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A review by jeyjeyyy
Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
This book has some good and a lot of bad. What’s good about this story is the writing style, which is very efficient and fast, making the book incredibly easy to read and addictive. It also uses the pretty classic « enemies to lovers » trope and quite a lot of sexual content which are to a lot of people very hooking themes for a book. I enjoyed the politics in this book quite a bit, though most of it was very predictable. I cannot deny that this book was fun to read in some aspects and incredibly efficient.
However, this book is also extremely problematic. The story almost completely accepts the concept of slavery in its world and the rape that comes with it and it is at best criticised but never condemned. I have seen some people excuse this fact by saying that this is a world inspired by ancient times Europe, in which slavery and pederasty were unfortunately very present and accepted. However, I think that because it is not direct historical fantasy this could’ve been avoided very easily. It is obvious that CS Pacat uses the theme of pleasure slavery more as a plot point than as the start of an actual important discussion, and I think that is not an okay use of this kind of theme. Obviously this book is ,though it is very dark and graphic, quite a lighthearted story and I’m sure the author didn’t mean to say slavery was ok IRL but that is no excuse. As someone who publishes stuff publicly, an author should always be aware of the messages their book can appear to convey. There is a rape and mentions of pedophilia that absolutely grossed me out, so read at your own risk.
There you have it. That is my opinion. This is an addictive trashy book with, again, very efficient writing but it should use a bit more of its political aspect and lean a bit less on all the problematic themes this story overly relies on.
However, this book is also extremely problematic. The story almost completely accepts the concept of slavery in its world and the rape that comes with it and it is at best criticised but never condemned. I have seen some people excuse this fact by saying that this is a world inspired by ancient times Europe, in which slavery and pederasty were unfortunately very present and accepted. However, I think that because it is not direct historical fantasy this could’ve been avoided very easily. It is obvious that CS Pacat uses the theme of pleasure slavery more as a plot point than as the start of an actual important discussion, and I think that is not an okay use of this kind of theme. Obviously this book is ,though it is very dark and graphic, quite a lighthearted story and I’m sure the author didn’t mean to say slavery was ok IRL but that is no excuse. As someone who publishes stuff publicly, an author should always be aware of the messages their book can appear to convey. There is a rape and mentions of pedophilia that absolutely grossed me out, so read at your own risk.
There you have it. That is my opinion. This is an addictive trashy book with, again, very efficient writing but it should use a bit more of its political aspect and lean a bit less on all the problematic themes this story overly relies on.