Long review of the author's mature writing.

I finally tracked down one out of the two early NSFW stories I never read and I wanted to share my thoughts on it since it was an exciting moment. First off the postives of the self contained fast one and done tale:

!The cyber sci fi backdrop and futuristic theme. The visual descriptive words were lovely, effective and easy to picture, not as much was left to the reader as Joseph Delaney's developed typical later writing but I could definitly sense that was his work which he proabaly had a blast writing it vividly: how characters talked felt distinct but familiar which made me happy. I felt it starts off strong; the villain is nuanced and I had a love, antagonistic and an odd sense of pity in spite of everything (assuming we can take their words at face value which I did otherwise they are interpreted as pure evil in the ballpark of the Fiend.) Instant favourite monsterous villain who can be interpreted as having lots of character growth.!<

!The premise could have have gone even further had it not of been forced into compact story form I adore this world's universe. The spark was there, it just needed to be allowed to grow naturally without restriction. Abrupt but fair enough ending. The story wanted to be trippy like a technological dream and it worked, I dug it. I understand how it may have in part influenced Slither and Nessa or more likely I am reading too much into the creative process. Not everything has to be a blueprint prototype. !<

!A wise bearded gentleman shows up to be sort of a brief mentor, an interesting man who has unique outlooks. Very on-brand.!<

!The physical strength discrepancy is excellent, I love that trope.!<

!As a guy the intimate scenes were good, a reread may change my initial thoughts however given I was wildly distracted since this entire story was living out an "its complicated" love/infatuation storyline. Talk about fast development.!<

!The pacing and structure flowed superbly and the ending leaped at me since I wasn't expecting it or keeping track of how many pages were left to go. Overall it is as good Arena 13 but in different ways.!<

Parts that could have been more:

!Young male protagonist was intelligent but gradually fell short in my opinion. He is human, one of the most all too human characters Mr Delaney ever wrote and as such he is difficult for me to relate to despite understanding him. I tended to think what I would have done in his/the character's place, the guy was "an everyman" and as such was the least interesting part of the romance book which suits the plot, but that fact never lets me get attached to him unlike Tom Ward.!<

I found that one and only chapter was best read with something for a NSFW 18+ novel. While reading I listened to some lighthearted, tech/action soundtrack with a tiny drop of cheeky seduction as atmosphere music to commemorate ticking one more thing off my bucket list. (FYI the full Pepsiman OST felt fitting, I'm quirky) Would I recommend the chapter of "Elvara should be easy"? Yeah if you have a little time to spare and you are a mega fan like me. Is it too short so it doesn't capitalise on all its untapped potential? Yes, sadly but that was by design to provide a definitive conclusion. Is the writing surprisingly deep, contrasting simple and thought provoking for a NSFW book? Yes while it lasted, it certainly made an impression on me. Now maybe some day I could only get my hands on the other book.