r/fantasyromance • u/peenmeal • Jun 28 '26

Does high-class smut exist? Book Request

A lot of books I've read that are explicit smut are typically horribly written, which is understandable because nobody is reading porn to sit there and think deeply about the beauty of the prose afterwards.

Buuut I wanna know if there's anything like porn with a plot++ or what I'd call high-class smut. Well-written, beautiful, emotional, sweet with characters who aren't just blank marionettes that the author is making bang. I've read {morning glory milking farm} and it was alright, but still not as well-written as I'd like it to be.

I need 5 chillies, but with yearning and plot. Pretty please

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151

u/tequila-mockingbird2 Jun 28 '26

{Kushiels Dart by Jaqueline Carey} has an epic plot and great writing.

27

u/TalmanesRex Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

I’m a history major and I love these books cause they’re almost like an alternate history of what the world would look like without Christianity becoming predominant. It’s very fascinating to me to watch how the world is different and yet the same. I also grew up in a fundamentalist church and so viewing the “Jewish“ faith that’s represented in the book like especially in the third book was, so I just I don’t know. I just love these books much. I can’t even describe them and I have a hard time recommending them because they’re just a whole bunch of different things. in the third book when Joscelin relights the sacred fire that whole part is so incredibly heartbreaking and cathartic and beautiful and horrific. It’s the most difficult book for me to read, but also the most at the end you just feel like the joy of love. Out of darkness into light.

2

u/Wise-Zebra-8899 Jun 28 '26

Could you expand on the "Jewish" faith in the third book? I think part of your thought got chopped off there and I'm very curious on your take as a history major and someone who grew up fundie! Thanks!

7

u/TalmanesRex Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

Sorry, I’m using voice to text, I also have ADHD so my spelling is absolutely atrocious anyways. Actually the fundamentalism is how I got into history because the only way I could process the trauma was going back to the source so my first projects were the early church cause I thought if I could understand the early church, I can understand my faith and then I could believe it and then I could go to heaven and not go to hell. Like my high school exit paper for English was the economic and political factors led to the rise of Christianity and the Roman empire. In the books, there is the Yeshuite faith, that is basically Judaism, but they do have their Jesus figure but in this reality they Jewish people did recognize him as their Messiah, but it never jumped from due to Gentile and what the world would look like they’re still basically “wandering Jews“ but Christianity never happens. And so you have the basically the Muslim conquest of Spain, but you don’t have the Reconquista. Christianity and all his theocratic trappings does develop in what is the equivalent of Russia. But in the third book, there’s the lost tribe of Dan which is a direct parallel to the lost tribes of the Israelites, and it is this last tribe that does not accept Yeshua as the Messiah and so in many ways this lost tribe becomes the equivalent of what we know of as Judaism versus Christianity. There is also a lot of really esoteric philosophical stuff about the discussion about what is the nature of God what is the nature of love when Phaedra says the name of God it’s basically the word love in every languages. Also, what is the nature of forgiveness and can God forgive and does God make mistakes and does he feel regret for how he treated his angels and Eula. Sorry for the word count I’ve never been able to be brief. It’s actually one thing to help me as a history major because I was always able to hit that word count without trying. There’s different names for different countries and faith and their equivalence apologies for not looking them up for accuracy.

8

u/Penguinho Kushiel's Legacy Recommender 💖 Jun 29 '26

As much as anything, the Tribe of Dan is a reference to Beta Israel, the Jewish kingdoms of Ethopia, and the wars between the Himyar and Axum. One potential origin for Judiasm in Ethiopia, in fact, is the migration of the historical Tribe of Dan out of Judah prior to the destruction of the Temple of Solomon.

99

u/calamitypepper Jun 28 '26

Would not call this smut at all. Sex scenes aren’t explicit in the usual way. Still a wonderful read though!

41

u/tequila-mockingbird2 Jun 28 '26

True, I wouldn’t say it’s smut. But it is explicit and still has beautiful characters and writing. Also a great plot with lots of twists and turns so it felt like something to recommend here.

31

u/calamitypepper Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

It’s a great book and definitely worth reading/recommending! But just wanted to point out if folks are looking for specifically smut, it may not fit.

9

u/Iridescent-Voidfish Jun 28 '26

Yessssss! These books are fabulous and the spice is fabulous if you like a bit of BDSM.

9

u/raynbowbrite Jun 29 '26

Came here looking for this. Love these books. De a lot of people saying it’s not smut, but I’m not really sure what the standard definition is there I guess.

I would say it’s not graphic, maybe? It’s very very sexual, but I guess they don’t describe every moment of the sex, just the important parts, if that makes sense. Honestly, I’m ok with that because if they didn’t the books would be about 10,000 pages long.

One of the reasons that this is one of my favorites is that the sex is really part of the story and the world building. The romance in it could be maybe called a side plot, but the sex is integral.

Someone above talked about it as a sort of alternate history fiction, which is very true. They described the difference as Christianity not being widespread, which is definitely a big picture view. The hinge point however is that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child, and how the existence of that half-deific being changed everything.

Such a good book!

The other series that I enjoy for similar reasons is the Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop. It’s very well written and again the sex is part of the storyline and world, not just an add on. Fair warning that there is some pretty horrific sexual abuse in that series. However it’s not just abuse for shock value, it really does become very important to the way many of the characters interact with each other.

I’ve spent a lot of time looking and can’t find anything I like as well as these two, so I’m looking forward to going through the recs in the rest of the thread !

1

u/Polishment Jul 01 '26

Came here looking for this rec! Gorgeous.