Captive Prince
Book One of the Captive Prince Trilogy
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4.4 • 547 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
From global phenomenon C. S. Pacat comes the first novel in her critically acclaimed Captive Prince trilogy.
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...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pacat's powerful debut, a blend of intense erotica and political fantasy, is disturbing and intriguing in equal measure. When the king of Akielos dies, his son Kastor takes the throne. The other prince, Damen, is betrayed, kidnapped, and taken to Vere, a country with which Akielos had a nasty war a few years before. In that war Damen killed Vere's crown prince; now he is the property of Vere's new heir, Laurent, who does not, as yet, know who Damen is. Pacat's ubiquitous and varyingly grim depictions of sexual slavery play brutal counterpoint to Damen's optimistic attempts to regain agency, and the obvious ways Damen and Laurent could help each other are made plausibly difficult by old hatreds and deep cultural differences. The intricacy of the political entanglements gives depth to the novel's erotic turmoil, and readers who struggle with the extensive scenes of nonconsensual sex will still be drawn in by the subtle, powerful writing. Fans of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series will eat this up with a spoon.
Customer Reviews
Gotta push through
I’ll admit the goodreads reviews on this first book of the trilogy are pretty accurate, there’s very little plot and I certainly wouldn’t think of this book as a romance. That being said if you push through the eh of this book you’re sucked into the plot picking up during second and third of the trilogy. Just be prepared for some slow burn
Not what I hoped
I was excited for a primarily lgbt fantasy story, but found myself disappointed in the end.
This first book is short and ends on an unsatisfactory note. I find that inexcusable personally as it was 20.00.
But aside from that the story, the characters and the setting are strange and almost aimed towards very specific kinks.
The book is highly sexual, which doesn’t bother me at all, but the sex revolves around rape, lack of consent, slaves and pedophillia. Not exactly what I was hoping for.
This felt like half of the first book as it ended abruptly and without any sense of satisfaction or conclusion to the current story. I am at a loss to be honest.
The characters also made senseless choices that logically made no sense. Why the main character is allowed to behave the way he does, break rules and suffer little consequence is hard to swallow.
The villain was spotted a mile away before its true reveal so it lacked the surprise element for me too.
This felt more like a mix of erotica and loose story telling with the specific sex kinks fantasy. I didn’t enjoy it much aside from reading a story where being gay was normalized. This part was drowned out by the fact that literally every character was bisexual and horny 24/7.
I don’t think I will continue the series as there wasn’t enough for me to be interested in it.
Amazing
Read this book in a day, couldn’t put it down!