Reviews tagging 'Death'

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

82 reviews

eidal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Torture

Moderate: Death, Trafficking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Alcohol, and War

meepmeepmia's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I have read this series a few times, I always think this is the lowest of the three. Just as how it is written you don't really get a full picture till you have read everything, so while this may be gritty and certain character may be down right un readable for those who like a good pay off keep going!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Pedophilia, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Incest, Sexual assault, Torture, and Death of parent

1undercover's review against another edition

1.5

Ain't it for me chief. I'm fine with an amount of consent issues in my guilty pleasure romantasy but there are deeper problems here. Some genuine (tw)

rape, pedophilia, and public sex without consent

. I like the different cultures, different skills setup and I can see that this is going to a place with an interesting relationship, but the story was in no way wrapped up in the first book and the lads didn't even get to bone. I didn't get any of the answers to my theories. Uncool. And something about the romance being between someone and the man who

deliberately had them nearly publicly raped and then flogged TO DEATH and did both with satisfaction

? I don't really care what the cultural norms are, I really struggle to believe that love's coming out of that idk. By almost halfway through the book I was still wondering if I'd misunderstood and the main character was supposed to be with someone else. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

teagstime's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Very VERY interested to see where this series goes. I ate this book up in a day, which is saying something because reading is terribly difficult for me lately! ❤️ The political intrigue is so fun to read, and really just... takes a good look at power and war and the ruthlessness which accompanies it. 

Personally a big fan of Damen and his struggle to understand anything about Laurent- because I, too, struggle to understand him. Laurent... I want to crawl inside your brain. That boy definitely has so much emotion hidden under the cold, cruel demeanor... and I'm sooo ready to dive in 😌

I cannot rec to anyone without them looking into the TW first, because there's some content I can see being... problematic, let's say! But in my opinion, none of those acts are really glorified- our main two characters are/become aware of these issues and want to change things. But, imo, a very good read and I definitely have high hopes for the rest!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, War, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use and Death of parent

frantic_vampire's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

Well, I think I found a new bookish obsession! This was so good and I just couldn’t put it down. But it was also really, really fucked up. And yet, I loved every minute of it.

I loved that Damen is our pov character. He’s not shy with his opinions and he’s willing to risk his neck for the injustices he sees happening around him. And I love him for that, even when it leads to worse things for himself. I also love that he’s so against Laurent right now, it’s really building a true enemies-to-lovers romance.

Captive Prince is getting a solid five stars. I can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of the books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

livelaughlesbian99's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

3.75

This book is messed up! 

And that’s kind what it’s supposed to be, so I’m not judging my rating on that. This takes place in a brutal world where slavery is normalized across many cultures. If that does not sound like a horror you can stomach do not read this book. I can understand why some say this romanticizes slavery, but I saw it more as trying to explore how cultures of the past treated sexual slavery (which is a horrific but prominent part of the human past… this content isn’t based off of nothing. Ancient Greeks and Romans had cultural practices similar to the practices in the book).

Personally I appreciate the focus on how those who were enslaved would have been impacted by societies like this. Between Damen and Erasmus’ perspective you learn a lot about how these systems are justified. I do not believe including morally wrong beliefs in characters means the text condones them. But I completely understand why people have issues with this book and it’s fine if you do. For me books with subject matter like this are also horror books, and like horror books, there can be catharsis in exploring the worst of humanity.

That being said, oh my GOD did I love this book’s political intrigue. It really is as good as people say. While this book is really preamble for the rest of the series, which is why I rated it the way I did, the ending was fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Pedophilia, and War

30something_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

Did I randomly pick this up at 10pm last night to feel out the vibes, stay up until 1am reading, and then wake up to finish it this morning?

Yes.

And now I have to go get the other ones because I am invested. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death and Rape

giulia_rossi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Sexual harassment

brdiaz1123's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and War

zoey_blk's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I read this book through in the span of 3 hours max and really enjoyed Damen as a character. Laurent is a pain in the ass, but I can feel his attitude change ever so slightly. They didn't lie when they said this was a slow burn book. Since I read this book solely because of Tiktok videos about Laurent and Damen I was taken a back by the customs of the world the story plays in. The slave and rape culture made me very uncomfortable every time I came across it. It's a topic I generally don't enjoy, but I tried to look past than for the sake of the Mcs stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol and War