This is up there with "weirdest shit I've ever read", and not altogether in a positive way, if at all. For the longest time (which wasn't very long considering this is a quick read) I hated this book, but before I go into details on why it had me slightly furious I'll say something positive about it.- the world-building may be weird and lack lots of detail (i.e. why is the world the way it is, what happens to the elderly, for how long are the boys really boys, are there ordinary civilians, why are the mothers separate and obviously superior, why are they goddamned deities?, and so on for 3 pages) but it does create a certain atmosphere and it's easy to just slip into this weird compound world
- even though there are quite a lot of characters present with very little description they are miraculously kept separate and they seem to be able to acquire personalities through what little they say
But, the negative points far outnumber the positive ones. First and foremost: no way in hell these "boys" are 19. That feels just like an afterthought to prevent Americans from screaming about it being illegal. Had the book been published in Scandinavia, I'm sure they would have been 15 or 16. In reality, they must be TEN YEARS OLD! Either that, or seriously retarded. I'm going with 10 though, because no matter how much they have been starved in the forest (in summer time... ehm?) they are obviously very light and can be carried around by the "men". Which is where the creepy starts. The whole relationship thing that I don't particularly feel like going into detail about is just creepy to the max. Sure, it gets somewhat cute towards the end and that saves the book, but for the first half it felt like the author had created a demented dystopia only to be able to write really weird sex-scenes.
Second major annoying element: Tarin. I hate him with a passion. He is disgusting, stupid, obnoxious, stubborn, and just... no, there's nothing positive to be said about him. He is NOT funny or amusing.
Third major annoying element: language use. The boys apparently get dropped off in the forest at age 11 with no previous memories, able to hunt and gather stuff for food (miraculously learned?) and with obviously limited language skills (were they kept isolated in boxes those first 11 years?) that seem to exclude personal pronouns and an affinity for referring to themselves in the 3rd person. This does not help with the "creepy impression" since this is supposedly a "romance" and the men speak just fiiine. Also, the word use, the childish terms, the wearing of t-shirts and... Making myself slightly nauseous just thinking back here.
In one word, this was nasty.
