Review: Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat

Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cruel Prince was a really different read for me. I hadn’t read anything by this author before, but I had seen it in my local library and thought that I would give it a try, even though it is a trilogy (sometimes I just can’t wait to know everything that is going to happen in a book!)

This book is an M/M fiction book which seems to sit in a range of genres: dark romance, M/M, bisexual, historical to name but a few and it definitely is really meaty when it comes to the story and what it is about. The story is really fast paced and we enter an almost Greek like world or kingdoms, kings and slaves. Here we meet Damen, a warrior from Akielos who has been betrayed by his half brother and sold as a slave. Stripped of everything, he is shipped off (quite literally) to Vere where he meets his new Master, Laurent. Here starts the story of intrigue, slow burning romance, cruelty and a fight for the throne.

The story overall is really descriptive and you see how slaves are treated, how royalty in a corrupt society works and how staying alive is like playing a game of chess. You must be one step ahead of your opponents. Damen and Laurent are almost two peas from the same pod as they both come across as arrogant and at times selfish, thinking only of their own gain. I wouldn’t say that they become friends in this book, or even allies, but there is definitely something there which leaves you wanting more. I am especially keen to see Laurent’s development as a character as you just can’t quite put him in a box and you come away at the end of the book wondering what he is up too.
There are a few things in this book which make it dark, such as the context of certain relationships, slavery and how people of treated. But saying that, reading the blurb on the back of this book highlights what it’s going to be about.

Overall, a very different type of book for me to read by an author that I haven’t read before. I’m going to keep reading the trilogy as I really do want to know what is going to happen to Laurent and Damen when secrets come out as well as how their relationship progresses. Definitely a book to try if you are feeling brave and are looking for something a little different.


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