Rafts Audiobook By Utunu cover art

Rafts

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Rafts

By: Utunu
Narrated by: Nico Janssen
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About this listen

Kunet, a young human pearl diver from a small coastal fishing village, seeks to prove himself. Yet when the gods of sea and sky clash, it wreaks havoc on those caught between. In the wake of catastrophe, he finds himself adrift with an unexpected companion. Torn from their homes and everything they once knew, two strangers must now work together to survive, even as an unlikely relationship blossoms between them.

Content Warning - Contains scenes of explicit male/male sex and deals with topics such as injury and loss. This book is intended for adults only, and listener discretion is advised.

©2023 Utunu (P)2024 Utunu
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don't often leave reviews, but this title was just beautiful. so many time an I used to stories turning south because of something, but this one just holds a short and beautiful love story. I love when a book can make me cry from the ending and it did just that.

beautiful

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I got this book knowing it was a bit short for my taste as I like longer stories and I will say that this book was an amazing tale. I love the characters and the amount of depth they have and the emotions they carry. They go through a rough patch with difficulty in communication but one has a back for picking up the others language in a fascinating way. This is a story of two who find each other and become more then even you may understand. This book does have spice and n my opinion they are good as they have a reason and are part of the core of the story. Much love to the VA and the writer! You broke me and I hate that but thank you

A outstanding story of learning and becoming

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It is a very touchingly simple story, as advertised.

It combined for me that nostalgia of adventure stories of my boyhood with, well, how I came to realize I wanted those stories. Going from peril forged friendship to a deep bond and into romance.
And despite staying very simple, it kept me engaged all the way through.

My only gripe perhaps is that while I feel the two leads started out very well balanced, Kunet seemed to perhaps end up coming short a bit much. It is pretty minor though and more of a personal preference, because some relationships are like that. And that is fine too.

The aspects of loss mentioned...
I admit, the book made me cry like not so many others will.
But it did also do a good job soothing that sadness a bit.

So, I can definitely say, that both from the writing, but also from the performance, I got very much swept along by the story.

I would definitely like more stories like this. Among, well, many which seem very seeped in the issue of the day, having a story with a quite timeless message that should be relatable across all other divides is quite nice.

Simple and very moving

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Honestly I wasn’t expecting to get sucked into such a short story so much, But I fell in love with the characters from the start to the point it felt like it was there on the island with them.

Characters

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Welp this is my second time writing this review so I’m going to try and keep it a little bit more brief. I’ll start with what I liked.

Despite having only two characters for almost the entire story, Rafts managed to keep me engaged the entire time. These characters feel real, they feel like they actually exist within their own reality rather than being simply vessels for the continuation of the story. The way these two begin with apprehension and fear, and eventually overcome it to form a beautiful friendship and eventually partnership is outstanding. They start having no way to communicate with each other. They progress through simple sign language, to primitive speech, and eventually full complex conversations over the course of the entire story, and it feels natural the entire time. The prose is excellent, and the narrator does it justice with a lively and energetic performance. The romantic elements are among some of the best that I have heard/read. The way these characters come to find comfort and love with each other in the face of catastrophic loss feels almost overly romantic at times, but it simply works.

Now onto my main criticism:

My main criticism is something I’ve noticed in many stories containing erotic elements, and that is that the sex scenes tend to become somewhat repetitive after a while. The actual word choice in these scenes is great, it’s not crude and it doesn’t feel like it’s in the story purely for the sake of wordporn. This may be up to personal preference, but I’ve found that lots of erotic literature can fall into the trap of becoming “smut” thinly wrapped in a story. Rafts is not one of those stories. While the scenes in Rafts do eventually become repetitive, they aren’t the primary driving force to the story. I think this is partly because of the build up to the first “stargazing” (which occurs probably around halfway through the story). These characters spends weeks together and learn not only to trust, but care for one another. Their intimacy grows slowly, and there are times when the sex is heartwrenchingly beautiful.

!!!SPOILERS!!!:
The final sex scene between these characters before the death of Shima is what finally convinced me that is more than just erotica, there was a true purpose behind it. There is this impending sense of doom, we know that Shima will die soon, yet in the face of this impending mortality they are able to find the beauty in one another and be “one beautiful things”.
Our narrator is broken by this loss, and with nothing else to tie him to the world, he decides to let go of his worldly connection. But it doesn’t feel sad, or even wrong. Our two characters continue on outside of the discernible reality of life, they don’t meet together in some corny white clouds semblance of heaven. They simply continue on as “one beautiful thing” outside of life. The heir love continues on even in death, and they become the island that was their home.
The only way that I can describe this conclusion is that it feels mythological. It feels like something you’d read in a textbook while studying ancient storytelling. It touches on something so beautiful and complex that it feels like something that surely has already existed in some form at some time.

All in all, Rafts is probably one of the single best things I have heard on this platform. I am absolutely going to buy a physical copy. All praise to this author, and I hope you give it a chance.

“Rafts” is a beautiful and tragic exploration of loss, acceptance, and romantic discovery. POTENTIAL SPOILERS

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The premise of the story is pretty basic, but that doesn't make it any less beautiful. I hope to see more work done by this author pretty soon.

Simple but brilliant

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I fell in love with and cried over Kunet & Shima's relationship! A Gnoll x Human relationship I never knew I needed <3

Utunu managed to craft something that had me loving each part of it for the short time we had with it. Managed to get in and then get out without stretching this on far too long, telling the story that he wanted to tell. The bits of drama in my eyes felt realistic and the progression of the relationship felt right.

If you want a Furry x Human LGBTQ+ Romance this is perfect! I would be lying if I wasn't choking up and in tears for the last few chapter. I hadn't cried over a book before as far as I can remember until this book landed on my recommended! I can and will never regret this listen ever!

Perfect Furry Novella

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I was looking for something comfortable to read. I was not expecting for this to absolutely break my heart haha

Absolutely Incredible

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