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tragedies's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If Captive Prince was set in the depraved Veretian court, Prince’s Gambit follows Damen and Laurent’s journey through the Veretian countryside. Along with the Prince’s Guard and a ragtag group of mercenaries-turned-soldiers, they travel to the border in the hopes of preventing a deadly plot meant to break the fragile peace between Vere and Akielos.
“I didn’t understand what being king meant to you.”
“What’s that?”
“An end to fighting.”
Outside the watchful eyes of the court, Damen starts seeing Laurent in a different light. Though the Veretian prince is cruel and ruthless, Damen discovers that he is also just and self-sacrificial. To protect his country and save the people he loves, he puts everything on the line even without recognition, honor, or support. Damen never understood the unflinching loyalty of the Prince’s Guard or Erasmus’ praise of Laurent’s kindness, but as they spend night after night planning strategies and going on secret missions in ill-fitting disguises, Damen gets glimpses of a young, tender prince who won the hearts of many in secret.
“And perhaps out of this, a thin thread of respect was growing. It was apparent why his uncle had kept Laurent away from the reins of power: he was good at leading.”
Damen also begins to question worldviews he once thought immutable. As an Akielon prince, he never imagined fighting with Veretians, much less training with them and sharing meals with them, but all these he does, forging a sense of camaraderie with the people he used to see as enemies and, in turn, earning their respect as much as his. This includes Laurent, who now regarded him with as much esteem as an equal in all but title.
“What makes you think Kastor is the weaker man? You don’t know him.”
“But I’m coming to know you,” said Laurent.
I’ve always loved the enemies-to-lovers trope, and this is definitely one of the best I’ve ever read. There’s so much tension and turmoil but also tenderness and forgiveness. There’s a time for snarky, lighthearted banter and another for raw, more intimate conversations. Both characters complement each other’s strengths and flaws. Laurent’s cunning mind helps Damen understand and come to terms with the betrayal of his loved ones. Damen’s kind heart offers Laurent a safe space to fall apart and fall back together. They’re everything I ever hoped for in an enemies-to-lovers romance.
“Never had he wanted something this badly, and held it in his hands knowing that tomorrow it would be gone, traded for the high cliffs of Ios, and the uncertain future across the border, the chance to stand before his brother, to ask him for all the answers that no longer seemed important. A kingdom, or this.”
Prince’s Gambit is a breathtaking sequel that takes everything I love about the first book and turns it into something more — angst, action, humor, and a blossoming slowburn romance that coalesce into one wild emotional rollercoaster. Reading it now was just as exhilarating as the first time, if not more. It’s easily my favorite in the series, though Kings Rising is a very close second.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Murder, and Drug use
Minor: Pedophilia
zeppelinnyx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery and Violence
Moderate: Suicide, Drug use, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia
Minor: Animal death
_mineru's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Sexual content
Moderate: War
Minor: Suicide
lorriss's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Slavery
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Grief, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, and Vomit
Minor: Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, Animal death, Biphobia, Chronic illness, Classism, Drug use, Misogyny, Medical content, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness
louisa_pennyfeather2021's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This one did things to me. I haven't had a reaction to a book ending like this in a while. The author has to be projecting onto Laurant, meaning that they both plan ahead and have everything planned out. It's brilliant.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, War, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Classism, Slavery, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Suicide, Death of parent, Alcohol, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Child death
Minor: Drug use, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy
jaythereader1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Suicide and Pedophilia
ticktock's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Violence, and War
magicshop's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
'I'm not going to use the knife,' said Damen, 'but if you're willing to put it in my hand, you underestimate how much I want to.'
'No,' said Laurent. 'I know exactly what it is to want to kill a man, and to wait.'
where do i start with this one. to take an analogy that's been making its way across my brain today, because i watched silence of the lambs for the first time recently, this book... this series, is the most beautiful, most slowly and carefully metamorphosed butterfly i've ever seen. as much as i have grown to appreciate aspects of the first book during my first reread, seeing things with new, knowing eyes, it's still hard to imagine how it could have transformed into what this book is in such a daring way, like it was always meant to be what it became. pacat allowed this whole thing to be so much more than what it seemed at first, and i'm grateful for that.
the good
- pacat's writing improves substantially here — there are so many lovely, lyrical passages that stuck out in my memory for days after, in particular during more relationship-focused chapters. there's something delightful about the tenderness with which she approaches all romantic things, like she's merely throwing roses at your feet and letting you pick them up at your leisure, one by one, or sometimes all at once in a big sweep of emotion.
- damen and laurent's relationship. some of my favorite romantic passages and lines of all time came out of this book, and i doubt they will be trumped by anything for a long time. damen and laurent are foils to each other; they constantly make up for each other's weaknesses and keep the other firmly grounded in reality during the times when they're caught up in their hubris; they're often vulnerable and honest around the other, yet equally so there is intrigue, the masking and unmasking natural to any story about politics and rival sides of a war; they affect each other's lives and behavior even when they're apart, like something was fundamentally changed by getting to know each other. and it was. most importantly, despite the context of their relationship, they're in every way equals. and we get to slowly, so very slowly, watch them realize what all of these things mean for them (and proceed to invent romance).
- the political landscape. some of it went over my head because i'm a simple bitch who cared more about the relationship parts, but other parts, oh boy. edge of my seat is putting it mildly. there's a particular joy in watching laurent outplay just about everyone on the board, realizing only later (usually as damen does) what was really going on all along. laurent's entire mind is a particular joy, in fact. i'd like to make a comparison here with another super brainy genius character, kaz brekker from six of crows, which i read months ago and gave a lukewarm review.
they're essentially very similar characters, but what worked for me with laurent that didn't with kaz was the presence of blind spots, big emotions and vulnerability. kaz has maybe one moment of real emotional struggle in the whole book, and no one who cares about him gets to see or participate in it. everything else is memories from when he was younger. conversely, laurent gets to be alive, and to bring the story alive — he's allowed to falter, make mistakes, show his vulnerability and happiness in equal measure when he feels safe, so on. kaz never gets this chance. sometimes there's a sadness in what i feel kaz brekker could've been tbh. maybe crooked kingdom fixes this aspect somewhat, but i don't know if i'll ever pick that one up again. maybe someday.
the bad
- i genuinely can't think of anything concrete to put here. i guess prince's gambit's major weakness is actually another book entirely, the first book in the series, and the act of putting yourself through it to get to the eventual payoff. not everyone has the luxury of doing that, triggering as captive prince can be.
the complicated
- again, not much to say on this front, except for probably a warning that the topic of slavery is still very much present in this book, though less violently and approached much more carefully. it's a cakewalk compared to the first book, so if you passed that hurdle you'll be fine here.
i sold my soul to cs pacat for peanuts after reading this and it's a solid, bulletproof 5 stars for me, which explains the lack of critique in this review. i genuinely think it's a god-tier piece of writing with little in the way of actual flaws. that's not the case for kings rising (at least not entirely), the final book in the series, so look forward to my review of that one if u want some dirt i guess!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Toxic relationship, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, and Physical abuse
nicamooch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Absolute rollercoaster I didn’t want to get off of, Creme dela creme of slow burns, EMOTIONAL
—
2nd read:
Prince’s Gambit was an instant 5/5 stars for me (and still remains so on re-read). I don’t know how to describe other than it being like, the catching fire of this trilogy lmao. I love the lean in to the adventure genre, the journey, the slow burn between DL, I had never cared for battle scenes and political intrigue (in anything) before this book but it does it so well. I was so invested in everything! Damen and Laurent are such intelligent characters (also facing off a very intelligent and terrifying POS villain) that being along for the ride with all of the scheming and reveals is fun. I really love that Damen is this honourable hero archetype— I’m obsessed with the way his physical prowess gets depicted like yes, king throw that two-handed long sword like a javelin AND hit your mark 😫 but also how observant and emotionally intelligent he is?? Imagine being that put together 😭
—
2nd read:
Prince’s Gambit was an instant 5/5 stars for me (and still remains so on re-read). I don’t know how to describe other than it being like, the catching fire of this trilogy lmao. I love the lean in to the adventure genre, the journey, the slow burn between DL, I had never cared for battle scenes and political intrigue (in anything) before this book but it does it so well. I was so invested in everything! Damen and Laurent are such intelligent characters (also facing off a very intelligent and terrifying POS villain) that being along for the ride with all of the scheming and reveals is fun. I really love that Damen is this honourable hero archetype— I’m obsessed with the way his physical prowess gets depicted like yes, king throw that two-handed long sword like a javelin AND hit your mark 😫 but also how observant and emotionally intelligent he is?? Imagine being that put together 😭
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, and Vomit
Minor: Slavery, Suicide, and Trafficking
wrensandroses's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was brilliant. My mind is thoroughly bent (in a good way)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, and War