srharris's review
4.0
So this book came up as a GR recommendation and I was instantly intrigued. This book is a hard to find, out of print book and it took me forever to find a copy.
This book is confusing, funny and very strange, but I really liked it. I thought Tarin was hilarious, I loved his stubbornness and how he questioned everything.
I started putting things together as the book started to move on, I sort of assumed that the Mothers' were all living somewhere else and were keeping close tabs on the community and were watching what was going on with their many sons. What I don't understand is why they are living like this, I am hoping that is explained in the next book.
I don't know if I would recommend this book, it is strange and it might not be everyone's twist, but if you are into MM and not bothered by the weird and if you can find a copy than go ahead and read the book.
This book is confusing, funny and very strange, but I really liked it. I thought Tarin was hilarious, I loved his stubbornness and how he questioned everything.
I started putting things together as the book started to move on, I sort of assumed that the Mothers' were all living somewhere else and were keeping close tabs on the community and were watching what was going on with their many sons. What I don't understand is why they are living like this, I am hoping that is explained in the next book.
I don't know if I would recommend this book, it is strange and it might not be everyone's twist, but if you are into MM and not bothered by the weird and if you can find a copy than go ahead and read the book.
anya_doesntmatter's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
lbcecil's review
3.0
I was really surprised with how good this novel was and how much I really enjoyed it. It was incredible, the characters brilliant, the plot amazing! Tarin is such a funny character but what makes him so likeable is his ignorance. Tarin doesn't realise that the things he does are not "civilised" so his resulting actions are laugh-out-loud-rolling-on-floor hilarious! POXY BAD EGG SCAT EATER! Garrick or Beak-face is a really sweet character who only wants the best for Tarin. I really enjoed the way they met and the fact that Tarin stabbed him in the leg and escaped BUT NOT FOR LONG! I love the world that they live in as well. Its so different from anything I have ever read before. The Mothers are creepy but intriguing and I can't wait to discover more about them in the next novel. Oh and I love Ofer and Edon together. They are so cute :)
I hope that when Tarin does become civilised he still remains a little scat!!
I hope that when Tarin does become civilised he still remains a little scat!!
___tamara___'s review
3.0
Ok, so I'm probably not being fair, but since I've read a review that said that the whole will not be properly explained in the next book, I feel cheated and grateful.
Grateful for the review, cause now I won't buy the next book and get royally pissed off.
Cheated because, why would you mention bits like that if you're not gonna explain them properly? What purpose do they serve in furthering the plot?
This way, it feels like a porn movie about truckers that is basically two guys fucking in front of a truck. You look at the movie cover and you think you'll get the fantasy, but you only get the sexy bits that could have been taken out of context and had the same effect.
So, as I said, I'm being unfair because I haven't actually read the sequel, and maybe curiosity will get the best of me and I'll read it someday, but not any time soon.
Spoiler
moment with the Mothers, or scientists, or whatever it wasGrateful for the review, cause now I won't buy the next book and get royally pissed off.
Cheated because, why would you mention bits like that if you're not gonna explain them properly? What purpose do they serve in furthering the plot?
This way, it feels like a porn movie about truckers that is basically two guys fucking in front of a truck. You look at the movie cover and you think you'll get the fantasy, but you only get the sexy bits that could have been taken out of context and had the same effect.
So, as I said, I'm being unfair because I haven't actually read the sequel, and maybe curiosity will get the best of me and I'll read it someday, but not any time soon.
maya56's review
5.0
Originally read 10/Feb/2013 - What an awesome book! I LOVED Tarin; his voice is so perfectly clear and he made me laugh and get angry right along with him! Actually, all of the characters are interesting and well-formed.
And if I'd had to wait for the sequel, I would have dropped a star out of sheer petulance after reading that ending!
13/Feb/2014 (Re-read for the 2014 Re-Romancing Favorites Challenge) - A year later and I still love Tarin and his Beak-face!
Please, please Ms. McGinley, I really, really need book 3!
And if I'd had to wait for the sequel, I would have dropped a star out of sheer petulance after reading that ending!
13/Feb/2014 (Re-read for the 2014 Re-Romancing Favorites Challenge) - A year later and I still love Tarin and his Beak-face!
Please, please Ms. McGinley, I really, really need book 3!
junojuniper's review
3.0
This is hard to rate or review. I read this because TJ Klune gave it a good rating and I love the shit outta this guy. I enjoyed this book but little things bothered me. I understand the boys in the woods are sorta feral/wild, but Tarin is supposedly 19... yet he acts so child-like most of the time. Like it feels like he's 10... The way he talks and acts made it impossible for me to picture him as anything other than a cartoon character. A silly over the top one. The use of the word scat instead of shit got annoying fast. And the obsession with eating jizz... just no. But... But the world of the book is fascinating and I'm curious. I hope we get to know more in the next book.
nightcolors's review
5.0
4.5 stars rounded up. I'm really looking forward to the next book. Tarin's world is a very interesting one and there's still so much we don't know about it.
mrella's review
3.0
First things first: There is NO BDSM in this book. There is plenty of D/S, slavery and abuse, which is NOT the same.
***
I think I got the idea of how this "society" is supposed to work.
Not really a spoiler, just my own thoughts:
Mothers are at the top of the food chain with multiple communities with different purposes directly under them.
I think it would be safe to assume that there is an agricultural community or a pharmaceutical community, among many, unaware of each other.
They send their products to mothers, who distribute the goods among the rest, based on individual needs. In the same fashion they distribute little kids among the communities according to kids' special character traits.
What does this particular military community contribute to the pile? Why are the men in it reduced to reading little kids' books as if they were holy scriptures? Why do boys have to go through the woods and then be "civilized"? How did humans in general end up in this predicament? I can only fantasize and spend days obsessing over it.
I am not sure if this book is "thought provoking" or just a bad move on author's part. My impression is that she didn't want to think it through and supplied us with the necessary minimum, while concentrating on her usual "breaking a boy" plot. Look at her other works, they all come down to just that - taming a wild boy, breaking a new boy, teaching a boy submission and rules, adapting a boy to an alien (literally) environment and so on, more of the same in different settings and variations. Fun, I can't deny, but her books (at least the ones I've read) all come down to the same thing.
I am moving onto book two, because I am still curious about how this world came to be and because I already own it.
***
I think I got the idea of how this "society" is supposed to work.
Not really a spoiler, just my own thoughts:
Spoiler
Mothers are at the top of the food chain with multiple communities with different purposes directly under them.
I think it would be safe to assume that there is an agricultural community or a pharmaceutical community, among many, unaware of each other.
They send their products to mothers, who distribute the goods among the rest, based on individual needs. In the same fashion they distribute little kids among the communities according to kids' special character traits.
What does this particular military community contribute to the pile? Why are the men in it reduced to reading little kids' books as if they were holy scriptures? Why do boys have to go through the woods and then be "civilized"? How did humans in general end up in this predicament? I can only fantasize and spend days obsessing over it.
I am not sure if this book is "thought provoking" or just a bad move on author's part. My impression is that she didn't want to think it through and supplied us with the necessary minimum, while concentrating on her usual "breaking a boy" plot. Look at her other works, they all come down to just that - taming a wild boy, breaking a new boy, teaching a boy submission and rules, adapting a boy to an alien (literally) environment and so on, more of the same in different settings and variations. Fun, I can't deny, but her books (at least the ones I've read) all come down to the same thing.
I am moving onto book two, because I am still curious about how this world came to be and because I already own it.
lauraadriana78's review
5.0
Re-Read 06/2014 Still one of the most fun books I've read in this genre. Tarin is the most fantastic character. I love all the men and the boys in this series and wish it would have gone further. That dystopian world of Mothers is so intriguing!
I wish we could do some sort of voice recorded reviews here on GR, because I would TOTALLY sing an "ODE to the AWESOMENESS that is Tarin" if I could...And who is Tarin you might ask? None other than the STAR of this book, and the character that OWNED this story from the first line to the very last.
Tarin is one of the 'wild boys' who live in the woods, he is in his eighth woods year, which means his time to be hunted by the Men living outside of the woods is coming. Every fall these Men come and take the older boys to be 'civilized' in the Before Times Buildings...Despite this, Tarin being the fiery, brazen twinkie that he is, wanders too far from the safe areas and ends up getting caught by one of the Men, but he fights back and manages to escape...However, his luck doesn't last. When the Men come back to hunt, Tarin is caught a second time, and this time he doesn't get away from his captor.
And so begins 'The Civilization of Tarin', which I promise you is the most entertaining thing you will have read in a while. Tarin's character is a treasure, he is such a BRAT, irreverent, impulsive, lippy, but so dear and SO SO SO charming. His guilelessness will disarm you completely.
Tarin has been caught by a Captain, which means Tarin is now His Boy, and our Tarin does not like it one little bit. Tarin does not belong to any man, he is free. But the Man is nice, and blonde, and big and likes to kiss his smart mouth. And therein lies our Tarin's conundrum, and reading about poor Tarin's inner turmoil between wanting to bolt from his new situation and REALLY liking his Man is FANTASTIC.
But that is not all we get in this book, this world was INCREDIBLY interesting. It is a post-apocalyptic setting, where the boys kind of show up in the woods, and are then taken to live in the Men's communities. They, in theory are put there by these mythical Mothers, but we don't know very much more. I loved the ingenious way in which both the Men and the Boys created words and used the Before Times treasures, the names that they gave things and the very complex and interesting dynamics in this Community.
Every single character in this book was intriguing and easy to understand. So much of this story was reminiscent of some awesome stuff. I thought for bits about Lord of the Flies, The Blue Lagoon even The Road by Cormac McCarthy (without ANY of the depressing or awful, just the setting), hell I even kept thinking about Dobby that really cool house elf from the Harry Potter books.
This book was THE AWESOME!!! And I am SO GLAD there is a sequel in my Kindle right now. I must have more of the lovely Tarin and his flower toes, his Man, his world, and all the other Men and Boys in this book who just charmed the hell out of me.
I SOOOO RECOMMEND.
ETA: I've thinking about it and I think "Scat" is my favorite word.
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