TALES FROM ARA

A young romance writer gets transported to a magical world of misadventure in this fantasy.

Blond, pale Harlette Tchuschiya is only 19 years old but has already published five erotic romance novels that betray a lack of real-life experience by using coy euphemisms like “johnson” and “lady parts.” Swallowed up by her bedroom mirror one day, Harlette is transported to an alien world called Ara, whose inhabitants include elves, huge insects, giants, and demons. (She has no idea that her adoptive parents and sister are responsible for this turn of events for mysterious reasons.) Harlette is taken to Karayan, the golden-eyed, black-skinned elven king of Nimrod, who resembles one of her romance heroes: “He was of a majestic and intimidating beauty, but there was something wild and passionate about him.” Though they bicker constantly, their mutual erotic attraction grows. Elves whose lands are threatened beg Karayan’s help, so he begins a long journey accompanied by Harlette and others. The travelers’ picaresque adventures bring them into fantastical locations such as Far-Flunga, a Jack-and-the-Beanstalk kingdom inhabited by giants and a large, talking chicken named Goldie. Everywhere they go, the travelers hear of Dwayne O’Connell, a brilliant but evil human scientist corrupting Ara. As they get in and out of trouble, Harlette begins writing another novel (The Glistening Elf) and is advised by an enigmatic Shadow, who promises to explain why it’s dogging her steps if she’ll give Karayan “a real sensual show of affection.” Harlette gets the opportunity when the elf king, having read her manuscript and recognized himself in the hero, criticizes the writer’s obvious inexperience; he’s happy to provide some editorial direction in the form of steamy, eye-opening heavy petting. By the end, the travelers have more questions than answers.

Gleem, who previously collaborated on the two-volume Deep in Love & War series (2017), now offers this first installment of a five-part series. The book’s greatest strength is the amusing premise, in which a virginal romance novelist who is completely inexperienced in love runs smack-dab into a hero embodying all the classic dark, brooding, masterful stereotypes. The erotic scenes cleverly demonstrate that it’s possible (if not for Harlette) to skillfully describe encounters that are hot and explicit while being neither coy nor crude. Also creative are the down-the-rabbit-hole plot, the worldbuilding, and the plethora of varied characters, such as Goldie, the sex-obsessed chicken. These virtues aside, the novel loses its sense of direction, meandering toward an ending that leaves nothing resolved. Though much is said to be at stake in Ara, with portals opening to other dimensions that are allowing in foul and corrupting influences, it’s difficult to take the threat seriously among all the random slapstick. Readers whose patience has already been tested may be unlikely to stick with four more volumes in the hope that all the dropped threads—Harlette’s family, her biological father, her Shadow, her true identity, and many more—will finally be tied together.

An inventive but rambling tale with comical, often erotic escapades.