Sometimes it's best to not show. Or tell. Just don't.
“Neal Asher was born 1961 in Billericay, Essex, the son of a school teacher and a lecturer in applied mathematics who were also SF aficionados.
Prior to 2000 the Asher had stories accepted by British small press SF and fantasy magazines but post 2000 his writing career took flight. [...] The majority of his novels are set within one future history, known as the Polity universe. The Polity encompasses many classic science fiction tropes including world-ruling artificial intelligences, androids, hive minds and aliens.“ Neal Asher About
When reading science fiction, you have to learn about civilisations quickly. It's like explaining a joke before you hit the punch line. It's the nature of the beast, especially if you are building your races. In contrast, in fantasy, you can get away with saying someone is a dwarf; most people can build up from there.
In my quest to read all an author's books, I read the Transformation series by Neal Asher. I have eaten up most of his books at this stage, and he is a good writer. I enjoy his world a lot and highly recommend him. However.
If there is one thing I do not need to help me understand a race, it's a detailed description of how they have sex. Good god, man, I am in traffic on the Sarsfield Road roundabout, and the Brennan's bread van can hear a detailed description of 10-foot-tall sentient prawns having sex.
Now, if I was reading Prador And The Men They Loved, thank you. This would have been what I was looking for.
Asher does a fantastic job showing you the distinct cultural personalities of the species he creates (and the sub-cultures of humans). So this interlude of intercourse did come out of nowhere. I skipped it and certainly didn't miss anything of the story.
Asher makes a good stab at a human relationship, too. Again, I didn't need the sex scenes. He built up the relationship in a more natural way. Two people getting to know each other, dancing around feelings, etc. He needed to lay it down a little thicker and extend the build-up. As I didn't feel invested in the love the characters had. Any tragedy which befell them just fell flat as a result.
In the whole trilogy, the only sex scene which made sense and had a place in the narrative was right at the beginning. You have just woken up, and the last thing you remember is dying; you have a new body and a bottomless pit of money. Of course, the most natural and human thing you will do is have a shag.
Beir bua agus beannacht.