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shonaberu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence
Minor: Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury
eggersens's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Rape, Torture, War, Death, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Grief, and Child abuse
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Racism
jo_183's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Slavery, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Pedophilia, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Violence
Minor: Grief and Murder
lcoll93's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and Trafficking
Moderate: Pedophilia, Violence, and Rape
Minor: Animal death and Drug use
sofipitch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The sexual content also weighs the book down, I was thinking "do these ppl do anything else?" And again that made the world building feel underdeveloped. But it mostly goes away in the second half and that's around when the actual plot of political intrigue begins. I wouldn't have planned on reading the next books in the series based on the first half, but the second does have me hooked. But this book for sure isn't like, high literature. It's pulp.
Big trigger warnings for sexual abuse.
Graphic: Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Trafficking
Moderate: Rape and Violence
Minor: Animal death, Drug use, and Pedophilia
magicshop's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
2.5
'Is there anyone at this court who isn't my enemy?'
'Not if I can help it,' Laurent said.
this book got me out of a months-long reading slump and was actually quite enjoyable for the most part, despite all my notes of mild-to-extreme disgust peppered throughout and my actual score. buckle up, it's a long story.
p.s.: if you read this review, regardless of anything else, make sure to pay attention to the many, many warnings listed below it.
you should read this series if...
- you're looking for a well-written queer enemies-to-lovers story full of satisfying cliches that are deliciously coupled with the author's clever originality, the literary cherry on top
- you like political intrigue and worlds that feel alive and lived in without getting overly convoluted
- you're willing to get through a rough first half of the first book; more details in the actual review below
- solid writing style "despite" having fanfiction-adjacent (original fiction published serially online) origins. in my experience i think fanfiction has had some of the best writing i've seen in my life, so i've never quite found this argument very fair, but there you have it.
- lots of words for me to learn! i consider this a positive cause i like learning new language bits and it wasn't so excessive that i needed to pick up a dictionary every 5 words or anything. it was a perfect amount. apparently the author used the story as a kind of thesaurus exercise, which explains a lot. this aspect was mostly lost in the 2nd and 3rd books as she became more focused on other aspects of the writing process instead.
- political intrigue up the wazoo.
this book had me guessing 3 different possible scenarios within 2 pages as resolution for a plot point. this just so happens to be one of my favorite things for any media to do so i was charmed instantly - interesting and mutually unique characters, who become infinitely more interesting and well-developed as the series goes on
- no real plot until uhhh. halfway through? it's pretty much just exposition coupled with varying flavors of sexual assault. 😬
the pov main character has a bizarre and partly sexual fascination with fair skin, while being dark-skinned himself and oh did i mention he's also a slave. enough said lol. this would not have necessarily been a negative had it been explored adequately by the story, but that was not the case. this fascination does, however, dwindle to practically nothing for the remainder of the series.the pov main character (again, curiously so since he's supposed to be the least offputting character — i actually think he has some of the most ingrained controversial shit to unpack) has a bizarre and vaguely pedophilic fascination with another character's "beautiful" 14-year-old face, among other, more concerning adjectives - and my biggest fear: that the previous two points are actually a trait of the author and not of the characters involved. this is admittedly unlikely since, like i mentioned before, pacat thankfully reduced the presence of most of the upsetting elements from this book as she wrote the rest of them. i assume she realized their precariousness and how much her story's success depended on hooking the reader without potentially triggering them every other passage. as far as i know, in many ways captive prince started as an experiment and wasn't meant to be much more than a story exploring multiple sexual concepts, but quickly became more than initially imagined. pacat therefore adapted, and very well at that.
- like previously mentioned: excessive rape/sexual assault/coercion scenes, if there can even be such a thing as a "necessary" or story-sanctioned rape scene. this is the most controversial and most famously debated point within this book. my personal take is that some scenes are excusably useful to the setting and the story and others, the majority, seem to be there simply to attempt to titillate the reader, if they're inclined to react in such a way to that kind of content. these i quite disliked and wish they hadn't been there. the book shows a lot of promise in ways entirely unrelated to these acts, almost as if there's a divide within it. see my next point.
- the slow heel-turn (i promise these words can go together lol) from
sexual slavery fantasy sprinkled with political elements book to full-on political intrigue book was. something. i read the second half of this thing within a day; i couldn't keep my eyes off the twists and turns it took. this would go (and sorta did go) in the good section, but fits better here because i do absolutely wish the first half had been... easier to digest and enjoy, to put it mildly. - damen's entire deal.
he's incredibly hypocritical when it comes to vere's culture, being that his own country not only also keeps slaves but actively grooms them to be submissive and docile. he does not see this as a point of contention whatsoever from what we see in this book, and in fact acts as if akielos is the morally superior society. this goes in the complicated section (instead of the bad one) because much of it is further explored in-depth in the subsequent books.
i think this book's controversial status is well-earned, and i didn't indiscriminately enjoy the entire ride. nor did i completely hate it. i think having grey-colored opinions about things, especially pieces of media (especially especially pieces of media that are only one part of a as-of-yet unknown whole), is a natural and healthy course of action. this is the case here. i enjoyed, then didn't enjoy, then enjoyed myself again, several times, throughout this story, and i don't regret reading it for a second since it introduced me to one of the best-written love stories i've ever seen in media.
Graphic: Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, War, Rape, Death, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Pedophilia
cluckieduck's review against another edition
3.5
The story is intriguing enough that I want to continue the series and see where it heads, but the actual writing (narration, dialogue, scene building, etc) was subpar, tbh.
Going in fully armed to deal with the horrific subject matter and CWs, I didn’t find it to be as brutal as I expected, though I don’t know if that says more about me than the actual content! Certain scenes are uncomfortable, and just seem titillating for titillating’s sake.
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Trafficking, and Slavery
Moderate: Pedophilia
nicamooch's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Trafficking
Moderate: Rape and Sexual harassment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia
megsg's review against another edition
- 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? N/A
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, War, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Sexual assault, Rape, and Pedophilia
orcamagicka's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Incest, and Confinement
Minor: Alcohol, Abortion, and Death of parent