Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - Captive Prince

this book has no message, gives nothing of substance, and lacks any meaningful commentary. the main character is flat and emotionless for 90% of the story, the other 10% being where he is horny beyond reason. the future love interest is wholly unforgivable, even with the very obvious tragic backstory that is soon to come.
this book contains gratuitous displays of violence and assault accompanied by some of truly the worst depictions of victims to the point where you ask yourself “is the author enjoying this?” and, worryingly, it seems as though the answer is yes.
the entire plot hinges on the truly wild assumption that nobody in the entire novel would recognize the face of the prince of a sovereign nation. really? you’re saying there was not a single important military figure in the veretian court? do portraits not exist in this world? but honestly, this convenience is something i can get over.
what i can’t get over is the overarching fact that NOTHING MATTERS IN THIS BOOK! nobody learns any lesson.
the differences between slavery in the two nations are seemingly negligible however we are meant to believe that one country is better than the other, and that the slaves in both are happy, actually, unless they’re in the other nation. crazy.
i’ve read dark rise before reading this book but going into this with that (terrible) novel as reference really colors the questionable choices pacat made in hindsight. wild

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bea1745's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-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

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emilynied's review against another edition

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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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chaptermaggot's review against another edition

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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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nekomeith's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? No

2.25

It's supposed to romance but there is no indication that the main characters will or even should fall in love...

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