Amazing storyline, fast pacing.
I was scrolling through Pinterest during Christmas break, and all of a sudden - as Pinterest does - Captive Prince fanart started filling my feed. I got intrigued, I got my hands on the books, and in a week's time, I read all three volumes. Am I late to the party, considering the first novel came out in 2013? Yup. Do I still have an opinion? I sure do, so here we go.
Synopsis
Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat is about Damen. He is a warrior hero to his people and the rightful heir to the throne of Akielos. But when his half-brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.
Beautiful, manipulative, and deadly, his new master, Prince Laurent, epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country. For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else… (Goodreads).
My score
★★★★☆
My opinion
Beware of minor spoilers
Story-wise, I think Pacat build it up really well. The idea of placing Damen in hostile territory, forcing him into the role of a slave as a survival tactic, describing his struggle to conform to that role, and experiencing the treatment of his servants from a different perspective; all of it was extremely well thought out. I particularly enjoyed her take on LGBTQ+ romance, normalizing it to the point where heterosexuality is no longer the norm, but even something looked down upon in Vere. It was nice to read a book where sexuality isn't used as something to make a character edgy, but rather as an integrated part of the society created by the author.
The reason why I didn't rate this novel five stars, is because, at times, I found the pacing quite fast. Pacat rushed through certain action scenes, rushed through Damen's flashback, and even rushed a bit through the ending. There were moments when I had to pause for a second and read back because something happened so quickly that I had passed over it. Had the pacing been slowed down at times and a few more details added for clarification, I would've given it five stars, but for now, I've settled on four.
“A golden prince was easy to love if you did not have to watch him picking wings off flies.” - Captive Prince, C.S. Pascat
After reading the first novel, I was hooked, and I didn't stop reading for an entire week until I finished the trilogy. This should tell you enough about the compelling way in which Pascat manages to lure the reader in and keep you there until you come up on the other side with the story freshly burned into your memory. If you're into historical fantasy novels and are looking for your next read, I highly recommend checking out the Captive Prince-trilogy out; it's 100% worth your time.
About the author
C.S. Pacat is a Melbourne writer. Her first series the Captive Prince trilogy began its life as an original web serial. Self-published in 2013 to critical and commercial success and acclaim, the Captive Prince trilogy was acquired by Penguin and was published worldwide in 2015 (Goodreads).
Captive Prince synopsis, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9305362-captive-prince
About C.S. Pacat, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4349837.C_S_Pacat
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