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Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 11 Dec 2017, 22:22
by Christina Rose
CaitlinGonya wrote: ↑10 Dec 2017, 18:22
I think it's crazy but it's also a different world that they are trying to survive in. There are many countries in our world where children experience horrors even earlier in life (i.e. children soldiers). J.K. Rowling also wrote Harry Potter as a parallel to the Holocaust. History has taught us horrors, some writers give readers the ability to empathize to those horrors.
You bring up a very good point. I appreciate the insight.
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 13 Dec 2017, 04:05
by Bancroft
Brimstone could have died during his trial, and I think that’s a challenge a 13-year-old shouldn’t endure. And most of the people will agree with this
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 13 Dec 2017, 23:46
by Zelinda
When I think about the book “Ender’s Game” and the characters in that book starting their training at age six,I feel like the trainees in “End of the Last Great Kingdom” are even a little old. In any case, the character’s youth seemed right to me.
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 13 Dec 2017, 23:51
by Amie Gene
I think that the character age was right for this group. Even though they were young, they had complete control of their decision to enter mage school or not. They did not enter blindly and were given many opprotunities to back away and protect their lives. Also, as stated above, true learning really does come from experience. They also needed to be prepared for what was going to come their way when they got older. These are the kinds of battles they would be facing down the road anyways, so they needed to be fully equipped with the tools to fight that fight now.
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 14 Dec 2017, 13:27
by Sasha Walker
The fact that young children are facing death adds gravity to the situation. Children are typically the safest during times of trouble. Parents and other adults alike will usually put down their lives to save the life of a child. When a child is facing death, it means that the last defense is gone, it means that the other side is close to winning, it means that what we hold precious is being threatened. I think the author was trying to evoke this sense of impending doom and make the completion of their goals more meaningful.
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 14 Dec 2017, 18:15
by Whitney Marchelle
I didn't really care of it at first. however it made my think of Hunger Games, Maze Runner, and other books where kids were the main feature, but were in some very adult dangerous situations
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 14 Dec 2017, 22:57
by N_R
These characters sound amazing, I am yet to read the book but it sounds great. I think that it is an interesting opinion that you think that teens should learn to act like adults. There are perhaps some ways these days where they act too much like adults! But very true, there has to be a wider support for them to be able to grow up and learn what to expect from life.
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 15 Dec 2017, 04:29
by David_92
I was a little bit disturbed by the training depicted in this book especially when it was being offered to people that I would describe as minors. However I got to reflect on the reality taking place in war torn areas of our world whereby minors are being used as soldiers and I just imagined that those minors might be experiencing the same training as depicted in this book . I think we need to work on peaceful processes in our current world to avoid what is happening in this book.
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 15 Dec 2017, 09:00
by Acwoolet
I had a hard time with their ages, it’s been the same with other novels. But it didn’t seem to affect them. I guess since it’s their way of life and don’t know any different.
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 15 Dec 2017, 14:38
by Rosemary Wright
According to the setting of the story, that was the world the youngsters knew. Wars and violence were already part of them. Even a 5 year old was already accustomed to seeing much sufferings and deaths.
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 15 Dec 2017, 16:30
by Insightsintobooks729
I agree with others who've said young children shouldn't be given trials they could die in. However, this being said it is fantasy and that is how their world is set up, they don't know any different.
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 16 Dec 2017, 12:55
by Azeline Arcenal
Although 13 does seem to be a young age, there are many books, movies, and animes out there that have kids that are that age or even younger that have been put through very difficult times. So while realistically it seems very mature for kids to be out there fighting, I think it fits very well with the subject of this book.
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 16 Dec 2017, 16:38
by mratdegraff91
Christina Rose wrote: ↑01 Dec 2017, 19:26
The young battle mages are among our heroes in
End of the Last Great Kingdom. Even before war struck, the training these young students went through sometimes resulted in death. How do you feel about the author using such young characters for these roles, and about the things they go through even while still in school?
My feelings are a bit mixed. For example, Brimstone could have died during his trial, and I think that’s a challenge a 13 year old shouldn’t endure. However, there’s no sensible way to test the strengths of the future mages or to train them once they become mages. I also think their overall development is essential to the novel. They need to be able to grow, and adults set in their ways wouldn’t be right for the part. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I was concerned about how young the mages were taking on the challenges at first. It is mentioned that there are hardly ever any that attempt the challenge Leaf chose to become Brimstone. Becoming a Battle Mage at that age and facing those challenges would be hard but I do feel that they are able to develop and learn better than adults would be as you mentioned to best fit their part.
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 19 Dec 2017, 08:54
by prenaramesh
I know I'm going to be in the minority here.
The characters ages didn't bother me when the book was describing the trials and the violence in the rest of their adventures.
However, it did bother me when Heat and Brimstone got engaged. My first thought was, aren't they too young for that???
Re: The Ages of the Battle Mages
Posted: 19 Dec 2017, 13:00
by JadeK
As hard as it is to imagine, I think that the trials and circumstances these young children had to face and endure is very similar to situations children all over the world have had to endure. To grow up quickly and face hardships even most adults don't have to face. These children in the book need this type of training and testing do to the world in which they live. If they don't go through these types of things when they are young how will they survive even harder as adults?