A review by magicshop
Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

challenging dark tense medium-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? 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

the good 
  • 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

the bad 
  • 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 complicated 
  • 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.
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