I still don't think it is more fair to characterize either of the story's sexual dynamics as more poorly written for the sake of fetishism. If you're going to tab the author and more importantly the audience with being problematic in consequence of one but not the other, there still remains work to achieve the goal, because as I noted in a nearby comment the writing is mediocre at best, invariably didactic and workmanlike, frequently an outright slog. This is true in all sex scenes also, no more one than any other.
> I'm sorry you had to go through that.
Don't try to speak to that. You don't know how. The point is that you don't know how and I would like you to stop trying. It makes sense to me why people would become uncomfortable when they are titillated by writing that deliberately strives to titillate, but you're supposed to think about it, not call for a book burning.
I'm pretty sure no one here is anything like my father, who never knew shame for anything he did. I'm pretty sure the author of this mediocre but nonetheless compelling work of high-concept science fiction is nothing like my father, also. I don't blame him disappearing given the fundamental misunderstanding he must have known his work would meet. He must have known it would cause a moral panic among people afraid of being accused of not caring enough for victims of pedophilia.
But I am the genuine article, a "victim" by anyone's standard though I will not wear that term other than for argument, and as such I hereby confer permission to talk about the work, rather than how embarrassing everyone finds it to have had a phase of fascination with what, honestly, is chickenshit. Honestly. I could tell you about the reality but it has made people retch before and I know no ill of you. This is your pass, and everyone's. This thread has been blessed. You all can chill.
This is veering on off topic, but when people say they are "sorry" for something that happened to you they're not apologizing - it's an expression of empathy, not guilt.
On a meta level, the violence makes sense as an exploration of the boundaries of that universe -- Prime Intellect makes everything so anodyne and safe, that extreme (consensual) violent torture is one of the few ways for the jaded to feel anything anymore. Even then, the stakes are gone, so it becomes a more abstract experience of over-the-top, almost comical horror detached from any real danger -- pain for the sake of pain. And the pedophilic aspects are all roleplay among adults.
The incest stuff is pointlessly gross, though. It's handwaved as a way for them to restore the population, but that doesn't make biological sense. It's presented as a sudden compulsion of Caroline's, who showed no inclination towards it before. It makes even less sense for Lawrence. And the girl is so young, and the descriptions so explicit. All of those are deliberate choices the author makes, and none of them really necessary except as some kind of pervy wish-fulfillment. (Plus, children cannot consent period, much less when initiated into it by their overbearing mother in an otherwise empty world).