Captive Prince

got me a little confused n lost sometimes but i really liked it, just know it'll get BETTER next book

confused but having fun

rereading so i can continue the trilogy. loved it more than the first time.
i understand the love people have for lamen.
damen bisexual icon.
i love political plots and slow burn romance. i already want to start the second book.

2.5 stars It's not that it's /bad/ it's just not for me. Don't think I'll carry on with this series

is this everything I've ever wanted in a fantasy book? YES

I honestly hated this book but I'm still gonna read the next one

So I really liked this book, it's very interesting, really well written and the story is great; so in that front it's like 4.5 stars but I just have some issues with you know... the rape, the sex slaves, the pedophilia and so on. So that's why it gets 3 stars. I think I'm gonna marathon the series because I'm really curious in what will happen next!

segunda vez leyendo después de 5 años, para releer el segundo y tercero que recuerdo me gustaban más🙏 pues el primer libro es solamente una introducción y formación de los lazos que llevan los personajes, se van denotando los papeles que lleva cada quien Y NADA me sigue dando mucho asco algunos temas que hablan y a pesar de que quiero mucho a c.s. pacat y que me gusta muchísimo su estilo de escritura no volvería a releer esta primera parte de la trilogía 💭

I read this book because it was making noise on Tumblr and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. 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. Content warning for slavery, rape, graphic sexual assault, pedophilia and many adult/minor relationships. This trilogy is enemies-to-lovers done right, but new readers should know that there is no romance in the first book. This book is mostly world-building through Damen’s eyes. Damen is sold into slavery and this book is told from his perspective as he navigates and survives the foreign Veretian court. Many people who are opposed to this trilogy often cite the graphic pedophilia in the first book, but this book never glorifies it, and Damen is visibly disgusted by what he sees and experiences in this book. However, if storylines with sexual abuse against children triggers you or puts you off this book, I would not read it. I loved seeing the intense relationship between Damen and Laurent, and I was curious to see how they would eventually become lovers in future books considering their intense disdain for one another in this book. While this book can definitely be read as the first book in the trilogy, it should be said that it definitely feels like the first third of a whole book. I highly recommend this book for people who love enemies-to-lovers storylines and wants to see it done right.

enjoyed this better than the first one

i think i've liked this book much better now. it's still painful, and harsh and obviously filled with trigger warnings, but i was at the edge of my seat at every court intrigue in a way that i think i wasn't back when i first read it.

More of a 3.5. I'm very conflicted on this book and my feelings about it. Okay, so this book... I'm confused about my feelings for it and why it generated the hate that it did. I expected a lot of things and I'm not sure if I got them all. The way some of the reviews sounded, this was supposed to be this very dark, abuse driven like book. And I mean, I got some of that but not as much as I thought. The way some of the reviews I read, made it sound like it was a very dark book. But I don't think it was as dark as it could have been. This book centers around Damen, who is a prince turned slave. He is sent to live as a pleasure slave in his enemy's territory to the prince, Laurent, who is set to rule the throne in about 10 months. Sounds pretty good right? Well, it was in a way. There were some interesting moments between these two and I was kept waiting on the edge of my seat for something to happen. I think my problem was I have read a lot worse in terms of abuse stories and I think I expected this to be a really dark and depraved book. What I got was a lot of hate between Damen and Laurent with abuse thrown in. I was waiting for them to just make out already and it drove me nuts when it never happened. Maybe I'm just not a fan of slow burn romance? Because this was a case of suuuuuuper sloooooow burn romance. I think the amount of politics in this book had a reason as to why I wasn't super involved. I like politics (I mean you guys should have seen me during the American elections) but I think I was just more confused about everything. There were a lot of characters with a lot of different countries that did a lot of different things. I saw the introduction with all the characters but since they all had such different names that were hard for me to pronounce, it just ended up confusing me. I saw a lot of Anne Rice influence in this book as well. If you guys have read her Beauty series, then the similarities are pretty obvious, at least to me. But I felt like C.S Pacat did her own thing and created something different. I just felt she used references from Anne Rice. Which is good. Anne Rice is gifted and an amazing writer. I will continue with this series because it just left off at a cliffhanger and boy, do I hate those. I am hoping that more action will happen between Laurent and Damen because I don't know how much more I can stand the outright hate between those two. I am also hoping for more darkness because...well, who doesn't love darkness?

yeh no i didnt like this, no plot, boring and made me uncomfortable

uhhhhhh yikes. i came into this book expecting to love it and got the exact opposite. this book had no significant plot until the end, I guess? it bored me and I ended up skimming the last half. how people can even think to ship Damen and Laurent is BEYOND ME. im really disappointed in this book and cant say if i will even finish the series...

Edit: Okay I finished it. Call it morbid curiosity but I did. Also I’d been told that I was “past the worst of it” which was true. The second half of the book had no more rape, which begs me to ask why there was ever any in the first place? I understand authors adding uncomfortable things for plot but all the sexual abuse moments from the first half added nothing to this story. It could’ve been toned down a lot with no need for explicit details. Even tho the second half of the book had less sexual abuse, the story didn’t pick it. It was kind of boring to me and I started skipping bits waiting to see what would happen. Again I have a morbid curiosity to read the next book just because I want to get the hype. Original review: *DNF @ 42%* I wanna say first that I wouldn’t judge anyone for being able to get past the rape/sexual abuse and enjoy the book, but it’s just not something I can do. I just can’t with this. I wanted to push through cause so many people seem to love this series and speak it’s praises but so far I’ve just been given disturbing images that I hope won’t plague my nightmares tonight. I’m not someone who shy’s away from dark themes in books but on-going sexual abuse scenes, where the perpetrator is never condemned, are just not something I can handle, especially when it is described in detail. And let me remind you that even if a person orgasm’s during rape, ITS STILL RAPE!! It doesn’t lessen what has happened to the person, and doesn’t mean they “enjoyed” it. I desperately need to go read a comfort book after that.

tw / rape, slavery, killing This is that book with some scary reviews and instead of not wanting to read it, I feel the strong urge to read it instead. I am curious, I want to know how 'scary' the book is. Most reviews were right, though. I mean, it was brutal for almost 60% of the book. I guess this book wants to focus on slavery first before dragging us into political drama. I swear, the book only talks about slavery at first, focusing on how it is the performance that entertains people there. It could really be traumatizing for some parts, the rape scenes, the detail of some events, the drug, the killing too. But the story is kinda nice. I skipped some nude scenes, I only want to see Laurent speak fluent sarcasm to anybody and charm people with his words. It's sOOOOOOOOOOOO fun to see. I admit I cackle at his lines a lot. The sass and the confidence for this!! Prince!! Chef's!! Kiss!!

My thoughts on this are Extended and this is obviously a ~controversial~ book but here's the review in short form before I write the full review a bit later (im too tired to write something coherent right now smh) - This is definitely Not Ya so I DONT KNOW WHY it so often gets pitched as YA?? - I went into this way over prepared because people speak about it being A Lot and yeah it's definitely potentially triggering and has some pretty graphic/explicit scenes but I think there's really only three scenes I'd say are kinda rough to read and one of them is really short - while there is definitely sexual assault scenes & also pedophilia in this book they are Always condemned? I think POV is a very important part of this story. Because Damen also has a Big Problem with everything thats happening - There was literally Nothing Romantic about Damen/Laurent either the fandom is whack or the next two books are gonna have some mad character development / redemption arc - there is way more political intrigue and just court drama/politics than I was expecting and I REALLY liked the play out of the court politics - Nicaise is the best character dont @ me - honestly my main issue with this book is that I didn't Love the writing style (it felt disjointed at times and the prose didn't always flow, and I'd have to reread bits to walk out who was talking/what was happening a few times) and also that not that much actually happened until the last 100 pages - I will continue this series because this ended in a GREAT moment and I really liked how the character dynamics played out. The politics of this was Great I'm here for it - rtc

2.5 Stars Honestly, don't know how I feel about this one. The writing was decent but a lot of scenes felt unnecessary and repetitive. I knew going into this one that it takes place in a completely flawed and brutal society. My biggest problem actually was that there's no world building and a very thin plot. The thing that kept me reading and I found slightly intriguing was some of the political stuff going on in the background. At this point, I would never consider this book to be a romance and while it might develop into something I just can't stand Laurent. There has to be one hell of a redemption arc for Laurent's character and I just can't picture it but I'm always game to see seemly unredeemable characters become a character to root for. I might read the next one because I've heard it gets better and I see it has potential to be a good story but so far I'm not feeling it.

Kill me I loved this soooo much

I actually liked this more than the first book. The pacing was a bit wonky (things got slow and wandered in the middle) but it basically left behind the first volume's attempts to be titilating and commited to being about politics and intrigue. By doing so, it actually turned antagonist prince Laurent into a much more interesting, sympathetic character, and let protagonist captive prince Damen shine by finally being able to accomplish things. By the end I was really into it, and disappointed the third book isn't out yet. (All of that said, there's a very obvious BIG REVEAL coming about Laurent and his uncle, and it's been irritating me that it's so clear what happened between them but Damen doesn't even come close to guessing. I hope that when it is addressed in the narrative, it isn't meant to be a shock to anyone but Damen, who is not very bright; if it is, that's going to be a disappointment. On the other hand, if I'm totally wrong, I will be genuinely surprised, so there's that.)

Very unusual novel, quite enjoyable but that feels somehow like a 240 page introduction! I don't care that much for the main character (at that point). He's not unlikable but I haven't particularly warmed to him as of right now. In other news, I LOVE NICAISE, my cunning feral child!

DNF 18%

4.5 How can you end a book like that? HOW?

I feel like Pacat's writing felt more comfortable when free from the confinement of the Veretian palace, and it showed greatly in this book, which I have enjoyed thoroughly (and definitely more than the first one). The pace is simply delightful, because everything happens exactly when it should, never rushed or late. The unfolding of the relationship between the main characters, Damen and Laurent, was a beautiful thing to read exactly because it held this quality, of being perfectly paced, never seeming forceful, every step in their dance around each other always born of something true within themselves. I can only attribute to Damen's candor that he never realizes that (view spoiler)[Laurent has been sexually abused by his uncle (hide spoiler)]; I tip my hat and bow to Pacat for handling it with the greatest respect, and showing it in every motion Laurent makes, every word he speaks — since the very first time we meet him, in volume one, in fact —, without making it too overt. I join my friends in eagerly awaiting the third book.