research_department 's review for:

Prince's Gambit by C.S. Pacat

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

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4.5 ⭐️, it’s really very good
Genre/subgenre: MM romance, dark, set in a secondary world (but there is no magic), open door
Narrative voice: single third person POV past tense
Tropes: slow burn, enemies to lovers, sex slave
TW: violence, pedophile side character, noncon oral sex performed on an MMC, an MMC is severely flogged, off page suicide of a side character but we see the body

I am reviewing the whole trilogy as one work, and posting the same review for all three books.

The scent of power was intoxicating, but its taste was bitter.

MMC1 is the rightful heir to the kingdom Akielos, a quasi-Greece, but his brother and his mistress conspire against him and send him, drugged, to be a sex slave to MMC2, the crown prince of Vere, the enemy country, a quasi-France.  MMC1 had killed MMC2’s beloved elder brother in battle.  MMC1 is honorable, but he is naive.  Meanwhile, MMC2 is very complex, icy, smart and conniving, and extremely competent.  He is also principled and compassionate, but he doesn’t advertise that aspect of himself, and it takes MMC1 more than the first book to begin to recognize it.  Meanwhile, political intrigue and power struggles abound.  Despite the distrust that the two have for each other, circumstances lead them to cooperate with each other.

Pacat delivers compelling, enjoyable reading.  I’ll admit that I got sucked in by the promise of a sex slave trope and power dynamics, but there is more to the trilogy than that.  I think this might be one of the best slow burn romances I’ve read.   And all those who are looking for true enemies to lovers, look no further.  When they meet, not only have their countries been adversaries for years, as individuals they actively despise each other.  Gradually, they get to know each other more deeply and actually begin to respect and admire the other.  They also each grow.  Pacat takes both the time within the world and on the pages of the books to show all the little things that add up to both MMCs having a complete and believable change of heart.

To gain everything and lose everything in the space of a moment.  That is the fate of all princes destined for the throne.

Ok, let’s discuss how dark this is.  I think some of the criticism I’ve read about it being dark is from just after it came out, possibly when dark romance wasn’t as popular as it is currently, but I still want to address the nature of the darkness, to help those who might feel unsure about whether this is for them.  I’m going to put some of this behind spoiler tags, because I will be sharing details that are not immediately apparent, but I don’t think that they are huge spoilers.  There are sex slaves in one society and there are sex contract workers in another.

One MMC takes multiple books to recognize that the sex slaves are groomed and that slavery should be outlawed.

  Also, MMC2’s uncle and Regent is a pedophile, which is recognized and tolerated by the court.

It becomes clear that MMC2’s uncle had sexually abused MMC2 when he was younger.

  MMC2 orders a sex worker to perform oral sex on MMC1 (who does not consent) and at another point, orders MMC1 flogged, nearly to death.  I don’t believe that this work glorifies violence, sexual assault, rape, or pedophilia, but they are depicted, and given the strong erotic undercurrent that is also in the work, I can understand why some people reject this work for that reason.  Meanwhile, I am saying all this as someone who hasn’t really explored dark romance, so I do not have any framework how dark this is compared to other romances.  I also don’t have a context for how morally gray MMC2 is compared to other morally gray main characters out there; I would say that he is complex and thorny, but not evil.  And for all the darkness that is shown, I did not feel that this world was bleak.  

Fans of political machinations, complex characters, power dynamics, conflicting loyalties, enemies to lovers, and the slowest of slow burns will love this.