Better as an adult book

[Njkinny]

I picked this book up thinking it was ya but I agree that with the darkness and sexual overtones of this book, it is better suited as an adult fiction. I got a bit uneasy reading about Adam’s darkness and did think that with this being placed in ya category so many readers will feel the same shock that I did because here you expect young adults behaving like young adults and instead you get characters dealing with a variety of not so young-adult scenarios.

[silvafaerie]

I agree. some of the topics were just too much for a young adult book. I have it 4 stars but I am not a teenager. Definitely would be better as an adult fantasy book.

[AvidBibliophile]

From the standpoint of included themes, I will agree that a sci-fi category may have been easier to embrace and expand within, especially with the sexual content and some of the uncomfortably disturbing desires and predilections that were presented. The complexity of dialogue felt YA appropriate though, as did some of the emotional lability commonly displayed by hormone-driven teenagers, so it would have been a tough call either way, as both genres loosely apply here.

[Howlan]

I agree that this book should have been categorized as an adult book. The themes alone require that, as the YA genre reaches readers as young as 13 years old.

I disagree that it being categorized as YA held the author back. I believe the author themselves chooses the genre (but I could be wrong, so feel free to correct me), but typically an author already has a genre intent for their book. That being said, I don't feel like the author held themselves back at all. Just in the first few pages, they confronted you with suicidal thoughts/mental illness and an Oedipus Complex. This book was adult right from the start and the only thing that suggests YA is the age of the main characters.

It's very misleading as the summary suggests a dystopian world story along the lines of Maze Runner and Hunger Games, but once you start reading it you realize you are as far from that as you can get.

I suppose that the intent of the author themselves (in that they intended it to be YA) may have held them back, as they had it in their mind they were writing YA and so didn't go as dark as they might have with an adult story. But, they still went pretty dark for something that was intended to be YA which is why I don't feel they were necessarily held back or limited. Overall, it would be great to ask the author if they did limit themselves because they intended it to be YA. I think that would be a fascinating conversation.

Yes, I agree. The first half was definitely far away from a YA novel than you can go. The second half, however, felt like any normal YA novel.

[Howlan]

From the standpoint of included themes, I will agree that a sci-fi category may have been easier to embrace and expand within, especially with the sexual content and some of the uncomfortably disturbing desires and predilections that were presented. The complexity of dialogue felt YA appropriate though, as did some of the emotional lability commonly displayed by hormone-driven teenagers, so it would have been a tough call either way, as both genres loosely apply here.

Yes, leaving aside the sexual overtones in the story, I felt that it fit the story quite well.

[Nym182]

I also thought about this while reading this book. I found it quite inappropriate for children at times. Definitely more of an adult book than YA.

That was exactly what I thought!

[Nym182]

Yeah this book was better off for a bit older teenagers. I don't recommend this book for young teenagers.

I think older teens would be ok with this book, but only if they knew what they were getting into with this story.

[Nym182]

I picked this book up thinking it was ya but I agree that with the darkness and sexual overtones of this book, it is better suited as adult fiction. I got a bit uneasy reading about Adam’s darkness and did think that with this being placed in ya category so many readers will feel the same shock that I did because here you expect young adults behaving like young adults and instead you get characters dealing with a variety of not so young-adult scenarios.

I also got uncomfortable with his darkness and I agree that the author was probably going for shock value. I don't mind so much that the young adults were dealing with "not so young adult scenarios", I just think the author went overboard with it.

[Nym182]

I agree. some of the topics were just too much for a young adult book. I have it 4 stars but I am not a teenager. Definitely would be better as an adult fantasy book.

I agree with you on this, although I didn't give the book as many stars as you haha.

[Nym182]

From the standpoint of included themes, I will agree that a sci-fi category may have been easier to embrace and expand within, especially with the sexual content and some of the uncomfortably disturbing desires and predilections that were presented. The complexity of dialogue felt YA appropriate though, as did some of the emotional lability commonly displayed by hormone-driven teenagers, so it would have been a tough call either way, as both genres loosely apply here.

You make an excellent point! It was almost as if she was writing two different books at times... at certain parts, she was definitely embracing a dark/disturbing narrative and then sometimes she remembered this is supposed to be a YA novel.

[Alyssa]

I often find books I read as a teenager were classed as young adult or adult. There is something about the darker side of humankind that always sparked my curiosity. That being said I found this book to be justified in the YA rating as a young adult is between the ages of 18-26 according to the medical world, while some people say 19-35. So I don’t personally see an issue.

Interesting to know! From my research YA in contexts with reading is grouped as 12-18.

You are right, my apologies. I had assumed that young adults would be the same age for books as medical/legal. So thank you very much! Now my opinion has certainly changed as I feel it’s to dark for the lower ages in this category.
Thanks again for the correction.

[Howlan]

I picked this book up thinking it was ya but I agree that with the darkness and sexual overtones of this book, it is better suited as adult fiction. I got a bit uneasy reading about Adam’s darkness and did think that with this being placed in ya category so many readers will feel the same shock that I did because here you expect young adults behaving like young adults and instead you get characters dealing with a variety of not so young-adult scenarios.

I also got uncomfortable with his darkness and I agree that the author was probably going for shock value. I don't mind so much that the young adults were dealing with "not so young adult scenarios", I just think the author went overboard with it.

Yes, if the author wanted to portray dark and twisted psychology he could have handled it in another way rather than showing Adam's sex den.

[siusantos]

I agree with Nym182, it should not have been a YA book. Too sensual for young readers. As a parent, I would not want my child to read this, yet.

[Jac-o-lantern]

I found the book to be an odd combination. The beginning was definitely very dark and contained aspects I do think are suited for an older audience. After their romance took off the book became much more like a YA novel in my opinion. I think the author should have either made the book more suitable for YA or taken an entirely different direction and made a darker novel for older audiences.

[Nym182]

I found the book to be an odd combination. The beginning was definitely very dark and contained aspects I do think are suited for an older audience. After their romance took off the book became much more like a YA novel in my opinion. I think the author should have either made the book more suitable for YA or taken an entirely different direction and made a darker novel for older audiences.

I have felt that this book was two different books smooshed together, it's not consistent.