Considering the thousands of ERERI/RIREN stories that exist on Wattpad, it's not always easy to find the stories that lead the pack. This is a collection of reviews I'm writing on the very best written, most creative, most compelling and most beauti...
"Off Record" is coauthored by CielEric and Kaleidoscope_Keys. It makes sense that this multilayered, complex story is written by two powerhouse Wattpad writers. It's definitely too potent for one author to handle on their own.
Levi Ackerman (penned by CielEric) is a prominent, prodigious psychiatrist tasked with healing patients diagnosed with the most daunting and tragic mental illnesses. The fact that he's so successful in his work leads to abject boredom. He needs a challenge. Enter Eren Jaeger (written by Kaleidoscope_Keys), a deeply traumatized young man who is saved from the death penalty only by his insanity. Eren is horrifically split between a tender, malleable heart and a vicious beast hungry for blood. Dr. Ackerman must face his own demons while trying to keep this beautiful boy from imploding and taking with him, their last semblance of humanity.
There's no way around it, this story's austerity is raw as fuck, and plunders the deepest, most shadowy folds of the human heart and mind. There are times when the characters and their actions are hard to face. When Levi is at his worst, it's hard to imagine that even he might be capable of so much darkness. Eren will break your fucking heart and honestly, you wonder if he'll ever be okay. This story is not for the faint of heart. There's no filter that blurs out the cuts and bruises in skin or soul. So why stick around when hope comes through in nothing but a sliver of light?
It's simple. These two write stories that are fantastic genius. Whether they are writing together or apart, their ability to create these gorgeous and conflicted characters keeps your nose to the page, unable to turn away. The writing is so finely crafted and so adept at pulling you into each scene irrevocably. You want to climb out, for fear that you'll be swallowed up, but you've fallen in love. You're no more able to walk away than Levi can with Eren. Regardless of how shocking or disturbing the content is, their Levi and Eren shine through the murkiness of whatever difficulties they are facing, and make you root and pull for them page by page.
The dialogue rolls along in a way that if you close your eyes, you can hear every inflection, tone and nuance of the conversations between characters. As a result, you see clearly their gestures and facial expressions. In fact, if they never described anything and just relied on dialogue, we would have the full picture in front of us. However, what a crime it would be if they didn't go further. Their details and painted pictures are at once full of technicolor and light, but no more than necessary. The description doesn't saturate...it lets the dialogue take center stage.
These gifts find their culmination in the sexual lives of their characters. The smut in "Off Record" is electrifying and full-on hot as fuck. These scenes require a level of maturity requested in the story's warnings. The animalistic, stripped-down, and sometimes violent sex scenes in this story are appropriate and reflective of the chaos lurking within the characters.
There are no taboos in "Off Record." This is a great story to test your own boundaries of what you are comfortable with. There were times it made me squirm, but only because I found out that I was turned on by things that I might have considered off limits before. For me, that's the best part of fan fiction. I get to try on things I never knew I looked good in. Apparently, I look good in chains.
All joking aside, the absolute lyrical beauty of these scenes is the hope you can find when the lights go out. This underscores the theme of the whole story. In "Off Record", beauty is found in the cracks of the most damaged human psyche. When the light shines on it, we don't ever want to look away.
**If you read this story after reading this review, will you let the author know? Thanks**
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