Captive Prince: Book One of the Captive Prince Trilogy: 1

I had some hesitations while reading the book but I gotta say I absolutely loved the book. The first book might not be the best but the other two are certainly worth the read. I really loved how cs pascat describes the story and especially the characters. Must read if you are a fan of yaoi manga

I'm speechless, as the three books got me hooked for 3 entire evenings. I loved every part of it. I'm in helplessly in love with Damen and Laurent. I'm looking and storing fanarts and I know, I'll look for the fanfictions on them.

I discovered Captive Prince only last year but since then, I've read it more times than I can count. It's a beautiful series and impossible to put down. The story is from a Prince's point of view who has been taken as a slave in an enemy kingdom. Through his eyes, we see the poisonous court of Vere and how all's not as it seems. The way Damen's opinion shifts... C. S. Pacat is a marvelous author and 'A kingdom or this' will always remind it's readers of love.

Everyone seemed to love this, I had to pick it up and see what the hell are they preaching about. ▪ ▪ ♤Hitch♤ Akielos' heir to the thrown Damianos thrown in the middle of a conspiracy of his bastard brother gets send to their only enemy The Veres' Crown Prince as a slave and who hates him including all his people for The Vere's heir to the thrown was killed non other than by Damianos in the battel. Here comes discreet, conspiracy, love, humilation, slow burn romance (you know the tittle 'Captive Prince'..yeah, that's what it is about). • • Some bashed that Slavery is glorified (yes, to an extent, if you think like that is glorified..that is. Matter of perception.). But the thing is how these to MCs come over this Slavery system in their world and fall for each other. • • Now..why did I cut off those two stars in my review? -well, you see those slavery and humilation is beyond my understanding and what I understood made me sick (but I continued to read anyway, its worth it in the second book). ○ ○ Those some thing I loved was the Slow burn (I am weak in the knees for a good slow burning), politics (which was a little less here but boo..second book is gorgeous), and writing (my god..if it wasn't the writing I would have thrown the book out of my fifth floor window). ●● HOLD ON! Before you ride your bike straight into the book, mind you, a lot of vivid description of sexual act well in the public (gross) is there is the book, rape, humilation all there in the public, people enjoying, applauding and all (now after saying that I am thinking about cutting off another star from my rating, but the MCs are somewhat against it too..against their system). I would leave it with 3 stars. ● ● The book is character driven, we see story unfold from Damen's eyes. There is a little world building. ● ● Thats it (ahh..I finished the book with a sleepless night, so yeah, its good to an extent as its bad presentation of taboo and crimes).

The start of an intense, can't-put-down trilogy. Having read it when only the first two books were published, I had to wait a year for the third part! It was well worth the wait! It features LGBTQ characters in an epic fantasy of war & political mind games that keeps the reader guessing until the end.

Horrible.

SUMMARY: This book begins with Damiaons, crown Prince of Aikelos finding himself in chains in his own kingdom after the death of his father. In his confused state, Damen doesn't realise what is happening and how he is shackled in his own home. When he inquired, a soldier rudely commented that it was on the order of the King. The King that the soldiers were talking about was none other than his half-brother Kastor. Damen pleaded to meet his brother but his pleas were ignored. And he found himself drugged and shipped as a pleasure slave to the enemy country. When Damen is gaining his consciousness, he realises where he is and who is in front of him. His new Master is physically everything Damen is attracted in for a lover. But he is also someone who in the whole of Vere has who has more reason to hate him. “Laurent could inspire homicidal tendencies simply by breathing.” His master, Laurent, the crown Prince of Vere is known for his beauty. But that is just one among the other describes the cold, frigid, unattainable Prince. And true to his titles, every interaction between the two Prince's is nothing but testing waters. At times, unknowingly crossing the line, at times misunderstanding the Regent Of Vere. But Damen had one goal in his mind, try to escape the treacherous court and go back to his people. But in the court where everything is layered upon layer, it takes Damen too long to understand how things that one says and one does are on two different spectrums. Every interaction that Damen experiences in the Court of Vere made him feel sick. But the will to protect the other slaves and go back to his people kept him going. He struck a deal with Laurent and offered him his obedience in exchange for the safety of the other Aikelon slaves. And thus began the reluctant alliance between the two. But nothing was ever easy in Vere. A tragedy struck and Damen managed to save Laurent's life and at the same time found an opening to escape the Palace. “You seem to vacillate between assistance and assault. Which is it?' 'I'm not surprised you've driven three men to try and kill you, I'm only surprised there weren't more,' said Damen, bluntly. 'There were,' said Laurent, 'more.” But just as fast as Damen managed to escape, he was caught. And it was only after Laurent's acceptance to border duty, Damen was pardoned. Once again locked up in a small room, Damen reflects upon everything and realises things that he ignored before. And the realisations shocked him. He demanded an audience with the Prince but after everything will he be granted that audience? Will Damen's revelation gain him some favours or will be where he is, in a small room in Vere as a Pleasure slave? MY THOUGHTS Captive Prince by C.S.Pacat is one of the most intriguing foundation books for the series that I have come across. The unique world-building, complex characters and mind-blowing plot forced me to binge read. I like knowing that the book will make me question my existence and yet knowing nothing about the book. Tricky, I know. And yet that was what happened here. I knew nothing, absolutely nothing about the book and started reading this. And to date, I think it is the best decision of my life. I have already re-read it 3 times and twice more on audiobooks. Captive Prince is the first book in the trilogy and thus lays the foundation for the other two books. Despite some similarities in the world, the world Captive Prince is set in isn't normal. Here, we have humans as slaves and pets. We witness people participating in various sexual acts within the courts. And rapes are just as normal. By no means it is an ideal world. Yet, I would suggest to give this series a try. I think it shows the beauty and efforts on the part of the author that despite heavy topics, every scene, every small-small thing did have a reason behind. Captive Prince had so many chances where it could go from being the beginning to a masterpiece to something very destructive. And for me, Pacat managed to make it a masterpiece with flying colours. Some side note: Did you know that before Captive Prince was traditionally published, it was posted on Liv Journal? I am a fan of brilliantly written characters. I don't care if they are good or bad till they are well-written. And I loved the characters so much here. And it isn't easy because they aren't that easy to love or hate. They test our patience, make us question everything and yet we grow to like them. Every interaction, every part, it seemed I was looking at something different. While you can gauge the main nature of the characters, the constant growth on their part was commendable. If this doesn't show the brilliance of the author then I don't know what will. “Laurent’s fair skin and blue eyes were a combination that was rare in Patras, rarer in Akielos, and a particular weakness of Damen’s.” The plot for Captive Prince on outside can seem basic but believe me when I say this that I was so invested in the plot that I could not stop reading. It took me less than a day to finish this book (And less than 2 days to finish all 3 books). The pacing of the book wasn't rushed and despite the change in the world, the details were explained without dumping information. The world-building isn't the best out there, I admit. Personally, I think this book is more about characters. I have to admit, despite the scenes featuring abuse and rapes, I didn't find the scenes to be forced. I mean, the scenes were not simply added to bridge between the plots but as I said before they all- even the dark ones had it's purpose. “Is there anyone at this court who isn't my enemy?" "Not if I can help it," Laurent said.” Captive Prince, being from Damen's point of view had a balanced outlook. While he was straightforward in nature, Vere was a kingdom of vipers. The contrast was simply amazing. Though I sometimes do wonder if this was in Laurent's Point of View, would this series be a little darker or lighter? Fanfiction: Captive Prince in Laurent's Point of View can be found here. I genuinely think this series should rank in the slow burn category, because in the course of 240 pages here, there isn't even a single interaction that you can point and say, okay, here I can see the potential for them as lovers. I cannot stress enough about how the other books are better than the first one. At least, in terms of content. Captive Prince deals with heavy topics but the other two books, though have some heavy issues, they don't focus on such heavy topics. “I don't know how this interrogation found its way into my bed. May I ask where I can expect it to travel next?” I never thought about politics in an interesting way. Even when I read books before, the point of Politics didn't even come to my notice. But after reading the dealings and manoeuvre in this series, I am planning to read some books to understand politics better. I would recommend this book to everyone out there, whether you read M/M romance or not, whether politics bores you or interests you, irrespective of your reading tastes, this series is a must read except for those who are easily triggered. This isn't a rose petal love story but rather full of thorns. I don't generally use audiobooks because I like to mark sentences and chapters and annotate every detail, but I do have re-reads using Audiobooks and I honestly loved Captive Prince's audiobook. It did help me improve my pronunciation of certain names.

The tone is agréable and we get carried away by the development of the relationship between the main characters, whose evolutions of feeling we follow with amused delight. The descriptions are a bit "trash" in the first part but it smoothes out in the second to give more place to action and that's a relish.

SUCH a good book. Love it completely!

Eu AMO essa saga, amo esse livro, é bom demais! C. S. Pacat, obrigada por existir! EU amo o pov do Damen, ele é honesto e inocente, sem deixar de transparecer sua inteligência. Ele é maravilhosamente bem escrito. E o Laurent - a trajetória de ódio e curiosidade que perpassa o seu personagem é cativante. Enfim, leiam!

And I'm a tough judge, trust me! Simply having male characters interested in one another does not constitute a good story to me! I expect them to be just as complex, deep and flawed as the millions of stories out there that employ nothing but straight characters. To me it shouldn't be the main focus of the story, but it should bolster it, it should make sense, it should be believable and well thought out. I've never read a book with a character like Laurent in it before. He is one of the most consistently created and deeply complex characters I've ever read. I absolutely love him! He makes this whole story unique and the author does such a good job with him! I'm not a fan of feminine gay men, or of them seeming overly virtuous, they should be just as flawed an unique as other characters. These characters truly are! Damen is also a very strong character with realistic reactions, strong morals, and conflicting desires. I believe everything in this story. Nothing seems contrived or forced, no plot developments pop up for the sake of the story, they are all well thought out. The mystery behind everything is well crafter and drives the story; it's not an afterthought that follows behind copious amounts of gay sex. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of keeping sex in the books, on the page. I do not like it to be gratuitous and I don't like when it isn't built up to. The plot should drive the story and sex should be like the cherry on top, certainly a plot device in some situations, but it should seem like the book was written around them The author of this book is amazing and I am sincerely looking forward other stories from her!

Before I start the review: it's on the whole Captive Prince trilogy, not just one book. Writing this review was a HUGE problem for me. No, not because this is the first time I'm reviewing three books all at once, although I feel like I should explain why I'm doing it. It's simple really: when I thought of things to say about Book I, they were the same as I would've said for Book II and Book III. That's why I decided to put Captive Prince, Prince's Gambit and Kings Rising in the same review. But back to why writing this review was a problem for me. This is one of those rare times when I adore everything about the books (covers aside) and am thoroughly engaged from start to finish. It's a bit like a drug because you keep needing more, but there are no side effects. Well, apart from your eyes getting tired and you becoming sleepy because you are not supposed to stay up this late for a book. But let's face it: we all do it. We all go "Just one more chapter" even though we know we won't stop reading after just one more and that we'll be like zombies the next day. So why is it difficult to write a review? Because the whole review will be me gushing about how awesome the three books are. Seriously, I'm in full fangirl mode when it comes to these books. However, I'll try to tone it down a little so the review isn't just "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" Let's start with the blurbs. And don't worry: as always, I'll keep the review spoiler-free so I will comment on the books, but I won't tell you exactly what's in Book III thus spoiling Book I and Book II for you. To be honest, I never thought the covers were eye-catching (although they go with the theme of the books), so if I hadn't read the blurbs, I wouldn't have given the books a try. But the blurbs were pretty interesting, promising us adventure and intrigue. I was a little bit worried because I don't like too much political intrigue, but even though it plays a huge part in the series, it never comes off as excessive. There's enough to keep the plot moving, to keep you wondering which of the characters you could trust and which not, but not enough for you to be so totally confused at what's going on that pull you hair out in frustration. A reason why nothing was too much in this book even though something was always going on was the perfect pacing of the story in all three books. You have a slow-paced moment, then a fast-paced one; you have an intellectual challenge, followed by a physical one; you have the all business moments, but also some more intimate ones. Basically, there's something for everyone, it's balanced and well-paced. Another reason why there's no dull moment and I was absolutely engrossed was... Laurent. He turned into one of my all-time favorite characters from any sphere of entertainment (books, movies, anime, comics) from the very start. I'm one of those people who stand by smart is sexy and that guy is very, very intelligent. I also like how he's somewhat of a mystery, a controversy at first. Something would happen and Damen would interpret it one way, but there would sometimes be a hint that he might've gotten things wrong. I also find Laurent's character arc more interesting than Damen's. Don't get me wrong: I like Damen, but that's it. I care for him, I would cheer for him, I wouldn't want him to get hurt, but I can't help but compare him to the other main character and Laurent is just so captivating that Damen pales in comparison. He is interesting, he is developed, we see a change in him, we follow his journey, but he is no Laurent. As for the rest of the characters: some I like more, some I like less, but all are well-written with maybe the exception of Damen's brother. But like in the Damen/Lauren case, it could seem that way because I'm comparing him to others. He just didn't really leave an impression on me. One character who I loved to hate and on whom I wish great physical and psychological harm is the Regent - just as brilliant as Laurent, but lacking redeeming qualities. If he was written poorly, I wouldn't have enjoyed the books so much because without him there would be no intrigue, so I'm glad he was created the way he was. Even though I hate him. With a passion. The last big reason why this is such a page-turner are the twists. Obviously, I'm not going to tell you what they are, but there were a lot of times when I thought "I totally didn't see this coming although it makes perfect sense so I know it was planned and not a whim the author woke up with one morning". The biggest one comes near the ending of Book III and oh, my God, Laurent is brilliant! Yes, I know I'm supposed to skip the "Oh, my God". No, I don't regret using it; it's perfectly in place. Why? Because even though I told you there will be a twist there and you'll now be expecting one, you are still not going to be able to guess it. But once you read it, yep, it will be perfect. I had a lot of squealing fangirl moments while I read the Captive Prince trilogy, but this was probably the biggest one. And before I conclude the review, there's just one more thing I'll add: I like C.S. Pacat's writing style. There are so many other good (pacing, most characters, some twist) and great (other twists, Laurent!) things about the book that the writing style is not the first thing that would come to mind when I think of the trilogy (yes, yes, the first thing is Laurent), but I did enjoy it. It's not overly complicated, it's descriptive where it needs to be, it doesn't slow the tempo with a bunch of details in a fast-paced scene... In short: I enjoyed it. All those things are why the three books would make it to my "Favorites I Read in 2017" list as well as my all-time favorite books. I'd recommend The Captive Prince trilogy to the entire human population and any aliens from outer space who either speak English ('cause according to Hollywood most aliens do) or have the technology to translate the trilogy to their native language. Okay, I was (sort of) joking before, but unless you dislike LGBT books or are sensitive about slavery or humans being paid for sex (mind you, one of them is really young), I can't think of a reason why you shouldn't read these books