Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - Captive Prince

Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

120 reviews

danteeeh's review against another edition

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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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maya_b's review against another edition

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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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amallard's review

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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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lauwbinx's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

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paper_aphid's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.5

I have many thoughts about this book. while reading it, it felt like slowly putting pieces of a puzzle together. the writing style is beautiful and very very thought out; even the small details end up meaning something and it gave me so many "ohhhhhhh" moments. Damen was my fav throughout the whole book, he seems very real to me - his emotions are believable, as well as his reactions to things. I enjoyed reading from him point of view very much! as for laurent,,, I'm nit gonna lie it took me a good while to warm up to him. at first I was like "this is the guy we are supposed to root for as a love interest??" but then as we get to know him more, he seems less sadistic and the way he thinks makes more sense. the writer did a wonderful job keeping us on the same wavelength as Damen! we learn with him and our opinions change along with his. my only qualm with this book was that I wish that

Damen's sexual assault was treated more like seaxual assault than it actually was. I just feel like it was sort of brushed over? the disgust with other slaves being assaulted was made known for sure but it almost felt like since Damen is super masculine and well built, it's like not a big deal.

idk, maybe this is something that will be addressed in the next few books, so I won't hold it in my heart too permanently.

the side characters were also very enjoyable, I love all the other slaves mentioned. the regent is so unsettling though, sooo so....

I will say that this is the type of book you have to be mentally ready to read. I've owned it for years, but knowing the content warnings, I had to take a step back and wait until I felt ready to handle such heavy topics. with that said, I am looking forward to the next book in the series!

Content Warnings