Review: 5 star erotica
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 23, 2014
Caged is a fabulous erotica.  In a market currently deluged with barely veiled porn, Deckard has brought readers a fully realized world and consistent, fascinating characters.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Jon's escapades both as a pirate and as a lover.  The sex scenes were blindingly hot, believable and well written.  Just like an expert fight scene, a well crafted sex scene is a feat to behold.  Not only does Caged give us the physical act, but the emotions and fears as well.  I was especially impressed with the author's ability to capture the mindset of Jon when he's in the throws of "sub-space", something few erotica BDSM books bother to touch on, but which brought me so much closer to the characters and the depth of their relationship.The end is extremely satisfying and definitely leads the reader to want the next book without feeling like you're left on a horrible cliffhanger.  The characters are deeply flawed, especially the captain of the pirate ship and I am looking forward to seeing what the consequences of some of his unresolved actions will be.  Some people may not like the book as there are some upsetting moments which border on abuse and some unlikeable actions/too quick forgiveness, however, keeping the genre in mind and the background of the characters it is consistent and justified.  Readers should know that when this book says BDSM it isn't kidding and we aren't talking some mommy porn weekend of furry cuffs and scented oils, we're talking the real deal.  It's not always pretty but it is deeply erotic.The editing and formatting were clean and well done, the POV consistent and never a problem. I had a few minor notes for the author on editing, but none of them distracted from the narrative, and he has since fixed them.Best line of the book: "little streaks of red in the fjords of her wrinkles. "This is a 5 star erotica.Second ReviewCaged follows the story of Jon, a meek young man who possesses an unusual ability to read people. Pirates kidnap him from his hometown in the hopes of utilising his abilities in their business deals. This plot is quickly sidelined as he soon becomes enmeshed in a love triangle with Captain Baltsaros and his first mate Tom.Caged is a decent erotic fantasy with characters and story that are more developed than usual for the genre, but it's not extraordinary. There are extremely frequent and graphic sex scenes between the main characters that often involve bondage.The prose is passable, but some passages are overwritten. When I came to "pearls of desire" I snickered. Caged kind of reminds me of the trashy novels I used to filch from my stepmother when I was too young to be reading such stuff. Although the sex in them was straight, not gay, the descriptions pretty much followed the same pattern, and the tone was the same, emotional and romantic.Structurally, I didn't feel that there was much of a plot. Rather a collection of small events happened with no clear goal and no obvious antagonist until 80% of the way through. I found the pacing very slow, but the focus is on the erotica. The scenes tended to jump around in time, which I sometimes found confusing.4 stars.