Trudi Canavan

rune

rune

rune
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Some have mentioned that this authors The Black Magician Trilogy is a YA series.
I didnt realise this when I first bought the first book, but on hindsight, it does seem to be aimed at the under 17 year olds, but not for very young children :)

Anyone read this series? What are your thoughts on it?
 
I've read her series Rune and whilst it was OK I didn't think it was anything special. I know some people on this forum particularly enjoyed it but I'm not one of them... :(
 
You think???

I would have thought that the content lends itself more towards the older market... What with the torture, black magic, and sex involved in it...

But I suppose with each passing generation, that kids grow up so much faster and understand so much more than earlier generations, that they'd look at the content and go "yeah, so what???"...
 
Actually I was referring to the new laminated fluffy streamline slipper in wicked pink.... ;)

Sheesh!! :D
 
The Master™ said:
You think???

I would have thought that the content lends itself more towards the older market... What with the torture, black magic, and sex involved in it...

But I suppose with each passing generation, that kids grow up so much faster and understand so much more than earlier generations, that they'd look at the content and go "yeah, so what???"...
Click to expand...
Master, I'm interested more in these books. You mention torture and sex how explicit were they? Black magic, I'm not so worried about, Harry Potter has it's dark moments, as do many other YA books... What is the age of the main character? That's a big clue on if these books are YA fiction or not.
 
**********SPOILERS***********


DO NOT READ BEYOND IF YOU WANT TO REMAIN IGNORANT OF THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOKS!!!



The torture involves slicing the victims and taking their life-essence, using dark magic... That is the what the dark magic entails... All to do with drawing the life-essence past the last natural barrier - the persons skin!!! Some of it can be quite graphic...

As for the sex, there is some, but not very explicit... There is one scene between a thief and an assassin... And between the main character and the high lord... Deals mainly with feelings rather than describing the physical act...
 
Found an interview with Trudi that may be of interest for those interested in reading her The Black Magician Triology
http://www.computercrowsnest.com/sfnews2/04_dec/news1204_2.shtml

And from your description Master, I will have to say that Rune is right, if these are YA books then they are not intended for the younger crowd, but older almost adult kids. Some writers tend to push their stories to the limits, teetering on the edge of YA and adult books, this maybe one of them. I will have to check out her books, once I'm done with the few that I bought this weekend.
 
Having read this trilogy I'd probably say it would have a late teen rating say 16/17 yrs and above, not an expert on this kind of thing though... :eek:
 
I have only read two of these books so far and didnt feel they had that much adult content at all. The main character is a young girl in her teens, and focuses through her experiences.
It seems very much an older teens book to me.

Lian Hearn's series as more violence and sex in it. And that is definately marketed at the teens age group.
 
Like I said, not an expert on such things... :rolleyes:

I shall defer to the voice of wisdom... ;)
 
Through the first two and halfway through #3...the sex is only alluded to but there is some dealing with homosexuality and its place (or not) in their society, the graphic torture mentioned above is also pretty glossed over. I don't think that there is anything too graphic or shocking for kids. There is nothing that wouldn't be shown on prime time tv - it's probably too tame for that.

The main character is in her mid teens, 15? I think.
 
Found a link to this thread and here I am. I read the trilogy last year and loved it so much I actually went out and bought all three books (not something I normally do!) I can't remember but I'm pretty sure the main character was seventeen in the first book, being older than most of the new intake at the 'school' (?) I was suprised when I first found the trilogy refered to as YA. When I think of young adults I tend to think of teenagers i.e 13 -19 year olds. There are many thirteen year olds that wouldn't comprehend the delicate details dealt with. But there are also many seventeen years olds, who are supposedly more grown-up but wouldn't be able to comprehend the delicate issues. I don't mean to undermine anyone here, but there are seventeen year olds who left home at fourteen and now have a child and a good job, yet would still think it okay to kill someone to gain the upper hand ~ as the Black Magicians do in this trilogy. There are thirteen year olds who still play with their dolls and burst into tears when their parents argue and sulk when their friends don't want to play. But they have a fairer sense of right/wrong. I wouldn't want a thirteen year old to read this trilogy, but it depends on how intelligent they are. You can be an adult with little sense in regards to ethical issues so the YA definition makes little difference(?)
 
hermi-nomi... very valid points!

Age:

Generally, Young Adult (YA) is identified as ranging from the ages of 12-17, whilst children are under 12. Ages are set by The American Library Association (ALA), but some publishers and librarians have lowered the age for YA fiction down to 10.
Click to expand...
http://www.chronicles-network.com/forum/6394-young-adult-forum-guidelines.html

I've done a lot of research on age appropriateness and some authors push their books to the edge, making them as intense as they can while still meeting the YA criteria. Does it make it wrong? I wouldn't think so... There are always those who always test the limits, but people should beware of the content in books, if violent or graphic. I'm still wondering if a warning label, much like the ones they have for movies and such wouldn't be a great way to inform the public the content that's in a book.
 
Im kinda pleased Im not a parent and dont have to make reading material decisions for a child. If I pick a YA book up and think it's perhaps should of been aimed adults then it does matter - it's just me reading it.

I can't help but think back to what I was reading in my mid teens and remember having got bored with YA books and gone onto adult reading. Then again, YA books do seem to be better written now.
 
Rune, it seems to me that specifically adult SFF books have more content, more detail, but YA books have more attitude and are faster paced.
Like Alia says, authors of YA books seem to push the limits of their age boundaries ~ but thats just like youngsters themselves. Adults also push boundaries. If my own youngsters understood about sex, ethics, violence ~ whatever, then I wouldn't mind what they read, YA or adult ~ just as long as it wasn't explicite or glorified. If they know appropraite moral boundaries then they can make their own judgements about an authors portrayed morality. I think Canavan treated her material very well and wouldn't have a problem with my fourteen year old sister reading it. She is sensible enough to realise that (oh crumbs I've forgotton the lead characters name) whatshername was of age when she had sex with the High Lord. I'm sure my sister would also realise that neither student nor High Lord were part of the school any more when they had sex, so they were not abusing any position of authority when they had sexual relations. On the other hand, my other sister would probably jump up and down shouting 'Urgh that's gross he's her teacher!'
 
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