Does a young main charecter mean the book should be ment for younger readers

[Nickeris86]

In my sword and sorcery novel, which I have described to others as Harry Potter for adults, the main character starts out at 14. It also begins with his first day at a Magic academy. Throughout the serise he is going to grow up and I am planning on ending it when he is twenty one ish.

The plot I have planed out is very dark and mature, involving death, war, demons, and other unpleasantness from the get go. My concern is that despite a mature plot, adult readers will not want to read about a teenager with magical powers.

your thoughts.

[Quantus]

So long as the character doesn't act his age too much (ie being annoyingly immature), you should be ok, and with a dark setting like you describe that shouldnt be too hard.  In Ender's Game the Main Character starts out at about 6 years old, but is mature enough that you tend to forget it some. 

0.02

[LizW65]

There are plenty of books for adults with child protagonists.  To Kill A Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn come to mind, as do several of Robert Louis Stevenson's and Stephen King's stories.

[BobForPresident]

Holden Cauffield comes to mind. Drizzt Do'Urden goes from birth to about 18 in human years in RA Salvatore's Homeland, too.

[cheesemaster]

Look at Enders Game. Classic sci fi by Orson Scott Card. One of the better stories I have read. Well written and intelligent......and it follows a young man in his.....early teens? (Been a while since I read it) Lol. But it is a VERY adult story. The boy is put under very adult pressures and in the end it told a brilliant tale that went on to span, what, 6 books?

[OZ]

Coming of age stories by definition usually start out with young characters. The Codex Alera and the Belgarion series come to mind. I don't think adults had trouble reading either of these stories. If the story is well written and adult, you should have no trouble attracting adult readers regardless of the age of the main character.

[horsehearted]

Read The Shining by Stephen King.

[Beefstew]

Harry Potter!

Most of the important characters are young, they start out at 11, and the series was HUGELY popular, among both kids and adults.  I think popularity has little to do with the age of the characters.  It's more about how well anyone can identify with the characters.  We've all been young once.  We all remember the awkwardness around members of the opposite sex, being clumsy, feeling like the world is out to get you, other angsty things.

Make your characters realistic, identifiable, and, as others have said, a little mature for his age, and you'll be fine.