Erotica Review: Taking the Class (Patreon)
Content
7/6 Update: Taking the Class got removed from Royal Road, but the Literotica link I'm providing now contains the entire first arc of the story rather than just the first few chapters.
Taking the Class by I.Ronical; dark and sexy.
Eighteen years after World War I ended, countries involved in the conflict began seeing the rise of Classes within their populations. This development shaped the course of history.
The year is now 20XX.
Classes are regulated and mundane, and society has assimilated this new feature of humanity without issue. Students are taught how to prepare for the Skills, Traits, and Quirks that a Class provides, but the reality of receiving a Class is often different than what they expect.
Now, after her eighteenth birthday, Alaina Bishop must come to terms with the difference between the future she’s always fantasized about and the cruel new state of her life due to her Class.
Over several months I managed to badger and blackmail one of my longtime readers, patrons, and erotica reviewer of some reknown I.Ronical into finally writing his first erotica. I've read it, and it's good.
When asked to suggest other erotica in a vein similar to my own, Taking the Class is now going to be my first recommendation. I told I.ronical I was going to have to write him up a glowing review, and I meant it. In a world loosely governed by trappings reminiscient of a LitRPG, student council president Alaina Bishop had been preparing to automatically receive her class when coming of age at eighteen. A class; the designation that will decide the field she worked in, its supporting skills and quirks being the very stuff that will shape the rest of her life.
After a twist that leads her to the most overwhelming sexual experience of her life upon that eighteenth birthday... Alaina can only react to the class she receives as a result with stunned horror. How is she going to keep this a secret from everyone? What the hell is she going to do? What the hell is she going to do?
I.ronical weaves together social dread and erotic tension in an unexpectedly compelling way, and the story follows our frustrated protagonist as she struggles not to succumb to her own class. Well-written supporting characters, thoughtfully planned dialogue make what should have felt like a flimsy premise feel real, and along the way we discover that Alaina isn't quite who she appears to be at first glance. Taking the Class manages an exquisite balance, teetering back and forth upon that razor-sharp precipice between dark and sexy in a way that'll keep you on the edge of your seat right up to the climax of this first arc.
I've also reviewed the next part of this Taking the Class story.