Wow, it's so hard to talk about this book without spoilers! But I will try.Reading the blurb I was excited, looking forward to read a superhero story! And I wasn't deluded... even if... all the darkness in the plot also scared me!
The main characters, two teenagers, were adorable
Harry and Antonin are teenager in a mission... kill Harry's father. Yes, better explain immediately their aim, and why I tagged it as a "dark".
Harry's past will be slowly revealed to you. At the age of 15 he already had enough. Borderline between a suicide and an angry teenager his only hope is do something, anything, to undo all the evil his father do. Yes, think about a villain... Harry's father is worst.. much worst of any villain you can imagine!
Antonin a model student. All grades are superb and his school is not a punishment to him. He LOVE be at school, with his friends. I can't talk more without spoilers... I can add just that it's inevitable that Antonin, loved son and perfect student will be irresistible attracted to the bad boy, Harry... but can he save Harry from his self destruction path?
Let me tell you, it pains me but I must say I would never tag this as YA
I'm old.
Let face it, when I was a teen I read book, and love some, hate most (the one the school force me to read). One thing that was common in books were: no sex, and not much violence (explicit violence).
All the color of love is a GREAT book! I LOOOOOVE all the surprises and the GREAT secondary characters (all will also have a small part as narrators). But, no, in my personal (YEAH, it's my personal view) I would not let someone younger than 15 read it. I think always this way "would I let my nephew read it?". My answer to this would be no because... better add it as a list... the reasons:
1) Sex scene is not behind close doors (just one, but it's there).
2)The explicit violence. Harry's father is not just a villain, he is a real sicko... all the things he did to his kid...
3) All, and I mean ALL characters (no exception) had a VERY traumatic event in their past... NO, none (thanks God for that) will relive it, but some are VERY disturbing. I will not say who, just say in one word what I mean: slavery, prostitution (as a minor), drug addiction, homicide.
BUT PLEASE I don't want to scare anyone, just say that IT'S not a coming to age story, of two teens that meet and fall in love... it's MUCH more. GOOD, in my view, and also incredible complex. All characters are tortured heroes... maybe that's why I liked it so much.
You will be surprise how normal and "freaks" (he he he, you must read to know Antonin's family! Believe me... all... are something more than a simple human) can not just go on, live their twisted lives, and have so much love to give. ALL... were superheroes. So my superhero tag remain.
4 stars Taking one star out... the reason is the horrible rape scene. Even if a fake, Antonin fake rape scene scared me a lot. I read and cringed reading it because in my head he was this cute and small teenager... read his gang rape scene, that Harry saw on the computer, really scared me and was so violent and horrible it shocked me
P.S: I don't want to be too weird saying it, but a secondary character steal the spotlight. Certainly Harry and Antonin are great characters but my favorite? The one that would make me squee like a teenager was...Tumcari. I need to build a lake in my yard... maybe a Nymphaea matera can grown there too? I want a Tumcari for me too!!! I WANT HIS BOOK!!!!! (no seriously, I would LOVE to have a book with him, as the main character).
:D
