The IFS Zephyr was to be the greatest wonder of the world: A heavier than air flying machine, capable of carrying dozens in style. On its maiden flight, it was shot down. Now, the only survivor - a roguish half-orc inventor named Rayburn Cog - must puzzle out the reason why it (and now himself) are the targets of mysterious assassins. What is more, Ray himself has been inextricably linked to an ancient prophecy...that spells doom for all of Arcanum!
Size: 1313 KB (243,068 words)
Genre: Fan Fiction
Sex Contents: Much Sex
Tags: Ma/Fa, BiSexual, Fiction, Fan Fiction, GameLit, High Fantasy, Historical, Steampunk, Western, Paranormal, Ghost, Cheating, Cuckold, Group Sex, Harem, Orgy, Polygamy/Polyamory, Interracial
Review by Myrtus [other reviews by Myrtus]
Reviewed:
Although english is not my primary language, I confess being at a point where I no longer learn new words as often as before. Thanks to this story, I have now learnt of miscegenation. Thank you Cog Rayburn! This one only needed two chapters to impress me.
About this story, this is the tale of said Cog, horny learned half-orc and deeply aware of the stigmas involved in being one, caught in more complications than one should have to tolerate in the short term. However, as Dragon Cobolt always made a good job of keeping things different and interesting (this story and the ones before), we never really have time to get bored with Cog’s quite strange journey. Take the very beginning for an example. A bar partially exploded, the airship he was on destroyed, the first living individual he met on the ground (a dying breath speaking of intrigues doesn’t count) was either crazy or deluded about him being some kind of summoned/reincarnated god/elf of some renown. Even if his current species is not exactly what his new companion expected. But he has nice tusks, so it works. A little short, but still nice! Thankfully, Mister Cog Rayburn appears to have a mind of steel and takes most happenings unfazed or as much as possible as long as it doesn’t come too close to his own species. Deeply rooted prejudice does work both ways.
I truly don’t want to spoil too much and I hope that I can still make people interested by speaking about the author instead. After all, whereas I can’t pretend to remember everything about Dragon Cobolt’s stories from beginning to end, I always kept from them the warm memory of an almost impossible to find elsewhere rhythm, a way things have to always go forward but without ever making people feel as if they are forced to. Walk on or die trying has no ground here. It’s all about “Follow! Here comes an interesting tidbit.” The greater plot suspected of happening in the opening? It can wait! Let’s see what the local craziness is first. The big bad will find a way to brush apart any semblance of normalcy at a later time. However, this makes it such that Cog’s primary motivation to go on his quest appears a little weak at times. Evidences and revelations do come the more we read on but they happen to be only half of the fun. A plot driven story is nice. A character driven one is good too. As far as I am concerned, a nice balance was found here. Characters tend to multiply quite quickly though.
Finally, we don’t have to worry too much about cliffhangers. A great number of those chapters could almost be read independently as they show us a distinct part of the characters’ journey. In a sense, you could read a chapter a day and still follow the overarching plot without worrying much about what happened before. By the time chapter 7 comes around, most of the cast has been acquired and the greater plot begins to get more time on the front stage by chapter 11 as long as you’re not too irked by the (almost too(too)) numerous sexual encounters. Considering it’s clearly indicated as “Much sex”, I can’t complain too much about it. In fact, these happenings don’t last that long but the frequency is quite high. Personally, I was more interested in the next act than the partner of the day. Even so, they cannot be considered distasteful as long as you have an understanding of Cog’s mind, but maybe a little repetitive.
All in all, it was quite an enjoyable read which didn’t push me to read it all at once in fear of losing interest. Slow and steady worked best for me.
