“Thrones of Desire” Erotic Reading Book Review

“Thrones of Desire“, an erotica anthology book published by Cleis Press, is 226 pages long and includes 14 stories by different authors. Edited and put together by Mitzi Szereto, this book’s theme is “Erotic Tales of Swords, Mists, and Fire”. An erotica book based on the fantasy genre, “Thrones of Desire” does show a semi-nude woman on the front cover, so I recommend not reading this in public unless you can VERY well hide the cover; it’s very noticable.

So, the theme, as mentioned above, is “Erotic Tales of Swords, Mists, and Fire”. This erotica anthology is basically a book of erotic stories that are all set in fantasy worlds. Each one of the individual 14 stories is set in a different fantasy world that the author sets up for you. As you can imagine, each one of the stories also happens to include sex in it (as this is an erotic anthology), and the types of characters and genders of characters vary widely by each story. The only real “theme” is that each story is set in a world that really isn’t like our own – not an “alien” world, really, but many of them are set in an older world (where knights existed) or in a “copy” like our world where dragons exist.

Warning: This review contains a lot of capital letters. Is it really that professional? Nope. Does it even sorta-adequately show how I love this book so much? Not even close.

WHAT IS THIS AMAZINGNESS!? Like, seriously, my excitement is too much to be professional about this. I am so much in love with this book. So, so, so, so, SO much. It’s a book I didn’t want to put down. It’s a book that I didn’t want to take my eyes off of, and MOST important, it’s a book that, at the end of every story, I wished it would just continue on-and-on. That’s how amazing the writers are. With around ten pages, they managed to set out an entire fantasy world that hooked me in, and I REALLY didn’t want to let go. But I had to. To then dive right into a new type of fantasy from the next author. It was amazing. Oh my god, it was so amazing. This what plot-driven erotica SHOULD be.

However, that is something you have to realize – the Thrones of Desire collection IS plot-driven erotica. It isn’t wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am erotica. It isn’t straight to the point. Each story is an entire fantasy universe right into itself. The author has to be able to give you enough background to make the characters and make the situation understandable to you. Dragons, warriors, mages – all of that has to be placed in a plot that is understandable to why it’s happening. And the authors do it AMAZINGLY – but it also takes time, so the sex isn’t straight in your face. So if you tend to just read erotica books, get straight to the orgasms and be done with it, I’m not sure “Thrones of Desire” will appeal to you.

If you’re the type of person that loves falling in love with an atmosphere, loves falling in love with the situation, and THEN finds it even hotter when that situation leads to sex – well, I think you’ll love this. Provided you enjoy fantasy genre (which many people do), that is exactly what this book does. You understand why they’re having sex. You CHEER THEM ON to have sex. You wait for it. And it happens! (Well, it has to. It’s an erotica book) But still! It never seems contrived. It never seems like they just “do it” to do it. It’s amazing, it’s immersive, and oh my god, why isn’t a sequel out yet?

So, what types of excitement can you expect in this book? Here are some of the plots of a couple stories (to be honest, though, it’s hard to explain an entire fantasy plot in a way that isn’t lame without being absorbed in the story yourself):

“Of High Renown” by Janine Ashbless: When a wounded knights comes to the small village, one of the local women takes it upon herself to see to his care. Through his awful pain-ridden body, she finds one way, in particular, that seems to calm him down…

“Silver” by Anna Meadows: Someone who has different skin than the rest, the main female character is concerned about how well her new marriage will go when the prince, her new husband, has not seen her. After her mother gives her an enchanted necklace that makes her appear “normal”, things seem to be looking for the better – until something odd happens with her new husband.

“Key to the Queen’s Elixir” by Jo Wu: When a local knight finds himself fallen in the local snow queen’s den, she finds her chilled heart with curiousity. He speaks of a curse he must break, and while sad, this story has a very interesting ending.

I really did love all of the stories, too! Each one of the stories had something unique that it brought to the book. None of them were boring, and while a couple weren’t “my” idea of sexy, I didn’t want to skip through a single one. All of them kept my attention and were well-written. While a couple weren’t as arousing as the rest, all of them were great additions to the book, and I could see how other people could enjoy those couple stories more than I did.

If you like the fantasy genre and like your erotica with some heavy plots mixed in, “Thrones of Desire” is most-likely going to be the best erotica book you’ve ever read. If you tend to want the majority of the story to involve sex or foreplay in some way, though, you might want to find a different Cleis Press erotica book. I’m not faulting “Thrones of Desire” for it, but it’s more plot-driven than sex-driven (which is why I love it so, so much).

The Erotic Reading Review is a regular column written by Kayla. This column brings you reviews over erotica, instructional, and other types of sex-related books.