Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

364 reviews

emilynied's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

It's clear why this book is so controversial and why there are so many mixed feelings. I think this book and Pacat go further than other fantasy authors are willing to go as far as gore and heavy topics - ones that the reader is confronted with as the novel's plot and the fantasy world unfolds. Just because, however, you feel gross and disgusted by it, doesn't necessarily mean it's bad - I think instead it confronts the reader even more about the content and moral questions that are raised.

And this book confronts so many intricate, interesting moral questions. What is good and what is bad? How far are you willing to go to survive? What are you willing to do? I don't think these questions were necessarily glorified, I think they were uncomfortably confronted. We see everything through a foreigner's eyes and the interactions between each and every character are approached so precisely. The relationships that we start to see build and the characters that are revealed were really interesting to read about so I would recommend trying this book out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual violence

chaptermaggot's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Incest, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

marimaia's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

laurent repeated the question slowly in the language of akielos. 
the words came out before he could stop them. ‘i speak your language better than you speak mine, sweetheart.’

Relendo depois de 3? anos e não lembrava como o primeiro era leeeento, mas mesmo assim eu sei que ajuda a entender tudo o que vem depois então continua sendo bom. Não consigo não perceber as semelhanças entre Damen/Neil e Laurent/Andrew e isso só faz eu amar eles mais ainda. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Slavery, Rape, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Confinement, Sexual assault, Torture, Death, Adult/minor relationship, and Murder

eelka's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape

danteeeh's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, War, Kidnapping, and Sexual content

Minor: Death, Animal death, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Trafficking, Drug use, Confinement, Violence, Murder, Death of parent, and Cursing

eliotadrift's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault

Minor: War

goddess_of_mars's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

I absolutely adore this book. I don't know how it's not super famous now, but it's got everything. It's slowburn enemies to lovers, the characters are interesting and you never know what they pull next. I love the world it's set into and the way the author is not afraid to show a different society than we are used to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexual content, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death, and Adult/minor relationship

maya_b's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

I am probably the person most surprised about liking this book. There are very few books I have ever read where I liked sex scenes or how sexualized everything was, so when I read the summary of this book I was very sure I wouldn't like it, because... well, obvious reasons. But I liked Dark Rise, and Pacat really managed to capture the emotions in that one, so I kind of just wanted to try, and then I read the book in two sittings and I enjoyed it quite a lot.
It is very much a fantasy (or reads like one), with a lot of problematic themes and stuff like sexual assault or slavery being painted in a (sometimes) positive/erotic light (sometimes not), so if I read this in any other context, I probably wouldn't like it, but I thought it was fine. Probably mostly because even with all the problematic stuff and everything being sexualized, there's a surprising amount of plot, the characters are quite complex in their wants and motivations, the (conflicting) feelings are well-written, an there's also a lot of political stuff going on.
The problem that I have with sex in books, is that most of the time, as soon as there's sex, all feelings are gone, so it was really nice having a book with probably too much erotic stuff in it (for me), that still had complex feelings and a lot of emotions going on. I really enjoyed that.
I can totally see why people wouldn't like the book, but I am very much emotionally invested in all the stuff going on now, and I will continue reading the series, because I do want to know what happens next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Slavery, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pedophilia

nofys's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Kidnapping

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Torture, and Rape

_ali__aiko777's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Xenophobia, Rape, Confinement, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Murder, Racial slurs, Violence, and War

There's implied pedophilia and csa between a main character and older family member.