Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

40 reviews

amallard's review

dark fast-paced

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

2.75

Sorry for reading this. I'm not proud of me either.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

meepmeepmia's review

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, Blood, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, and Racism

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

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

Moderate: Death, Pedophilia, and War

lisareadingbooks_m's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Torture, Sexual content, Rape, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

giulia_rossi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

alana_f's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

Writing this review after already finishing the second book (and about to start the third), I can confidently say this trilogy is really damn good. I understand some people cannot enjoy the book due to some issues with the sensitive content (which is fine!), but I didn't view the book as glorifying it in any way (contrary actually) so I really enjoyed it! There's so much character development throughout the whole trilogy, and I think the plot is excellently crafted. I also really enjoy the Greco-Roman inspired political elements, and think a lot of people ignore that some of the harder-to-read situations are based on a cruel, historical reality that the book speaks about with disgust and critical commentary. Overall, great books, but not for those that simply don't want to engage in that type of sensitive content.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual violence, Classism, Physical abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, War, and Death

witheredflower's review

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War

mikeymara's review

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I am definitely reading the next books and buying them to own. This book is not for everyone as it does involve a lot of topics related to sex slavery and rape. It is also not the best for people who want a quick romance, this is more of a slow burn in some ways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Cursing, Torture, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Classism, War, and Bullying

A lot of sex based content aswell as rape and abuse. One of the main characters is a 10-14 year old in a relationship with an adult man. At some point in the story the main character is punish via wipping, it is vaguely graphic. There is some minor death of an animal, it is minor and can be skipped over. The main plot involves a description of the main characters kidnapping and transportation to Vere.

nat_kiverse's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment

emmelinemontgomery's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

The cover of this book should be a bloody knife or something equally brutal and disarming because this cover is much too unassuming for the insane amount of violence that’s in this book. It’s comparable to the first third of Manacled except a few times honestly even more brutal than that? (How is that possible? IT JUST IS) 

The writing is third person limited from Damen’s perspective and Damen is just too honorable and guileless for this world. There are very subtle nods to Laurent not being all he appears to be and by the end of the book (against all odds) I did not hate him anymore? Damen is continually shocked by things and Laurent is like “really? You didn’t put this together?” That’s because Laurent has grown up in a manipulative court and always scheming to survive, which by the end of the book I have a better understanding of him and his motivations and while he’s not likable he’s interesting and redeemable. 

I get why somebody would dnf this book. I almost did? But I’m glad I kept reading because I genuinely have no idea what to expect and am v excited to start the next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Moderate: Emotional abuse