Esc Chapter -v1 Discussion

Hello, this is Ren the translator for this novel. This is a four-volume series with a spin-off series, CTRL. I'm translating as I go so I'll have to give a real synopsis at a later date, but in a nutshell: this is an ABO about a clever, tenacious uke who is a Korean student at Uni, Jin, and a strong handsome Seme Russian mob boss, Ilya. Our 'too-smart-for-his-own-good' uke pulls a prank using cryptocurrency and costs our mobster Seme a fortune and now it's time to pay up.

My rating is set at 5 stars to offset the trolls.

Spoiler

This is a review from an admittedly bemused cynic so feel free to disregard it.

As always, the book publisher's "description" is very salacious and leads you to believe the story will be nothing but raunchy smut. I'm here to reassure you, there IS a lot of raunchy smut... but there is an actual story too. As of V1, the ratio is smut-heavy but not smut-focused if that makes sense. Every chapter has NSFW content.

I've only finished V1 but this is shaping up to be a bit more dynamic than a 'light-hearted, cleaver/charming uke, paired with a gruff-exterior Russian mob-boss seme' pulp fiction, smut, smut. I can't say that tropes aren't used, they are, but they seem to be applied well so far, and the back story is adding a realistic depth to the uke and his relationship to our seme, again, so far. It's structured well and seems like a nice escapist read.

The story does have short time jumps but they make sense and don't take away from the story. Our uke's ability to make money goes beyond prodigy to the point of being a super-power, but considering the genre I can suspend my disbelief. That's all I can say to date.

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