Rebel Wars - 2018 Awards [CLOSED]

EROTICA WINNER || The Evolution of Bach Review

The Evolution of Bach

Chapters 1-5

By MeganLin90

Review by ESHurricane

Overview

It's a little-known fact that Bach the sexbot was inspired by Rebel_Town's own Slackbot in our Slack group. He's foul-mouthed and horny and that was all the inspiration needed for this author to create an entire world based around a horny sex robot. And we love her so, so much for it.

Cover/Title

The cover is eye-catching (see what I did there? Pffft go look at the cover), and I like how the focus is on the title. It gives the title an interesting rhythm, with The Evolution smaller than Of Bach. It rolls off the tongue nicely that way and also is an allegory to the fact that despite his evolution, the protagonist's interest is in Bach himself.

Summary/Description

I love the summary. It's quick and simple and to the point. It sets the scene and then asks me what I think it going to happen, which makes me want to open the story and find out for myself. Well done!

Hook

I'm conflicted here, because I think the opening chapter is very strong. It sets the scene, shows me who Quinn is, the nature of her job, and the relationship with her boss. There's the meet-cute between Quinn and Bach and we learn about how strange and possibly defective he is and why. Everything there perfectly sets up the story, builds a bit of sexual tension, and makes me want to click on to the next chapter.

However, the opening sentence is not super hooking. While the first chapter in its entirety definitely is, that first line is simply Quinn stating her name. I feel like if the purpose of that is simply to introduce her, then her boss could easily greet her in the second sentence so that we would know who she is.

First person can give wiggle room for a lot of memorable opening lines because it can even just be a thought. Quinn is an interesting protagonist, and I enjoy her narrative voice. She doesn't come off like one of those flat romantic heroine POV characters, and I enjoy being in her head. I think she could come in a lot stronger at the beginning of this chapter. Perhaps having an errant thought about what she's working on before her boss pings her? Or a sarcastic thought about her boss ass the pinging happens?

Grammar/Structure

The grammar is pretty tight here, spelling and punctuation is correct and consistent. Structurally everything reads really well and nothing sticks out. I could make an erotica joke here. Now you're thinking it. ;)

Characters

Bach and Quinn are both very strong characters. They both have very strong voices that play off of each other well. With the story being in first-POV Quinn, I get a great glimpse into her unique voice because I'm in her head, and it's consistent and clear throughout. I like that she's this rough-around-the-edges mechanic, which I always feel is a badass profession for a woman.

Bach's voice is sassy and in-your-face and so fun, and comes off very clear because he's such a contrast to Quinn's. Though even with his swearing and his lewdness, she converses with him just as normally as she would anyone else, almost shrugging through his antics instead of being all blushy and nervous about it. I love that most about her as a romance protagonist, she's not a blushing virgin. When Bach says "You just want to see my cock," she doesn't even bat an eye when she tells him it's the only part of him she doesn't need to see. It gives this excellent tension with the two of them, where it feels like Bach almost wants to keep challenging her to be affected by him. It's an excellent buildup of their relationship in the beginning.

Narrative

As I said, it's in first-person Quinn, and I very much enjoy being in her head. She has a unique job in this futuristic world and gives interesting insights into the world around her. I tend to prefer third-person, especially in romance, but I think it works so well here because she has a very strong narrative voice and it's fun to experience Bach through her eyes.

Plot/Pacing

The pacing is excellent. Romance novels, especially ones that have erotic content, tend to follow a formula with when characters meet, when sex happens, etc. I like that the meet-cute happens directly in the first chapter, and the characters start their sassy back-and-forth right away. It sets the tone for the rest of the story and makes me want to read on to see what other hijinks they'll get up to. It also builds their tension right away, with Quinn acknowledging he's attractive but dealing with the issue that he's a robot, and him flirting with her from the get go.

Throughout the first five chapters, the conflict (his command chip) is brought up and Quinn makes a decision. It's a moral decision that makes her likable to me, and exciting that Bach is now running without his command chip that allows him to make decisions for himself. The fact that his decision seems to be flirting with our heroine is just icing on the cake!

At the end of chapter five, the first kiss happens, and I think this is the perfect spot, after the perfect amount of buildup. And the chapters that follow? Well, you'll just have to read and find out!

Closing Comments

The Evolution of Bach has and always will be one of my very favourite erotic romance stories. It's got everything I love, great characters, an interesting premise, and incredibly sexy erotic scenes. You can't go wrong reading this one!