Reviews with content warning for Grief - Prince's Gambit

Overall this book is way better than the 1st in character development and trying to make us sympathetic towards the mc, but Laurent I didn't forget nor forgive what you did 😀😀😀
When he's mean to me, but he's mean TO ME😍

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lorriss's review

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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

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louisa_pennyfeather2021's review

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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.

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magicshop's review

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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!

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