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Sexier with less sex

Revisado: 08-01-19

Of the Audible erotica I own, this is easily the best. It is so innocent that it becomes sexy. In fact, the only reason I didn't rank it 5 in story is because once the sex starts it becomes a tad boring and ordinary. Luckily that doesn't happen until near the end.
It is an exhibitionism story where the main character primarily exposes herself to herself and the tease is palpable.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia!

Revisado: 12-18-17

Any additional comments?

It had been over 20 years since I read the book originally, and I still remembered so much of it, while also clearly remembering things that happened differently than my memory told me. So, it was a simultaneous voyage of discovery and hug from an old friend.

The most noteworthy thing about this version in the narrator. At first the gruff, accented voice comes across as a drunken rambling, and then you remember the book being read, and it fits perfectly. My initial reaction of "Really?" was replaced by growing to value the attitude the voice brought with it - dirty, sloppy, and real. This became especially clear when I started book 2 with a different narrator, whose clean-cut voice was an uncomfortable shock after this book.

It also added another layer of differentiation between the narrator voice and the various voiced characters (I may be incorrect, but I assume the narrator was one voice, and all the others were the second performer did the character voices. If the narrator also did some of the characters, I am doubly impressed.

That kind of harsh differentiation is really important in a book like this with it's sudden jumps in time, location, and theme. Add to that the times when you jump from one character to another without changing the point of view - a description that only makes sense in a book like this where individual identity is as fluid as everything else. The voice work made it much easier to follow what was going on than the book. I'm not going to say that is a universal good, as the confusion is likely part of RAW's intent, but for a listen after having read the book, it did clear up some ambiguous things that may have been responsible for some of the memory mismatch I talked about earlier.

Confusing, enlightening, tempting, infuriating, and strangely pornographic. What more could we want from our pyramid-eyed overlords?

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Not so E NF

Revisado: 12-18-17

What about Loral Miller’s performance did you like?

About half way through, I checked for any other books read by this narrator and was disappointed to find none. This narrator does subtle well, and that was important for this story. There were times the character needed to mumble and it came across clear and understandable while also being obviously a mumble.

Good reading style for this kind of story.

Any additional comments?

This is a fetish story of the type ENF/CFNF/CMNF. If those letters mean nothing to you, it's a naked woman surrounded by people who are not. And, as I am into that sort of thing, my star reviews are likely higher than can be objectively justified, but I'm rating on my enjoyment. Judge on a curve based on how much the subject matter appeals to you, because if you know this type of story, this is a fine example of one and if you don't, you may end up waiting for something that never comes.

And for a story designed to appeal to this fetish, it hits all the marks - shy protagonist who learns to love it, character who is insecure about her appearance yet by description and reaction of others never reinforces that opinion, and most importantly an interplay of external pressure and personal choice. These stories can easily turn rapey, and this largely avoided that.

And there are things that are best described as inside references - mentions of other online stories or even forum discussions. I don't think prior knowledge is required to understand what is going on, because the relevant parts are fleshed out.

This isn't a hardcore sex book. There is one sex scene in what I assumed at the time was the end of the book, and honestly, it was the weakest part. Not badly written, just not needed.

And when I say I assumed it was the end of the book, I'm not kidding. There was a resolution to the general story followed by the characters dealing with the aftermath. While there was no big BAM climax, the main conflicts were resolved. And at the time, it seemed like there was going to be an extended epilogue. But I was wrong. And there was a further conflict to be introduced at the end which lead to a more satisfying (even if a bit predictable) ending. I would have scored the book lower if not for that ending, as the earlier ending was a bit hollow. Goes to show me not to leap to a judgement.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Don't be fooled - vague spoilers included

Revisado: 12-18-17

What aspect of Marami Hung’s performance would you have changed?

It is hard to separate the quality of the voice actor from the words being said. But, as a positive, different voice styles are used not just for different characters, but also for the same character when putting on an act within the story.

The emotions portrayed seem to match those which are conveyed by the words. But when those emotions are best described as alternating frothing anger and condescension, it is hard to say the experience of listening to it was enjoyable.

Any additional comments?

On reading the other reviews I am forced to assume they listened to a completely different book than the one I had. One review refers to all the characters being treated with humanity, despite one being introduced as unkempt with body odor and the portrayal does not improve. This is especially important to note, as this book is located in the erotica section. If sloppy, pot-bellied men with body odor don't appeal to you, you might want to give this one a pass.

Similarly, a comment saying there was no preaching caught me by surprise as the first 5 minutes could be best described as a screed. It is vaguely tied into the plot, as it give a semblance of motivation for the protagonists, but comes off more as an author's mouthpiece speaking.

But the main problem is with the protagonists themselves. They flippantly and on the spur of the moment, come up with a plan to get revenge on some online trolls. You might think that this revenge is clever and subtle and might escalate later, but it starts with a kidnapping by physical force and then quickly moves on to hacking and a little torture. They then use blackmail to keep the trolls under control, but the blackmail material was obtained as part of the kidnapping.

That is literally the plot. Control is maintained by the threat that if they don't do as told, they will be embarrassed by the protagonists releasing evidence they they (the protagonists, not the victims) have committed multiple felonies. I don't know what bothers me more, the plot hole nature of that or the fact that these are our heroes.

After that, things soften a bit and look for like what you would expect from such a story, but by that point we're a half hour into a 1.5 hour story. And even then, everything that happened so far still casts its shadow; none of the previous actions are explained further or excused in any way.

I leave this review as a warning. If this is the kind of thing you are looking for, then maybe I have convinced you to buy it, but I don't want anyone else caught off guard as I was. Seldom do you see a work of fiction where none of the characters can be described as basically decent people.

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