Title: Captive PrinceAuthor: C. S. Pacat
Series: Captive Prince #1
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: Free Online Fiction
Source: Ebook
Pages: 240
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SYNOPSIS: From global phenomenon C. S. Pacat comes the first in her critically acclaimed trilogy—with a bonus story.
Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the rightful heir to the throne of Akielos. But when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.
Beautiful, manipulative, and deadly, his new master, Prince Laurent, epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country.
For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else…
Includes an exclusive extra story!
A while back all I saw on Tumblr were good things about these books. With time more problematic stuff started to appear and let's say that those problematic things were on point. You can like the books but you cannot deny it is brutal and things could be handled in a better way. So I'll put it here, big and clear:
TRIGGER WARNING: graphic scenes, rape, assault, slavery.
THE WORLD: We are in a fictional world of empires but I am pretty sure they are based on ancient Rome/Constantinople. Anyway we have the kingdom of Akielos and the kingdom of Vere which of course are about to go to war because of betrayals. They hate each other. The book starts with the prince of Akielos being shipped off as a slave to Vere as a gift for the prince there.
CHARACTERS: There are many characters but the main ones are the prince of Akielos, Damianos "Damien", and the prince of Vere, Laurent. Let's start with Damien because he's the one I liked the most and I felt bad for him because he was treated badly. He is intelligent and fair unlike Laurent who comes across as a royal pain in the arse. A brutal sh*thead. Towards the end we learn a tiny bit more of his life and he probably had a rough life but geez he's so annoying. He treated Damien so badly... poor him. Though I think I hate Laurent's uncle more! His uncle, who is the Regent King of Vere, was a viper snake. The only other character worth mentioning is Erasmus, another slave in Vere, who is a sunshine and deserves much better.
LOVE: You cannot call this love. There is no love, just pure brutality.
PLUS: The only pluses were the plot itself, the pace, and character complexity. The plot was interesting and mostly well executed, the pace was really fast and easy to follow through (except trigger parts), and the characters were well-rounded and complex. The society also included POC and LGTB+ characters which are actually MCs and not just there for dying or for the shake of stuffing the book with diversity.
MINUS: All the trigger scenes... and there are so many! I really hope there are no more of those. I don't mind a bit of a trigger but all of them to be written down graphically? No. Just no. It was barbaric and brutal and I had to skip quite a few paragraphs. Please be aware of this, if you're a sensitive person do not read the books or at least prepare yourself mentally for it.
OVERALL: 3 stars. I am interested enough in the plot to continue but I was not a fan of all the triggers and I would've liked the book much better without those graphic scenes. They could've been hints but no, instead, the author chose to write them down graphically. Thanks no thanks.
MINUS: All the trigger scenes... and there are so many! I really hope there are no more of those. I don't mind a bit of a trigger but all of them to be written down graphically? No. Just no. It was barbaric and brutal and I had to skip quite a few paragraphs. Please be aware of this, if you're a sensitive person do not read the books or at least prepare yourself mentally for it.
OVERALL: 3 stars. I am interested enough in the plot to continue but I was not a fan of all the triggers and I would've liked the book much better without those graphic scenes. They could've been hints but no, instead, the author chose to write them down graphically. Thanks no thanks.
What did you guys think about CAPTIVE PRINCE?
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