Name: The Summer Palace and Other Stories
ISBN: 9780987622334

C.S. Pacat

Follow Damen, Laurent and the supporting characters of Captive Prince on a series of adventures set in and around the events of the novels - and beyond, to learn what happens after the final page in the trilogy is turned.

A Captive Prince Short Story Collection

The Summer Palace and Other Stories

Julia Moran 

3.5/5 Overall...

I read the one story I was missing today so I'm marking this as read.
My favorite was 100% "The Adventures of Charls the Veretian Cloth Merchant" It's really really funny and it made me feel fluffy, I love these two quite a lot and want to protect their happiness. 
"The Summer Palace" Was also, somehow, weirdly endearing lol. 
I didn't care much for the other two as they are about characters that I never really cared for and I read it too much time after reading the books to actually remember shit about them anyway.


ALSO!!! It's really funny to me that C.S. Pacat can write "The Summer Palace" and then also write things like Fence and Dark Rise. Like I don't know how to merge the two ideas I have of her especially because first I read Fence and I was like aw sweet babies, THEN Captive Prince which is pretty damn smutty, and then Dark Rise which is YA so the debauchery of Captive Prince was kinda forgotten but reading "The Summer Palace" today at the same time as I'm re-reading Dark Rise was extremely funny and disorienting like: "Oh yeah she can write like that" Makes me wonder what Dark Rise could've been like if she hadn't made it YA LOLOLOL.

Fernanda Zambrano La Torre

Aishling

The story: good
The fact that the author is charging for a short story that should’ve been added to the end of the book as an epilogue: bad

Sahi K

** spoiler alert **
           Updated Review

This was the epilogue that we didn’t get at the end of King’s Rising and I’m overjoyed. This brought so much smiles on my face. And it’s at the Summer Palace which once Damen mentioned to Laurent and hoped that they could visit together.

- Damen leaving his whole entourage behind and riding ahead to meet Laurent alone and early is too cute.
- Laurent is watching the road…. Ohhh my heart!!!!
- And he is in traditional Akeilon clothing… 🙂 🙂
- For once, Laurent is blabbering because he is feeling too much… “Stop my mouth. I don’t know what I’m saying.”
- Damen remembering the time after Kastor’s death. Laurent staying with him every step of the way, giving orders to keep the peace.
- Damen loves showing off the palace to Laurent.. while holding hands and stealing kisses and just lingering in the gardens.
- Laurent plucked a flower and tucked it into Damen’s hair…. Who knew Laurent can be so cute and romantic 🤩🤩🤩
- Damen called the gardens “ours”… How sweeeeet….!!!!
- Laurent promises to Damen’s mom at her statue.  “I’ll take care of your son. I’ll protect his kingdom as if it were my own. I’ll give my life for his people. I won’t let him down. I promise you.”  He has so much love in his heart…
- They both talk about Auguste’s death and also Damen’s feelings for Kastor. It’s so profound.
- Laurent serving Damen in the baths is so reminiscent of the scene from Captive Prince. It’s not easy but it’s a way for them to make peace with their past and move forward together.
- Naked wrestling on the floor… woah!!!! And Nikandros is teaching Laurent how to wrestle… that’s the best thing and wish we had a story about that..
- And now they are walking around naked through the gardens and palace… hahaha
- The lovemaking is as sweet and beautiful as we expect from these two people so much in love.
- And they are making plans for the future… I’m feeling so excited right alongside them.

Such a wonderful story. And it was good to read this fluffy story about them being two people in love instead of two Kings fighting for their kingdoms. They deserve all the happiness in the world 😍😍😍

First Thoughts
Damon and Laurent fluff.... I couldn’t have asked for a better short story. Just that it could’ve been longer... I wouldn’t mind a whole novel with just my two precious Kings loving each other. Love this too much!!!
RTC

Natalie Sypeck 

Re-read

Green But For a Summer: 4 stars
This is probably my least favorite of the four short stories, it's in no way bad, but its just the least interesting in my opinion.

The Summer Palace: 5 stars
Just such a beautiful reading experience, makes me wish I was at a villa on the ocean. The reading experience is so romantic and it's nice to see Laurent and Damen together, happy and content after all they've been through

The Adventures of Charles: 5 stars
I forgot how funny this story is, there is something so entertaining about reading from the point of view of someone in the dark lol. 

Pet: 5 stars
This is the story that stuck with me the most from my first read. It was able to completely change my opinion of Ancel (the redheaded pet from book one). I loved seeing his rise up the ranks and seeing him become, almost more human as he finds something he truly wants to hold on to.

Average rating: 4.75 (rounding up to a full 5 stars)

Sarina Sherman

Literally 5 million stars and I might be crying. ❤️ perfect ending to a perfect love story. 🌹

Sophie Elaina 

THIS. WAS. SO. FANTASTIC! Damen and Laurent’s love is the most beautiful thing! I can’t cope!😍

celeste

No supero estos personajes. No supero esta historia.
Que manera de llorar y reír a la vez con the summer palace. C.S. Pacat lo hace otra vez.
Fue hermoso poder volver a leer sobre Damen y Laurent ♥

Ariel Himboi

** spoiler alert **
           This is a further look into the intimate, romantic and tear-worthy afterlife of two princes who survived so much and in the end they are happily ruling.

I loved the trilogy and must say that a look even further into these characters had me blushing and rolling around on several unclean floors. And sobbing.

Laurent, who I personally identify with due to personal experiences, became the man that I wish I could be. Happy. In love. Peaceful. Someone who could be independent but rely on someone he trusted. He became someone I admired.

Laurent struggled as well as Damen but with so much burden and grief and trauma as well as anger. I understood him and I was there with him every step of the way. For most he was just stubborn and childish but there was more to him.

He was a prince and a villain. But he was human.

And the character development that Pacat creates is so mesmerizing and well-deserved. It feels real and I feel that these two will continue to face challenges and live with their grief until they die but they will work on them together and as they are both independent, they can also work healthily on themselves.

Another well-written story by an amazing author. 

Thank you.

Denise

I came for the summer palace story and ended up staying for the adventures of charls story. Oh my god that one deserves 5 stars. It was just Damen and Laurent being little shits and it was the best thing ever. The summer palace was brilliant too, even if I would have wanted it to be longer and take more time for its important conversations. Green but for a season and pet weren’t too special, just a nice extension of the world but it didn’t do a lot for me. 
These were just some fun stories for when you loved the captive prince trilogy.

zilver 

Katerina Thorson

4/5
ko-fi • Instagram • TikTok

I once again needed to delve into the world of The Captive Prince after The Summer Palace and Other Stories: A Captive Prince Short Story Collection arrived on my door step. Haha sorry From Blood and Ash, you needed to take the back burner for a second. I absolutely loved The Captive Prince trilogy. It was full of political intrigue, romance, war, betrayal. It was wonderful and cruel all at the same time. 

And of course there is Damen and Laurent who I couldn't get enough of to save my life. 

In this novella we do get Damen and Laurent but we also get the stories of Jard and Aimeric, Ancel and his back story, and the quick fluffiness and the promised Summer Palace, oh and let's not forget Charls.

It think out of all the characters, Ancel was the one that stood out to me the most. I loved and hated watching his character develop. He is a young man that wants that attention and it makes sense from where he came from and where he built himself up to. He is a smart, conniving individual. And yes I still don't like him. However, I understand him and that's the important part when it comes to writing characters - you don't need to like them to understand them. One of the biggest flaws of Ancel, is that he doesn't understand that every scheme and every move he makes to position himself higher has a risk against him and others. Which makes him such a real character...and one I still don't like. 

One of my favourite stories from The Summer Palace and Other Stories: A Captive Prince Short Story Collection is obviously The Summer Palace. Not just for Damen and Laurent but for the structure of the Summer Palace. It reminded me so much of what Roman architecture would have been at the time. Especially when it came to the Bath houses. I loved that Pacat took the Roman idea of cool, hot, and cleansing baths. This was very Roman, since the Roman's also had bath houses with baths that individuals would circulate between (cold, hot, cleansing). It's just so cool to me. 

As for the writing, Pacat has definitely won a place in my heart for her writing style. Captive Prince her writing has continued to develop. Especially in the last two books and this novella of the series. I will say that some of the sentence structures were slightly weird and I didn't always understand the meaning behind the words. What was also strange it was like Damen and Laurent read each others minds when something was going on. 

What I loved about this novella is that most of it takes place after the ending of Kings Rising. I loved that we get this filler of what happens when Damen's brother dies, what is going on in each of these turmoiled countries that just lost rulers they thought were good, and of course the development of Laurent and Damen's relationship. What I really liked was this hint of combined countries. The author nor characters out right say it but they ambiguity is definitely there. 

I really loved delving back into The Captive Prince world and enjoyed the adventures that we got with each character. I do wish, however, that we got more of Damen and Laurent. I wanted to see their relationship grow more than it did in the trilogy and we did get that just...more! I also feel like they author could have also played with the turmoiling countries and divided countries more than she did. I enjoyed Jord and Aimeric's story but I would have rather seen the turning point of the betrayal. All in all it was great, I wish there was more Damen and Laurent (lol Fanfiction here I come?) and good lord Charls, I love that man. 


**I use the CAWPILE rating system created by BookRoast to get my final star rating and to write out my reviews.

The Summer Palace and Other Stories A Captive Prince Short Story Collection