter how old you are, you can always enjoy a simple kids' story for being cute or touching, even if it isn't all that intellectually stimulating or improving your reading skills.
I remember Dan Hemmens' review of Half-Blood Prince - he loathes Harry Potter, but commented that the film is much more subtle, sexual and scary than the books could ever be.
The trouble with the label of YA is that it's a loose definition. It can either mean;
A) A book with a young protagonist B) A coming-of-age story C) A book that deals with adult issues but with an extremely basic reading level.
As well as that - often depending on the genre snobbery of the person - it's either perceived as 1) novels for teenagers, or 2) novels about teenagers.
Generally, the better YA book blogs and websites tend to treat YA as coming-of-age novels that deal with issues teenagers face - such as sexuality - but that can be read by anyone.
So it can be difficult to say whether a book is YA or not, even if it's marketed as YA. I think that the problem is that it started out as a marketing tool, and then became its own genre.
If AQ was published, it would be sold as YA, but when I read the novels, I don't consciously think of YA fiction.
haha I as so one of those jostling robe wearing kids last night xD
and honestly, while fun, I dont myself feel the movies are better than the books, though the later movies ard better I think than the first few. movie adaptations are rarely if ever better than books and hp no exception. too many things left out and yeah...though they do handle the transition to more 'adult' themes a bit more realistically perhaps.
I've always personally felt AQ was more mature than HP in both writing style and content which was one of the reasons I was drawn to it/got into it in th first place...
it was really quite good. more faithful to the book than a lot of the other movies. they took some liberties of course, and child snape really looked like edward scissorhands lol, but yeah, def worth seeing in the theatre methinks. though personally, if I had to see it again I would really skip the 3D and just watch normal version.
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YA fiction is also generally perceived as less sophisticated, less nuanced, etc., than adult fiction, though it's certainly not universally true (and saying so will cause a lot of YA fans to scream in outrage).
I certainly wouldn't consider it an insult for AQ to be considered YA. I'm just not sure if it really is.
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And yes, I'd be more likely to put AQ into YA than adult, I think, if only for the reason that the main characters are teenagers and at least here a lot of 'adults' would consider that a reason not to read it.
I'm thinking from the bookseller's perspective in all of this, though. As far as I as a reader am concerned, I don't care what category it's in. I'm 36 now and still haven't given up that habit of reading books from every section I feel like, from adult non-fiction to toddlers' picture books. In my opinion, no matter how old you are, you can always enjoy a simple kids' story for being cute or touching, even if it isn't all that intellectually stimulating or improving your reading skills.
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The trouble with the label of YA is that it's a loose definition. It can either mean;
A) A book with a young protagonist
B) A coming-of-age story
C) A book that deals with adult issues but with an extremely basic reading level.
As well as that - often depending on the genre snobbery of the person - it's either perceived as 1) novels for teenagers, or 2) novels about teenagers.
Generally, the better YA book blogs and websites tend to treat YA as coming-of-age novels that deal with issues teenagers face - such as sexuality - but that can be read by anyone.
So it can be difficult to say whether a book is YA or not, even if it's marketed as YA. I think that the problem is that it started out as a marketing tool, and then became its own genre.
If AQ was published, it would be sold as YA, but when I read the novels, I don't consciously think of YA fiction.
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and honestly, while fun, I dont myself feel the movies are better than the books, though the later movies ard better I think than the first few. movie adaptations are rarely if ever better than books and hp no exception. too many things left out and yeah...though they do handle the transition to more 'adult' themes a bit more realistically perhaps.
I've always personally felt AQ was more mature than HP in both writing style and content which was one of the reasons I was drawn to it/got into it in th first place...
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