Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

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

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

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

woza's review

challenging dark 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

4.5

It’s a good book in the sense I found it enjoyable to read and not that I would recommend it to anyone else

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Incest, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

Minor: Biphobia, Blood, and Bullying

charmedstray's review

challenging 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 did not come into this book expecting to like it. i came into this book feeling extremely skeevy about the whole slavery thing and thinking ah, fuck. it's a classic piece of queer fiction at this point, i better at least see what it's deal is. came out the other end of the trilogy absolutely blown away.

to be clear-- this book & its sequels, & pacat's writing as a whole loves to linger in grey areas. awful and deeply unpleasant shit happens in this book! every character does terrible things! what's crucial, though, is that pacat trusts the reader enough not to have the narration go "yes, the systemic sex slavery and the violence are, in fact, bad and not good," and if you grow to trust the author enough to go "you know what? i bet the themes of this book probably Aren't going to be slavery and rape good and hot actually," you'll have a good time. this feels unnecessarily didactic and condescending of me to say, but i'm so exhausted of the ghosts of terminally online lit discourse brainrot that i'm saying it anyway. 

also, for those who also are skeeved out by the slavery thing & would maybe like to know more about it before they commit:

the trilogy takes place in two countries. the first is heavily inspired by ancient greece and rome; their country's relationship w/ slavery is an idea of "perfect submission, in exchange for perfect treatment". hitting, violating, or abusing them is considered to be awful and taboo.
the second country is heavily inspired by western europe-- the court where this novel takes place is, imo, heavily reminiscent of the sun king's versailles, or the medici's florence. this culture nominally doesn't keep slaves-- "pets" as they're called, are contracted, can be paid and often have at least some autonomy. they're considered a status symbol &  treated ridiculously well. 
the idea of slavery (these countries specific ideas of & relationships with it, to be clear) is interrogated throughout the trilogy, and it is textually condemned.

anyway, the first two thirds of this book is dedicated to constructing the convoluted power dynamic between the two protagonists, and also reminding you of the whole slavery thing every single page. in a sort of frog-in-boiling-water way, this turns into intricate political intrigue. if you're not interested in the main premise of the book, the slavery thing, i'd say read it anyway, it gets better. if you're not interested in court intrigue? you will NOT enjoy this!! fortunately, i fucking love this type of thing. also now i'm done with the thesis statement on why this book is Good, Actually!

 her writing style irt character is very much like a painting where the most attention and care is visibly concentrated on the most important areas, but all the side characters we meet are still solidly sketched out. the protagonist is.... a little bit blank slate meathead-y. this gets better later, but it does grow a bit tiresome. the pacing in this one is also fairly slow. overall, if you're interested in messy relationships (both platonic & not), convoluted power dynamics, identity shenanigans, or very pleasant untouchable princes who are definitely not always filled with seething hatred and frustration and misery.... crack it open. give it a try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Slavery, Rape, Sexual violence, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail

dahliaden's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, War, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Child abuse

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

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

Minor: War and Alcohol

paziicrm's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Captive Prince, as a novel, gets a 4☆ for me. As a re-read after 7 years, it was such a fun reading experience! The worldbuilding, though emotionally challenging and shocking, was so well done from the get to. And seeing the progression of Damen and Lauren't dynamics from enemies to temporally reluctant allies is so 🤌🏼 GOOD! 

This edition contains an extra short story, Erasmus's training AND IT WAS SO SO GOOD. First time reading it and I'm floored to see how much I enjoyed it. The ending was surprising, heartbreaking and devastating for so many reasons. I hope Erasmus and Kallias find each other again... 4.5☆

This specific edition I give 4.25 because the short story at the end elevates the rating (such a nice bonus!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement and Drug use

Minor: Animal death, Classism, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Animal cruelty

kekeli's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Murder, Drug use, Body horror, Alcohol, Death, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

dragonbloom's review

medium-paced

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

0.75

This is a controversial book. After years of hearing from other people what I should think of the book, I decided to form my own opinion. 

I hated it. 

Fundamentally, I feel it is too horny to be an adventure story, but not horny enough to be erotica. My issues with the plot only compound it. 

Laurent, our love interest, is gifted Damen as a sex slave. The court he is surrounded with is hedonistic and sexual, with courtiers regularly having sex in public. 

Despite this, there is only one actual sex scene,

when Laurent has another sex slave force oral on a tied up Damen.

If you are looking for some dark erotica, perhaps find it elsewhere, this is lacking in sex. 

Despite ordering Damen’s abuse at the hands of his servants,

Laurent never personally lays hands on him.

I can only assume, as

we are supposed to find him more forgivable than if he had personally beaten and raped Damen. I do not. Rape fetish fiction is not my thing, but I understand people like it. However, it would be nice if we didn’t pretend the abuser is not an abuser, as he abuses by proxy.

I found the story predictable. On several occasions, the chapter would end with Laurent dramatically informing the ever oblivious Damen something I had guessed chapters ago, much to Damen’s shock. In these moments, he comes off, not unfamiliar with the venomous court of a foreign land, but stupid. 

The regent’s, who’s name escapes me, “pet”,

a 13 year old boy, plotline, feels a lazy effort to make Laurent look better in comparison to his uncle. “Oh, sure, he’s a violent abuser, but look! He’s not a child molester!” I have not read further, but I suspect Laurent was molested by him also. Just a guess.

Regardless, the pedophilia is not romanticised, but is not handled with the sensitivity such a… Well, sensitive, topic demands. 

The only thing I can give the book credit for is consistent characterisation, and good use of showing instead of telling. 

If you like slow burn, abusive noncon fanfiction, this is probably the book for you. For me? God, no. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual harassment, Racism, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Trafficking, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, War, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Blood

Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Suicide

Much of the book is spent musing on the beauty of, specifically pale, skin.

lh_reads's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Violence

Minor: Animal death

jmross10's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.5

This book (and this series) get a bad wrap a lot of the time. The main reason for that is people don't read the synopsis or they do read it and completely disregard what it says. Then they act shocked when they find out there is sexual slavery at the center of the story. It is an understandably surprising premise but if you give the book a chance you will see there's more to it than what the surface suggests. A big part of the main character's journey is being forced to re-evaluate his view of the world now that he is seeing it from the other side.

There is a slow burn romance that develops over the duration of the series but don't go into this book expecting to see much of it. There are the tiniest hits of what could be. There is no actual suggestion as to what it is.

For that matter, don't go into this book expecting to know what's going to happen next either. While the world is interesting and the characters are messy, the most captivating part is easily the chaotic political maneuvering in Vere. Everyone seems to be twenty steps ahead of the reader. Some of them - Laurent - are thirty. 

Captive Prince is not necessarily an easy read but there are real emotional stakes, consequences for character's actions, and an unraveling of political plots that makes it well worth the effort. Pacat is an excellent writer and worth giving a try!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Sexual content, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Fire/Fire injury