Book Bloggers of Goodreads discussion

I'm the author of two out of (maybe and hoping 7-8) Medieval fantasy books. I intend my books to be for young adults, considering that they can get pretty dark in certain parts, especially the second book. My main character and his friends are 10 -11 in the debut, so I guess I can see how the reviewers call it middle grade, although some pretty dark things occur in that, too. The second book, however, the main character and his friends are 18-19, and the theme of that book is maturity. Although what silly things we did as kids seemed fun, at a certain point, it's time to face adulthood and take responsibility for your actions. Also, the plot is a huge Medieval war... so you know, some pretty violent stuff may happen. Anyway, my main point is that my writing style seems to make it seem as if I'm targetting middle schoolers. I don't have that "flowery" (as I've heard it once described as), very literate writing that the big name authors like Rowling, Tolkien, Martin, or even different genre authors like Lowry have. It's not babyish writing like "He fought the dragon with a sword. Then he climbed the beast and stabbed it in the head." I can't exactly describe it, and I guess it's okay to post samples, so I'll copy and paste the first paragraph of the prologue and chapter one to help this question.

Prologue: The kingdom of Saulkton. A calm, peaceful land as the waves crashed onto the shoreline and withdrew as guillemots zipped above the water. A few ships off in the distance sailed to the coastline. The king, overjoyed, looked out and cheered, ensuing a mass cheer across the kingdom. Saulktanians adored seafood, so seeing massive ships coming in made them think of all the fish, crabs, and other creatures they could dine on.

Yet after this is where things begin to take a dark turn. I'll just say the ships don't belong to the kingdom and things go wrong quick, and things that would probably want parents of middle schoolers keeping this book out of their children's hands. Nothing sexual, but just some destruction of both living things and inanimate objects... viking style.


Chapter one: Centuries ago in the Medieval time period, a kingdom known for all things great stood about in the lands beyond mountains and great lakes: Sineria. It was one of the most well known kingdoms of that time. Located in eastern Europe, formerly the northwest many years back until epidemics and powerful invaders attacked, Sineria retained its beauty that it was known for. Astounding coasts, woodlands that stretched for miles, mountain chains, and even a small, jungle-like portion were a few of the geographical beauties of Sineria. Beavers, otters, marmots, golden eagles, Eurasian lynxes, snakes, wolves, foxes, badgers, and of course, dragons of all types, along with a multitude of other animals, called Sineria home, attracting hunters and animal viewers alike.

It's fairly peaceful from here, but chapter two and onward, when the story really kicks in, is when things can began to look a bit grim.